Kompromat Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Kompromat Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 20, 2024

Jerome Salle's "Kompromat" (2022) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Magnolia Home Entertainment. The supplemental features on the release include making of featurette and deleted scene. In French or English, with optional English and English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

What happened to the KGB after the Soviet Union collapsed? Historians offer two answers. According to the first, the KGB self-destructed after it orchestrated the coup d’etat against Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991. According to the second, the KGB did not die. It only adapted to the new reality after the end of the Soviet Union. How exactly? It rebranded itself as the new three-letter agency FSB, the Federal Security Service, and then rehired many of the same people who used to run operations for the KGB. Also, the FSB engaged the many private security companies that former KGB elements had established, ensuring that all of the country’s new business leaders were under its umbrella. Because the new and more diverse political spectrum was dominated by businessmen, this meant that the FSB had control over the country’s new generation of politicians as well. In other words, while a lot changed after the Soviet Union collapsed, including the KGB, very little changed.

What happened to the KGB’s notorious working methods? Were they eliminated or updated? Jerome Salle’s film Kompromat offers several very short answers and plenty of food for thought, while claiming to reconstruct a true story.

At the center of this story is Mathieu Roussel (Gilles Lellouche), a Frenchman who lives with his wife and daughter in the Siberian city of Irkutsk, where he represents Alliance Francaise. While trying to repair his crumbling marriage, Roussel is arrested by FSB agents and accused of owning and disseminating child pornography. Before he can recover from the shocking charge, which is validated by documents signed by his wife who has abandoned him and returned to France, Roussel is thrown in a high-security prison where the area’s worst criminal elements are kept. While his case is studied and a court date determined, thanks to an experienced lawyer with valuable connections, Roussel is allowed to move back to the house he has been calling home, but with a big electronic bracelet on his ankle that allows the FSB to monitor his movement. However, Roussel is denied a phone and access to the internet and warned that if he attempts to establish contact with the French authorities, in Russia or France, he will be promptly relocated to the high-security prison. Shortly after, a Russian woman (Joanna Julig), whom Roussel had befriended in a nightclub, helps him activate a cell phone, and with additional assistance from her, he embarks on a dangerous journey through frozen Siberia, hoping to reach Estonia and from there return home to France.

The short answers that emerge from Kompromat are these:

In modern Russia, the FSB can frame and destroy anyone, at any time. Even though it serves the state, the FSB is run by a small group of powerful players who can adjust its authority in much the same way powerful Party leaders did when they ran the KGB. Because of rapid advancements in technology, the FSB is even better at utilizing kompromats. (Kompromat refers to damaging material that is gathered, stored, and used to manipulate an individual or organization that is targeted by the state. In the Soviet Union, the KGB actively manufactured compromising material on behalf of the Party as well).

While Salle’s understanding and depiction of the FSB and its work are pretty accurate, the characters that emerge around Roussel are quite disappointing. Indeed, virtually all are Soviet-era simpletons that cannot properly process information and make rational decisions during crunch time, which is why the entire campaign against Roussel looks disappointingly artificial. The FSB is an even more effective power structure than the KGB precisely because its leaders and top personnel are no longer one-dimensional Party hardliners. All are incredibly intelligent and versatile pragmatists with a near-perfect grasp of the reality and its inhabitants they are tasked to control.

Kompromat Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.40:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Kompromat arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Magnolia Home Entertainment.

Some of the darker footage reveals slightly elevated black levels that leave the impression that gamma levels are not set properly. However, it is very, very difficult to be absolutely certain whether something is off because Komromat is a recent film with a stylized digital appearance. It could very well be that in darker areas the existing balance between the blacks and grays is entirely correct. Aside from some areas, which are again darker areas with different types of shadows, where some small encoding optimizations could have been introduced, the rest looks great. For example, delineation, clarity, and depth are always very good or excellent. Image stability is outstanding. The fluidity of the visuals is impeccable as well. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Kompromat Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (with large portions of Russian) and Enlgish DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Optional English and English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

I viewed the entire film with the original French audio track, which is outstanding. There is quite a bit of action where dynamic intensity and separation are excellent. The dialog is exceptionally clear and clean. I suspect that the film has an all-digital soundtrack, so the 5.1 track almost certainly replicates its native qualities as they were introduced during the mixing process. The English translation is very good.

Kompromat Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Deleted Scene - in French, with English subtitles. (2 min).

• Back on Set: Making of Kompromat - in this program, Jerome Salle explains what inspired him to shoot Kompromat and discusses its story. Gilles Lellouche and Joanna Kulig comment as well. In French and English, with English subtitles. (17 min).

Kompromat Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It is easy to conclude that the reconstruction of the true story is deeply flawed because the characters that emerge around Mathieu Roussel are all clichéd replicas of Soviet-era simpletons. On the other hand, the film's grasp of the FSB and its capabilities is pretty good. As a result, the viewing experience quickly becomes enormously frustrating because it is obvious that an authentic depiction of the framing and hunt of the Frenchman could have produced a very special film.