La Vie de Bohème Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.5

La Vie de Bohème Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov January 4, 2014

Winner of FIPRESCI Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival, Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki's "La Vie de Boheme" (1992) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an exclusive video interview with French actor Andre Wilms and Veikko Nieminen's documentary film "Where Is Musette?". The release also arrives with an illustrated booklet featuring an essay by critic Luc Sante. In French, with optional English subtitles. Region-A "locked".

Rodolfo, Schaunard and Marcel

The three protagonists in Finnish auteur Aki Kaurismaki’s first French-language film have special talents – or so they think. They are also broke, but are absolutely convinced that they are in the right place - the beautiful City of Lights - and it is only a matter of time before their work is recognized. The first, Marcel Marx (Andre Wilms, Le Havre, Monsieur Hire), is a lonely but motivated playwright who has just discovered that he has been evicted. The second, Rodolfo (Matti Pellonpaa, Drifting Clouds, Ariel), is an Albanian painter who has overstayed his visa. The third, Schaunard (Kari Vaananen, Leningrad Cowboys Go America), is a dreamy pianist and composer in love with atonal music.

Shortly after he is kicked out of his apartment, Marcel meets Rodolfo for the first time in a cheap bistro. The two share a meal and a few bottles of red wine. Then, having forgotten that he no longer has a place to call home, the visibly drunk Marcel invites Rodolfo back to his apartment. When Marcel attempts to unlock the door, Schaunard, also visibly drunk, opens up and invites them to come in and drink with him. By the early morning hours, the men are convinced that fate has brought them together for a reason.

The next casual encounter is between Rodolfo and Mimi (Evelyn Didi, Le Havre, One Deadly Summer), a quiet and beautiful young woman whom he discovers in the corridor of his apartment building. He invites her to spend the night at his place and when she agrees like a true gentleman he heads to the nearby cemetery so that she can rest without worrying that something terrible might happen to her in the middle of the night. Deeply moved by his generosity and manners, Mimi allows herself to fall in love with Rodolfo.

In the days ahead, Marcel is interviewed by the unfriendly magazine publisher Gassot (played by the great Samuel Fuller) who surprises everyone with his decision to hire him as an editor, while Rodolfo is approached by the wealthy businessman Blancheron (Jean-Pierre Leaud, The 400 Blows, Masculin Féminin) who has suddenly discovered the beauty of art and decided to start collecting paintings.

This very unusual adaptation of Henri Murger's novel Scenes de la Vie de Boheme is arguably one of Kaurismaki’s best films. It has the stylistic DNA of a lush noir film, the classic ultra-dry sense of humor Kaurismaki’s work is known for, and a special attitude that makes it rather unpredictable.

The film is basically a tribute to a bohemian Paris as imagined by Kaurismaki, not a faithful adaptation of Murger’s novel. Naturally, even though the city which the Finnish auteur has fallen in love with does not exist, everything is filmed with so much care and affection that it is awfully difficult to question its authenticity.

The plot is more or less irrelevant. What is important is to notice the constant theme in the film, which is the struggle of the main protagonists to live their lives as they wish. They cheat, they steal, and they lie, but they have to because they must continue to create. It does not matter that their art isn’t appreciated. The effort behind it is what makes them feel alive.

The ultra-dry humor is infused in the film with a good dose of unforgiving sarcasm that makes select sequences look both incredibly funny and remarkably sad and even depressing at the same time. During these sequences viewers unfamiliar with Kaurismaki’s unique style will likely have a difficult time deciding how to react.

Note: In addition to Samuel Fuller, the great French director Louis Malle also has a small cameo in the film.

La Vie de Bohème Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.84:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Aki Kaurismaki's La Vie de Boheme arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray release:

"Supervised by director Aki Kaurismaki, this new high-definition digital transfer was created on an ARRISCAN film scanner from a 35mm fine-grain positive at Cinepost Production in Hamburg. The film was also restored at Cinepost Production.

The original stereo soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from the 35mm optical soundtrack negative. Clicks, thumps, hiss, and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube's integrated workstation.

Transfer supervisor: Aki Kaurismaki.
Colorist: Jochen Hinrichs-Stoldt/Cinepost Production, Hamburg."

The film looks quite beautiful on Blu-ray. Image depth and clarity are consistently pleasing, while the darker footage boasts excellent shadow definition. Sharpness levels could have been slightly toned down, but for the most part they are indeed appropriate for the noirish atmosphere. There are no traces of excessive degraining corrections. Unsurprisingly, from start to finish the film has a solid organic look. There are no stability issues to report in this review. A few extremely light scratches are visible here and there, but there are absolutely no large damage marks, debris, stains, or warps. All in all, this is a fine organic presentation of La Vie de Boheme that is guaranteed to please fans of the Finnish director's work. (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 Vie de Bohème Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French LPCM 1.0. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

La Vie de Boheme does not have a prominent soundtrack. Excluding a short sequence where a loud rock band is heard performing, music is almost completely ignored. Unsurprisingly, the range of nuanced dynamics is rather limited. However, the dialog is exceptionally crisp, stable, and very easy to follow. Also, there are absolutely no pops, cracks, problematic background hiss, audio dropouts, or distortions to report in this review. The English translation is excellent.

La Vie de Bohème Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Andre Wilms - in this video interview, French actor Andre Wilms, who also appeared in Aki Kaurismaki's latest film Le Havre, recalls his work with the Finnish director on La Vie de Boheme. The interview was conducted exclusively for Criterion in 2012. In English, not subtitled. (12 min, 1080p).

• Where is Musette? - this documentary film was produced during the shooting of La Vie de Boheme in the suburbs of Paris. It features raw footage from the shooting of different sequences as well as various cast and crew interviews. In Finnish, Portuguese, French, and English, with optional English subtitles where necessary. (52 min, 1080i).

La Vie de Bohème Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Aki Kaurismaki is without a shadow of a doubt one of contemporary cinema's most unique voices. His films have a certain style, rhythm and above all atmosphere that make them instantly recognizable. Criterion have done a lot to promote the Finnish director's work -- in addition to La Vie de Boheme and Le Havre a good number of his films are already available on DVD via the Eclipse series -- so I urge you to consider spending some time with them. I guarantee that at the very least you will be seriously amused by their uncharacteristic sense of humor. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.