Le Amiche Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.5

Le Amiche Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov May 20, 2016

Michelangelo Antonioni's "Le Amiche" a.k.a. "The Girlfriends" (1955) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include new filmed conversation between film scholars David Forgacs and Karen Pinkus and new video interview with scholar Eugenia Paulicelli. The release also arrives with an illustrated leaflet featuring film scholar Tony Pipolo's essay "Friends - Italian Style". In Italian, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

On the beach

Clelia (Eleonora Rossi Drago, Violent Summer, Camille 2000) is a young and very ambitious woman who has returned to her native Turin and landed her dream job -- managing a chic fashion house. While staying in one of the city’s top hotels, she discovers an unconscious woman in one of the rooms. Soon it becomes obvious that the woman has tried to commit suicide because she has fallen in love with a man who is already in a serious relationship. The heartbroken woman’s name is Rosetta (Madeleine Fischer, The Bachelor).

Through Rosetta Clelia befriends a group of wealthy women and men -- Momina (Yvonne Furneaux, La Dolce Vita, Repulsion), an overconfident beauty who likes to be in control; Nene (Valentina Cortese, Day for Night, Juliet of the Spirits), a talented artist who is engaged to an egoistic man (Gabriele Ferzetti, L'avventura, Machine Gun McCain) whose secret life is slowly spinning out of control; and Mariella (Anna Maria Pancani, The Bachelor), a capricious, flirtatious and conceited beauty who does not mind kissing on a first date. While the fashion house is getting rebuilt and decorated, Clelia also befriends the chief architect’s assistant, Carlo (Ettore Manni, Mademoiselle).

The more time Clelia spends with her new friends, the more she begins to realize how incredibly unstable their lives are. The women have everything they want but are constantly dissatisfied and frustrated with their relationships. The men they meet and have affairs with also routinely fail to meet their expectations. Eventually, Clelia begins to understand why. She also attempts to get closer to Carlo, who is disliked by her friends because of his working-class background. Carlo loves spending time with Clelia, but he is unable to overcome the feeling that they are simply not right for each other.

With the exception of Clelia, all of the main protagonists in Michelangelo Antonioni’s Le Amiche are love addicts. They constantly need a fix. When love is in short supply, their personalities immediately change -- they become angry, jealous, depressed, at times even suicidal.

It takes awhile for Clelia to truly understand her friends. In the beginning she assumes that they are simply the most eccentric people she has ever connected with. But later on she realizes that they are actually products of their environment and obsessed with quantity, not quality. Unsurprisingly, their endless love affairs are always short-lived, disappointing and painful.

Le Amiche is not as pessimistic as many of Atonioni’s later films, specifically Red Desert and Zabriskie Point, but it definitely harbors plenty of the same coldness they exude. In one of the film’s most dramatic sequences Clelia is seen at a giant train station trying to phone Carlo, hoping to see him one last time before she leaves Turin. A man approaches her and attempts to engage her in a conversation, but she treats him simply as an object. This is typical Antonioni -- it is a beautiful, very elegant sequence, but also enormously sad.

Le Amiche (The Girlfriends) is based on Cesare Pavese’s novel Tra donne sole ( Among Women Only), but the film’s narrative is slightly updated. In the novel there is a prominent lesbian affair which Antonioni omitted. (Pavese committed suicide shortly after completing his novel).

Note: In 1955, Le Amiche won Silver Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival. A year later, the film won Silver Ribbon Awards for Best Director and Best Supporting Actress (Valentina Cortese).

Le Amiche Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Michelangelo Antonioni's Le Amiche arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

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

"Supervised by film historian Carlo Di Carlo in 2008, this 2K restoration was undertaken by L'Immagine Ritrovata, with funding provided by Gucci and The Film Foundation, from the 35mm original camera negative. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered at L'Immagine Ritrovata from a 35mm optical soundtrack positive printed from the original soundtrack negative."

I've did some direct comparisons between British label Eureka Entertainment's release and this new release and I can't see any notable differences between them to mention in our review. They are both sourced from the same 2K restoration of the film and the basic qualities we typically address look virtually identical. During the restoration some very gentle digital work has been done to rebalance the image, but depth and clarity are consistently very pleasing (see screencaptures #1 and 12). Fluidity is also drastically improved, though it should be said that the old R1 DVD release was incredibly problematic and so this is hardly surprising. Contrast levels are stable and convincing. There is a fine range of nuanced grays and whites, while the blacks are lush and stable. Overall image stability is excellent. There are no large damage marks, cuts, debris, stains, or torn frames. My score is 4.75/5.00. (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).

Le Amiche Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Italian LPCM 1.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

Clarity and depth are excellent, but dynamic movement is quite modest. However, this isn't a source limitation. There are some segments where Giovanni Fusco's score opens up the film a bit, but the original sound design is hardly impressive. The dialog is clean, stable, and always easy to follow. There are no pops, audio dropouts, or digital distortions to report in our review.

Le Amiche Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• David Forgacs and Karen Pinkus - in this new video interview, film scholars David Forgacs and Karen Pinkus discuss some of the key themes in Le Amiche, the emergence of alienation as a key element in Michelangelo Antonioni's work, Cesare Pavese's novella Tra donne sole and some of the changes that were made in the film, the changing landscape around marriage and relationships in Italy at the time when the film was made, etc. The interview was recorded in New York in 2016 for Criterion. In English, not subtitled. (28 min, 1080p).

• Eugenia Paulicelli - in this new video interview, scholar Eugenia Paulicelli discusses the important role fashion had in Michelangelo Antonioni's films and its significance for Italy's post-war image abroad. The interview was conducted in New York in 2016 for Criterion. In English, not subtitled. (23 min, 1080p).

• Leaflet - an illustrated leaflet featuring film scholar Tony Pipolo's essay "Friends - Italian Style".

Le Amiche Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I think that without the Trilogy of Alienation Le Amiche most likely would have remained Michelangelo Antonioni's masterpiece. It is a very stylish film whose understanding of the evolving nature of relationships in post-war Italy was way ahead of its time. Criterion's upcoming Blu-ray release of Le Amiche is sourced from the 2008 restoration of the film that was funded by Gucci and The Film Foundation. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.