8 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 5.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
In a huge, old-fashioned luxury hotel, a stranger tries to persuade a married woman to run away with him, but it seems she hardly remembers the affair they may have had (or not?) last year at Marienbad.
Starring: Delphine Seyrig, Giorgio Albertazzi, Sacha Pitoeff, Françoise Bertin, Jean LanierDrama | 100% |
Foreign | 82% |
Romance | 24% |
Surreal | 17% |
Mystery | 7% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 4.5 | |
Overall | 5.0 |
Alain Resnais' "Last Year at Marienbad" (1961) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include a vintage trailer for the film; new video interview with second assistant director Volker Schlöndorff; new video essay by critic James Quandt; documentary on the making of the film; and more. The release also arrives with a 10-page illustrated booklet featuring an essay by critic Austin Collins and credits. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
The players
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Alain Resnais' Last Year at Marienbad arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.
The release is sourced from StudioCanal's recent 4K restoration of the film. Last year, the restoration was introduced on Blu-ray in a couple of different European markets. We reviewed StudioCanal's British Region-B release here.
I really do not have any new observations to add to my initial comments. I still think that Criterion's out-of-print release looks very strong, even by current standards. However, the new 4K restoration introduces small improvements that I think become very meaningful if you are viewing your films on a larger screen or project. Density levels, for instance, are stronger, and this is something that immediately impacts fluidity, which I consider a key quality. (If you use a 65-inch TV, or a bigger one, the improvement is pretty significant. If you project, the better density produces higher quality visuals that are impossible to ignore). Obviously, the grain is now finer and 'tighter', though on the Criterion release the grain is just as healthy. The new 4K restoration is also very carefully graded, so expect to see better balanced ranges of nuances, especially in darker areas, such as the hallways of the chateau. The overall image stability of the visuals is outstanding. Great restoration. (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).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.
The audio is clean, stable, and free of balance issues. I don't know if any specific improvements were done when the new 4K restoration was prepared, but if there were any, I could not detect them. I think that the lossless track from Criterion's release is just as good.
StudioCanal's recent 4K restoration of Alain Resnais' classic mind-bender Last Year at Marienbad is a beauty, and the only flaw that I can spot on this release is the absence of a 4K Blu-ray disc to go along with the Blu-ray disc. Regardless, the technical presentation is outstanding. Also, the release has another excellent exclusive new video interview with Volker Schlondorff, which was conducted at the same time he recorded The Demon Within Him piece for the new release of Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Doulos. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
L'année dernière à Marienbad / First Printing DigiPak with Embossed Slipcover
1961
L'année dernière à Marienbad
1961
L'année dernière à Marienbad
1961
Il deserto rosso
1964
1965
Vivre sa vie: Film en douze tableaux / My Life to Live
1962
Le dernier métro
1980
重慶森林 / Chung Hing sam lam
1994
The North
1983
Der Himmel über Berlin
1987
Солярис / Solyaris
1972
La double vie de Véronique
1991
Det sjunde inseglet
1957
1978
1967
Otto e mezzo / Federico Fellini's 8½
1963
Trois couleurs: Rouge
1994
Contempt / 60th Anniversary
1963
Les quatre cents coups
1959
Jules et Jim
1962
La règle du jeu
1939
1934
Ansiktet
1958