Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.5

Incendies 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov September 16, 2024

Denis Villeneuve's "Incendies" (2010) arrives on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors 101 Films. The supplemental features on the release include audio commentary by Denis Villeneuve; documentary on the making of the film; archival Q&A session; and more. In French, Arabic, and English, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Sniperland

Most of Denis Villeneuve’s Incendies takes place in an unnamed country somewhere in the Middle East. However, there are many specific references suggesting that the country is war-torn Lebanon.

Incendies begins in Canada, where a notary gives twins Jeanne (Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin, À vos marques, party!) and Simon (Maxim Gaudette, Polytechnique) two envelopes while reading their late mother’s (Lubna Azabal) will. The first letter asks them to find a brother they never knew existed. The second letter asks them to track down their father, whom they were led to believe died years ago.

Shocked by the requests, Jeanne and Simon begin arguing. Simon insists that nothing good will come out of digging into the past, but Jeanne decides to go back to her mother’s homeland. The only evidence she has that her mother once lived in the Middle East is a very old and undated picture of her.

Adapted from Wajdi Mouawad’s play, Incendies is an enormously powerful film that has a lot in common with two other recent films. The first is French-Lebanese director Philippe Aractingi’s Sous les bombes a.k.a. Under the Bombs, which tells the story of a brave woman looking for her missing son amidst Lebanon’s ruins. This film was shot during a temporary cease-fire in the 2006 Israeli-Lebanon conflict and was selected to represent Lebanon in the Foreign Language Film Category of the 81st Academy Awards. The second film is Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Babel, which tells a complex story involving four different families.

Like Under the Bombs, Incendies is an emotionally draining experience free of melodrama and cheap populist statements. The feelings and emotions the twins struggle with are impossible to misinterpret and their reactions are entirely logical. Once they descent into their mother’s world, a place they have never had a proper grasp of, Canada suddenly begins to look like Fantasyland.

The similarities with Babel are primarily in the narrative structure. Both films are divided into uneven episodes telling stories that eventually fit into one bigger story. However, in Incendies these stories also have different time frames -- while following Jeanne’s journey to the Middle East, the viewer is also taken back in time, where the mother is still alive. The constant overlapping of different material lasts until the very end.

Director Villeneuve shot Incendies on location in Jordan with a motley crew of professional and non-professional actors, but it is next to impossible to identify the experienced ones because the entire cast is uniformly good. The undisputed star of Incendies, however, is Azabal, who has previously appeared in such acclaimed films as Tony Gatlif’s Exiles, Hany Abu-Assad’s controversial Paradise Now, and Ridley Scott’s Body of Lies.

Cinematographer Andre Turpin’s (Maelström) skillful lensing enhances greatly the tense, frequently electric atmosphere. As usual, Monique Dartonne’s (Transylvania) editing is solid.

Incendies also greatly benefits from a strong soundtrack courtesy of Grégoire Hetzel. Several important sequences also feature tracks by British rockers Radiohead ("You and Whose Army", "Like Spinning Plates").

Incendies 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

101 Films' release of Incendies is a 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack. The 4K Blu-ray disc is Region-Free. However, the Blu-ray disc is Region-B "locked".

Please note that some of the screencaptures that appear with this article are taken from the 4K Blu-ray and downscaled to 1080p. Therefore, they do not accurately reflect the quality of the 4K content on the 4K Blu-ray disc, including the actual color values of this content.

Screencaptures #1-18 are from the Blu-ray.
Screencaptures #24-34 are from the 4K Blu-ray.

I have only one other release of this film in my library. It is this Region-B release produced by British label Trinity Home Entertainment in 2011. It is a very fine release.

The combo pack introduces a new 4K makeover, completed under the supervision of Denis Villeneuve and cinematographer André Turpin in 2023. In native 4K, the 4K makeover can be viewed with Dolby Vision and HDR grades. I chose to view it with HDR.

I like what I saw on my system a lot. The new 4K makeover produces very sharp and very rich visuals that are essentially flawless. Indeed, there is a lot of diverse material shot on drastically different locations, but the strength of the visuals remains the same. Also, there is an obvious discrepancy in the dynamic range of the visuals that the new 4K makeover and the previous 1080p presentation produce. While I like the previous presentation a lot, in native 4K the visuals are simply a notch more impressive. I did not observe any drastic discrepancies in the area of color reproduction. Perhaps some segments are a tad cooler, but while viewing the film, specific changes are difficult to pinpoint. The fluidity of the visuals is wonderful. I did not see any encoding anomalies to report.

I sampled large areas of the Blu-ray that is included in the combo pack and must mention that the technical presentation of the film is quite disappointing. There are some obvious compression issues, usually noticeable in darker areas, and it appears that the gamma levels were not set right. So, the previous 1080p presentation from the first Blu-ray release is unquestionably superior.

Incendies 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and French LPCM 2.0 (with portions of Arabic and English). Optional English subtitles are provided. However, the French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is available only on the 4K Blu-ray. On the Blu-ray, the only audio option is a French LPCM 2.0 track.

The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is fantastic. I do not know if any work was done on it as well when the new 4K makeover was completed in 2023. The DTS-HD Master audio 5.1 track on the previous Blu-ray release of Incendies is equally impressive. Of course, this is hardly surprising considering that Incendies was made in 2010. Clarity, sharpness, depth, and dynamic potency are simply terrific.

Incendies 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

4K BLU-RAY DISC

• Commentary - in this commentary, Denis Villeneuve discusses in great detail the production of Incendies and explains why it does not have a historical value, the specific locations in Jordan where portions of it were shot, the Stanley Kubrick influence in it, various casting choices that were made, and his background. The commentary is in English.

• Remembering the Ashes: Incendies Through the Eyes - this documentary chronicles the production of Incendies and features plenty of raw footage from the shooting of key sequences in Jordan. Also, there are a lot of interviews with kids and adults living in the area. In Arabic, French, and English, with English subtitles where necessary. (45 min).

• Q&A Session - in this archival program, director Denis Villeneuve answers a series of questions about the play that inspired Incendies, its production, characters, message, etc. In English, not subtitled. (12 min).

• Interview - an archival text-format interview with director Denis Villeneuve discussing the conception, production, and style of Incendies. In English.

BLU-RAY DISC

• Commentary - in this commentary, Denis Villeneuve discusses in great detail the production of Incendies and explains why it does not have a historical value, the specific locations in Jordan where portions of it were shot, the Stanley Kubrick influence in it, various casting choices that were made, and his background. The commentary is in English.

• Remembering the Ashes: Incendies Through the Eyes - this documentary chronicles the production of Incendies and features plenty of raw footage from the shooting of key sequences in Jordan. Also, there are a lot of interviews with kids and adults living in the area. In Arabic, French, and English, with English subtitles where necessary. (45 min).

• Q&A Session - in this archival program, director Denis Villeneuve answers a series of questions about the play that inspired Incendies, its production, characters, message, etc. In English, not subtitled. (12 min).

• Interview - an archival text-format interview with director Denis Villeneuve discussing the conception, production, and style of Incendies. In English.

ADDITIONAL CONTENT

• Booklet - a 32-page illustrated booklet featruing "The Empathy and Alchemy of Denis Villeneuve" by Rich Johnson, "Symphony for the Devil: Finding the Darkness of Denis Villeneuve's Incendies" by James Mottram, Q & A with Director Denis Villeneuve from Venice 2010, and techncial credits.

• Cover - a reversible cover with alternate cover art.

Incendies 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It is unlikely that in the foreseeable future Incendies will lose its relevance. The more likely scenario is that several decades from now it will still be reflective of an ugly reality in which innocent people and fanatics continue to die. It is a very good film, but also one that is not easy to revisit, especially now that so much of what it depicts is part of our daily news cycle. 101 Films' combo pack release introduces a brand new 4K makeover of Incendies, completed under the supervision of Denis Villeneuve and cinematographer André Turpin. Its native presentation is terrific. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.