Jours tranquilles à Clichy Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Jours tranquilles à Clichy Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 22, 2012

Claude Chabrol's "Jours tranquilles a Clichy" a.k.a. "Quiet Days in Clichy" (1990) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French distributors LCJ Editions. The supplemental features on the disc include original trailers and text-format filmography. In English or French, with optional French subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

Colette

The 1930s. American writer Joey (Andrew McCarthy, St. Elmo's Fire) and his best friend Karl (Nigel Havers, Chariots of Fire) spend most of their time in the chic night clubs and lavish brothels of Paris looking for inspiration. They are not rich, but they always have enough to make the women around them happy.

Even though he rarely sleeps alone, Joey often feels lonely. He has many friends and lovers, but they don’t excite him - at least not intellectually. A few of them are good listeners, but he knows that they don’t understand him. The dilemmas they want to talk about are trivial, while their goals are laughable.

Karl is a man of action who appreciates variety -- especially when it comes to women willing to share his bed. He often wonders why his friend gets frustrated with life when Paris has everything a man could possibly dream of. He does not fully understand what goes on in Joey’s head but respects his philosophy and style.

While visiting one of their famous brothels, Joey and Karl fall under the spell of Colette (Stéphanie Cotta), a 13, possibly 14-year-old girl, who is protected by the owner. After a series of strange encounters, Joey concludes that she is possibly the only person in Paris who truly understands him. Karl simply likes the fact that none of his usual tricks seem to be working on her.

Despite the emergence of the exciting Colette, Joey and Karl continue their celebration of life. They get drunk and make love as often as they can afford and then write about their experiences. Eventually, the two friends decide to slow down their activities and proceed to marry Colette.

Meanwhile, on the streets of Paris leftists and rightists clash with the police, while outside of France the European media begins paying attention to Hitler’s rise to power.

French director Claude Chabrol’s take on Henry Miller’s famous novel feels like a big wet dream that lasts longer than it should. It is appropriately explicit, but lacking the cohesiveness Jens Jørgen Thorsen’s film, for instance, has. In Chabrol’s film, it is also practically impossible to figure out what Miller’s life philosophy was.

The nightclubs and lavish brothels look great, but the prostitutes look distractingly sophisticated. (The only exception is the one played by the stunningly beautiful Anna Galiena, Le mari de la coiffeuse). The majority of the women Miller met and later on described in his book were quite different. Also, the surrealist element of his stories is only partially suggested in the film.

McCarthy and Havers are likable, but it is difficult to imagine them as the real duo that became obsessed with the sleaze of Paris. Even when they are drunk, they behave like gentlemen well aware of their limits. Cotta does not seem like the right actress for her part either, though she certainly isn’t shy before the camera.

The political demonstrations in the final third of the film are a distraction that should have been avoided at all costs. This is the only time when the film looks painfully amateurish. A few clips with archival footage, such as the ones used earlier, would have been far more appropriate. The rest of the film, however, is beautifully lensed by Jean Rabier (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Cleo From 5 to 7).

Jours tranquilles à Clichy Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.67:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080/50i transfer, Claude Chabrol's Quiet Days in Clichy arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French distributors LCJ Editions.

Even though the high-definition transfer is interlaced, the majority of the film looks quite good. Most close-ups convey acceptable detail, while some of the sequences from the nightclubs boast decent clarity. Contrast levels are also stable. However, when light is restricted the film looks quite soft, and some motion judder is also visible. Filtering corrections have been applied, and the larger your screen is, the easier it will be for you to notice them. Finally, edge enhancement is not a serious issue of concern, but some light artifacts are occasionally easy to spot. To sum it all up, the presentation is acceptable only if one views the film on a relatively small screen. Clearly, there is plenty of room for improvement. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Jours tranquilles à Clichy Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: English Dolby Digital 2.0 and French Dolby Digital 2.0. For the record, LCJ Editions have provided optional French subtitles for the main feature.

The original English audio track is fairly modest. The film has an attractive jazzy score but there are only a few sequences where it comes alive. Clearly, a good lossless track would have opened up the entire film in a convincing fashion as the proper material is obviously there. The dialog is crisp, clean, stable, and free of problematic distortions.

Jours tranquilles à Clichy Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Bande annonce - original French trailer for Quiet Days in Clichy. In French, not subtitled. (2 min, PAL).

• Bande-annonce - original English trailer for Quiet Days in Clichy. In English, with imposed French subtitles. (2 min, PAL).

• Filmography - Claude Chabrol filmography. In text-format.

Jours tranquilles à Clichy Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I much prefer Danish director Jens Jørgen Thorsen's rougher take on Henry Miller's famous novel. Claude Chabrol's film is too handsome and often too elegant, lacking the proper spirit. It is worth seeing, but the 1970 film is clearly the better one. The presentation obviously could have been a lot more convincing. If you are interested in seeing Quiet Days in Clichy, my advice to you is to find a way to RENT IT first.