7.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 5.0 | |
Overall | 5.0 |
Young Queen Margot finds herself trapped in an arranged marriage amidst a religious war between Catholics and Protestants. She hopes to escape with a new lover, but finds herself imprisoned by her powerful and ruthless family.
Starring: Isabelle Adjani, Daniel Auteuil, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Virna Lisi, Dominique BlancForeign | 100% |
Biography | 15% |
History | 14% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Romance | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
French: DTS 2.0
French SDH, English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Region free
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 5.0 | |
Overall | 5.0 |
Winner of Best Actress Award and Jury Prize at the Canes Film Festival, Patrice Chereau's "La Reine Margot" a.k.a. "Queen Margot" (1994) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French label Pathe. The supplemental features on the Blu-ray/DVD include an original restored trailer for the film; storyboard comparisons; new filmed conversation between scenarist/director Daniele Thompson and Patrice Chereau; deleted scenes; archival photos; new documentary film; and more. The release also arrives with a beautiful 48-page illustrated booklet with archival interviews and writings on the film in French. In French, with optional English and French SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Patrice Chereau's La Reine Margot arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French label Pathe.
Pathe restored La Reine Margot in 4K in 2013. The label entrusted the work, under the direction of the late French director, to Eclair Group for the image and L.E. Diapason for the sound. Pathe's Blu-ray release of La Reine Margot uses as a foundation the new 4K restoration.
I have nothing but great things to say about Pathe's new restoration and technical presentation of this very beautiful film. Indeed, there are dramatic improvements in every single area we typically scrutinize in our reviews, from depth to clarity to contrast stability to color saturation and grain management. Close-ups boast superb depth and crispness even in parts of the film where light is obviously restricted, while the large panoramic shots impress with outstanding fluidity (see screencaptures #1 and 14). Contrast levels remain stable throughout the entire film. Color reproduction is superb. During the restoration Patrice Chereau approved minor color corrections for this final Director' Cut of the film, but the enhancements are indeed most appropriate and beautifully balanced. (I have included a few upscaled screencaptures from Pathe's old R2 DVD release of La Reine Margot with our review so that you can see how convincing the new corrections are -- please see screencaptures #26, 27, 28, 29, and 30). Indeed, the variety of nuanced reds, blues, greens, browns, yellows, and grays are wonderfully well saturated and always looking healthy. Furthermore, there are no traces of problematic degraining or sharpening corrections. Unsurprisingly, the grain is well refined and resolved and the entire film has a remarkably strong organic appearance. Lastly, there are absolutely no stability issues to report in this review. Also, there are no specks, scratches, debris, cuts, or any other age-related imperfections. All in all, this is truly a spectacular presentation of La Reine Margot, which I am convinced will remain the film's definitive presentation on the home video market. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your PS3 or SA regardless of your geographical location. For the record, There is no problematic PAL or 1080/50i content preceding the main menu).
There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Also included is a French Descriptive Audio DTS 2.0 track. For the record, Pathe have provided optional English and French SDH subtitles for the main feature.
L.E. Diapason's audio restoration is equally impressive. I compared a number of different sequences from Pathe's R2 DVD release and the new Blu-ray release and I can comfortably state that the 5.1 track literally gives La Reine Margot an entirely new identity. The chaos during the massacre, for instance, is now a lot more intense, while Goran Bregovic's exotic soundtrack is better balanced. There is an entirely new range of nuanced dynamics that transform the intimate sequences. Also, despite the constant movement the dialog remains exceptionally crisp, clean, and very easy to follow.
Note: The supplemental content on the Blu-ray is perfectly playable on all North American Blu-ray players, including the PS3. To access the supplemental content on the DVD, you must have a Region-Free Blu-ray player or a Region-Free DVD player capable of converting PAL to NSTC.
Blu-ray
Pathe's new 4K restoration of Patrice Chereau's La Reine Margot is stunning. In fact, I would argue that it is likely the best restoration to emerge from France since the high-definition format was launched. As far as I am concerned, at this point it is undoubtedly a prime contender for Blu-ray release of the year. Bravo Pathe! (In the United States, Cohen Media will bring the 4K restoration to Blu-ray in August. If you do not reside in a Region-B territory, I urge you to wait for Cohen Media's release as I assume that it will have many of the supplemental features from Pathe's release, which are not English-friendly). VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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