Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

La Belle Captive Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov March 2, 2015

Alain Robbe-Grillet's "The Beautiful Prisoner" a.k.a. "La Belle Captive" (1983) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of independent U.S. distributors Olive Films. The only bonus feature is an original French theatrical trailer for the film. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

A kiss to remember...

Secret agent Walter Raim (Daniel Mesguich, Love on the Run) meets a beautiful girl (Gabrielle Lazure, La Crime) in a smoky bar somewhere on the outskirts of Paris. They flirt with each other and dance, but before Walter can convince the girl to give him her phone number she disappears into the night.

A few hours later, Walter meets his boss, Sara Zeitgeist (Cyrielle Claire, The Professional), an elegant brunette dressed in black leather, who hands him a letter for Count Henri de Corinthe. Walter is asked to find the Count, wait for him to read the letter and bring his written reply to Sara.

On a dark country road, Walter once again meets the girl from the bar -- this time she is bound and bloodied, unable to talk, and possibly even unable to recognize him. Convinced that she is seriously hurt, he drives her to the nearest villa where a silent servant lets them in and a man in a crisp white tuxedo offers her a red drink. Walter and the girl are then locked in a room by another man who introduces himself as Dr. Morgantodt (François Chaumette, My Nights Are More Beautiful Than Your Days).

On the following morning Walter wakes up in an empty bed with a bloody mark on his neck and with the strange feeling that he has entered a world where nothing is what it seems.

Utterly perplexed and feeling exhausted, Walter begins looking for the Count. Eventually he arrives at the Count’s lavish home, but discovers that he has just died of a heart attack. A bald and unusually ugly detective (Daniel Emilfork, The City of Lost Children) then informs him that the Count may have had something to do with the disappearance of his fiancé, a young beauty who looks a lot like the mysterious girl from the bar.

The painting -- La Belle Captive by the great Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte -- hanging above the bed in the villa where Walter and the girl make love reveals how to deconstruct Alain Robe-Grillet’s seemingly incoherent film. There is an internal frame in it (part of a painting placed within the painting), which essentially separates the real from the imaginary, but it can be clearly seen only if one actually comes very close to it or steps back and carefully analyzes the visual composition and the different layers of information that are part of it.

The film is structured in similar way. The real and the surreal constantly overlap but the mind is repeatedly tricked to misplace them. The ensuing ambiguity is loaded with motifs from Magritte’s art that are used to question traditional concepts of identity and sexuality, as well as the order in which words are used to accept and reject and the manner in which the mind limits one’s ability to see beyond what it cannot rationalize.

The scattered pieces of the puzzle La Belle Captive is can be arranged in a couple of different ways so that there is a complete story with a logical finale, but this isn’t necessary to enjoy the film or appreciate Robe-Grillet’s delicate sense of humor. Allowing the mind to roam freely and explore the frequently very odd possibilities is more than enough to have a terrific time with this brilliantly scripted film.

The excellent management of light and color by the great Henri Alekan (Beauty and the Beast, Wings of Desire) infuse the film with a tremendous atmosphere. It is quite possible that the original set decorations also had a major impact on Stanley Kubrick (Eyes Wide Shut) and David Lynch (Lost Highway).

La Belle Captive Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.67:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Alain Robbe-Grillet's La Belle Captive arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films.

The release uses as a foundation the same remaster (licensed from Argos Films) which French label Carlotta Films accessed when they prepared their DVD release of La Belle Captive for the nine-disc box set of Alain Robbe-Grillet films. What this means is that the presentation is vastly superior to the first non-anamorphic R1 DVD release Koch Lorber produced. Indeed, not only are depth and clarity dramatically improved -- with the dream sequences, in particular, looking strikingly better -- but color reproduction is also a lot more convincing. Because color and shadow are utilized in a variety of different ways throughout the entire film, these improvements are easy to see virtually everywhere. There are no traces of problematic sharpening adjustments. Additionally, a layer of extremely light grain is retained throughout the entire film, but a slightly better encoding could have exposed it even better. (On the remaster the grain has been very carefully toned down a bit, but the integrity of the film is unaffected and as result it has a lovely organic appearance). There are no transition issues or general stability issues. Lastly, there are no large debris, cuts, stains, or damage marks to report in this review. All in all, this is a strong and competent technical presentation of La Belle Captive which is guaranteed to please fans of the film who have been patiently waiting for it to transition to Blu-ray. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

La Belle Captive Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. For the record, Olive Films have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

The classical score (with some lovely violin solos) enhances the dreamy atmosphere very well. The dynamic intensity, however, is unlikely to impress viewers who appreciate the sound designs big-budget contemporary films typically have. The dialog and the narration are exceptionally crisp, stable, and always easy to follow. Also, there is absolutely no background hiss. The English translation is very good.

La Belle Captive Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original French theatrical trailer for La Belle Captive. In French, with optional English subtitles. (4 min, 1080p).

La Belle Captive Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Alain Robbe-Grillet's La Belle Captive is a wild and very trippy thriller that should appeal to viewers who love to challenge themselves with unconventional films. Lensed by the great Henri Alekan (the classic Beauty and the Beast), it is also strikingly beautiful and simply perfect to experience on Blu-ray. Fortunately, Olive Films' release does not disappoint. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.