Incredible But True Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Incredible But True Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 8, 2022

Quentin Dupieux is on hand in an interview included on this disc as a supplement saying he's basically fine with being a "cult item" in the annals of French film, since he considers himself almost genetically incapable of helming a "big" film which would take years to get from a gestational phase to being screened theatrically. Instead, Dupieux says he's content with churning out one "little" film a year, which he says a small but devoted following always attends, bringing in enough box office receipts to warrant another production. It may not in fact be the "size" of either Dupieux's films or the audiences attending them that qualifies Dupieux for his "cult item" status, at least not in toto. Instead, some might argue it's actually the downright peculiarity of Dupieux's concepts, something he overtly admits in the interview, which attracts attention, and that's certainly going to be the case with Incredible But True, one of those "high concept" films where some might think the "high" part pertains to substance ingestion by Dupieux (not that there's anything wrong with that).

Alain (Alain Chabat) and Marie (Léa Drucker, at least initially, but more about that in a moment) are two middle aged people on a house hunt, and a natty realtor named Franck (Stéphane Pezerat) shows them a kind of semi-isolated place that "needs work", as realtors are fond of saying. However, the place is spacious, especially for two people, and it comes with what Franck insists will be a life changing "bonus", a weird hatch like device in the basement which opens to reveal a ladder going down into a tunnel which Marie insists must simply lead to the sewer. The film is just slightly discursive about what the "big secret" is, but the first part of the reveal comes rather quickly, when after some brief skirmishing about how smart it is to follow Franck down into the bowels of the house, Alain and Marie do just that, rather unexpectedly emerging into the top bedroom of the house, in what will no doubt strike art enthusiasts as the cinematic equivalent of an M.C. Escher drawing. However, that's not the sum total of the "wonders" this weird wormhole offers, and that's where the real weirdness (okay, more of the real weirdness) sets in.

(The following paragraphs will contain some minor spoilers, so those concerned are advised to skip down to the technical aspects of the review, below).

Along with the spatial displacement which defies the laws of physics, Franck alerts Alain and Marie that passing through the portal actually moves the "descendant" ahead twelve hours, while also simultaneously making the person three days younger. Suffice it to say, that aspect starts to almost infect Marie's psyche, since, as with many folks getting into middle aged territory, she yearns for her younger, lither self. Also suffice it to say that Marie starts journeying through the tunnel repeatedly, with some unexpected side effects which Alain then discovers are listed in the "fine print" of the real estate contract he signed but of course never read.

In the meantime (as if this patently gonzo plot had any room for "meantime"), there's a whole secondary plot involving acquaintances of Alain and Marie, who live nearby. Gérard (Benoît Magimel), who is Alain's boss, and Jeanne have their own litany of issues, and in fact they in their own way are also confronting the ravages of increasing age, though Gérard in particular is "fighting back" with a Japanese invention which has (and there's no really artful way to phrase this) replaced his member with a robotic version. What's so weirdly charming about all of this unabashedly outré material is how casual and mundane Dupieux can be in trotting everything out.

The film is intentionally structured a bit disjunctively, something that no doubt adds to the off kilter feeling of it all, but there is a through line of sorts which sees Marie (ultimately played by Roxane Arnal as a younger version) perhaps attaining her "surface" goals of looking more beautiful, though sparking something more troubling in the process, and which also both hilariously and horrifyingly also sees Gérard finding out "beta" versions of technologies may not be wise. It's frankly hard to know what, if anything, Dupieux is intending to impart with this patently gonzo tale, but its inherent weirdness may be one of its chief allures.

Incredible But True Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Incredible But True is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Arrow only sent a check disc for purposes of this review, and so I'm not privy to any verbiage that might be included about the transfer in an insert booklet, and unfortunately the press sheet accompanying this release contains no pertinent technical information. The IMDb lists "RVZ" under camera on its technical specs page, but that seems to be a rental house, if I'm understanding things correctly. This is all to say I would have loved more information on this shoot and high definition transfer, because it has some really odd looking stuff going on in it (this aside and apart from the fact that the IMDb lists the original aspect ratio as 2.35:1 and this disc is in 1.78:1). Two things struck me almost immediately about this presentation, both of which are hopefully noticeable in the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review. The first is that gamma levels seem skewed, making things too bright and milky a lot of the time. The perhaps even weirder thing is that recurrently throughout the presentation the bottom of the frame looks out of focus, to the point that I'm wondering if the entire shoot was done with a malfunctioning lens (or lenses). You can clearly see this anomaly in several of the screenshots, and it's so bad at times that it's almost like looking at a "3D" presentation without the appropriate eyewear, though with that oddity confined to just the lower portion of the frame. The top two thirds or so of the frame tend to be sharp and well detailed, if too bright and lacking good contrast. Some of the low light material, specifically some of the basement and/or tunnel scenes are pretty noisy looking. Perhaps the dewy softeness hovering around the edges of the frame was a deliberate stylistic choice, but I have a hunch it's some kind of either capture anomaly or transfer issue.

Incredible But True Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Incredible But True features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 options in the original French. There's not a lot to the sound design in the film, though some whimsical electronic versions of various Johann Sebastian Bach "standards" may take Baby Boomers in particular back to the halcyon days of Wendy Carlos and her iconic Well Tempered Synthesizer albums. As such, there's not a huge difference between the surround and stereo tracks in terms of consistent immersion, though the 5.1 track does offer a bit more energy in the midrange and low end. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Incredible But True Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Cast and Director Interviews (HD; 16:44) feature Alain Chabat, Benoît Magimel and Quentin Dupieux. Subtitled in English.


• Upside Down, Inside Out (HD; 29:14) is an appreciation of the film and Dupieux by critic Elena Lazic.


• Trailers

  Trailer #1 (HD; 00:44)

  
  

  Trailer #2 (HD; 00:38)

  
  

  Trailer #3 (HD; 00:49)

Incredible But True Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Incredible But True is a lot of fun, and it's actually quite funny at times, but it probably could have used a bit more shaping. That said, part of the charm of the film is its "loosey goosey" ambience. I do recommend those interested in this release to take some time looking at the screenshots, which will probably do a better job than my fitful attempts at description in providing a look at some rather weird presentational aspects. Otherwise, though, Incredible But True should appeal to those with quirky sensibilities, and with caveats noted, comes Recommended.