Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Le Plaisir Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov March 23, 2014

Nominated for Oscar Award for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White, Max Ophuls' "Le Plaisir" (1952) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French label Gaumont. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; filmed conversation with assistant director Jean Valerie; featurette on the film's restoration; and video interview with documentary filmmaker Marcel Ophuls. In French, with optional English and French SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Danielle Darrieux and Jean Gabin

Le Plaisir, the second film Max Ophuls directed in France after he left Hollywood, is based on three short stories by Guy de Maupassant. Each story offers some food for thought about people’s ever-evolving definition of pleasure.

The first story, The Mask, is set in Paris at le Palais de la Danse, a lavish and very popular ballroom. Ophuls’ camera casually observes the busy place before it approaches a man (Jean Galland, Lola Montes) wearing a mask. He flirts and dances with the young girls around him and then suddenly collapses. A doctor (Claude Dauphin, The Tenant) is quickly called to examine him. Eventually, the man is taken back to his home, where his disillusioned wife (Gaby Morlay, Gigi) reveals to the doctor how years ago he made her fall in love with him but never stopped flirting with other women. As he grew older, the man started wearing a mask to hide his age so that he can continue enjoying his naughty lifestyle.

The second story, La Maison Tellier, is the most sophisticated one. Its title refers to a popular brothel in a provincial Normandy town whose regular clients are some of the area’s wealthiest and most conservative residents. The men begin confronting each other when the diplomatic madam Tellier (Madeleine Renaud, The Carmelites) temporarily closes the popular establishment so that she and her courtesans can attend the communion of her niece, Constance (Jocelyne Jany), who lives in a small village in the countryside with her brother Joseph (Jean Gabin, Le Quai Des Brumes), a naughty carpenter who loves to drink. Madam Tellier and her courtesans then unintentionally alter the rhythm of life in the village. As soon as they enter the area’s only church, the men become unusually polite while the women become uncharacteristically nervous. Before they leave, the naughty Joseph warms up to Rosa (the always elegant Danielle Darrieux, Madame de...), the most beautiful courtesan, but his sister quickly warns him that he cannot allow himself to fall in love with her. Eventually, life in the provincial town returns to normal when much to everyone’s delight madam Tellier reopens her popular brothel.

The third and final story, Le Modele, is about a very beautiful model (Simone Simon, La Bête Humaine) and a poor artist (Daniel Gelin, Murmur of the Heart). The two fall madly in love with each other and the artist’s luck changes. But their passion fades away and eventually they begin questioning whether they were meant to be a couple. When the girl attempts to rekindle their relationship, the artist makes a terrible decision that changes their lives forever.

The balance between comedy and drama is so delicate yet so well maintained in this film that it is almost impossible to believe that it was shot in the early ‘50s. The manner in which the different characters are profiled -- while their dependence on some sort of pleasure which defies who they are and how they live their lives is exposed -- is also strikingly modern. Frankly, the entire film is like a giant puzzle whose pieces can be effectively rearranged in different ways to show that life is a never-ending cycle of rediscovering feelings and desires which only temporarily make it seem logical. (The brilliant adaptation of Maupassant’s stories is surely the reason why Stanley Kubrick named Le Plaisir his favorite film).

Ophuls used two different cinematographers to shoot Le Plaisir, but the fluid camera movement is equally impressive in all three stories. The Mask and La Maison Tellier were lensed by the legendary Christian Matras (Madame de…), while Le Modele was lensed by Philippe Agostini (Jules Dassin’s Rififi, Robert Bresson’s Angels of Sin).

Le Plaisir Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Max Ophuls' Le Plaisir arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French label Gaumont.

Le Plaisir looks far more convincing in high-definition than Madame de.... Generally speaking, depth and clarity are consistently more pleasing, while contrast levels remain stable even where there are some obvious inherited source limitations (there are parts of the film that look slightly softer). Some extremely light denoising corrections have been applied, but they have not affected the integrity of the film. In fact, together with some stabilization adjustments and careful removal of dirt and debris they have helped the film look healthier. There are no problematic sharpening corrections. Finally, the encoding is also superior to that of Madam de.... There is some room for minor improvements, but there are no serious issues to report in this review. All in all, this is pleasing organic presentation of La Plaisir that is very easy to recommend to fans of the film who have previously experienced it only on DVD. My score is 3.75/5.00. (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 disc's main menu).

Le Plaisir 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, Gaumont have provided optional English and French SDH subtitles for the main feature.

Depth and clarity are very good. Overall dynamic intensity is modest, but this should not be surprising because such is the film's original sound design. Even the passing train in the second story sounds fairly weak. The dialog and the narration are clear, stable, and easy to follow. Occasionally some extremely light background hiss sneaks in, but its presence never becomes distracting. The English translation is excellent.

Le Plaisir Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Bande-annonce - restored original French theatrical trailer for Le Plaisir. In French, not subtitled. (5 min).

• Le Plaisir restaure - in this video piece, restoration supervisor Ronald Boullet (Eclair Group) and Andre Labbouz (Gaumont) discuss the restoration of Le Plaisir. In French, not subtitled. (7 min).

• Journal d'un tournage - in this video piece, Jean Valerie, Max Ophuls' assistant director on Le Plaisir, discusses his contribution to the film and discusses the legendary German director's working methods. In French, not subtitled. (33 min).

• Presentation du film par Marcel Ophuls - documentary filmmaker Marcel Ophuls, son of Max Ophuls, discusses Le Plaisir. In French, not subtitled. (14 min).

Le Plaisir Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

French label Gaumont's Blu-ray release of Max Ophuls' Le Plaisir represents a strong upgrade in quality over previous DVD releases of the film in different regions. It has been recently restored and looks far more convincing in high-definition than the legendary Madame de.... I don't know if a North American Blu-ray release of Le Plaisir is planned, but if Criterion decide to upgrade their R1 DVD release I have to speculate that more than likely they will use Gaumont's restoration. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.