6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Nick and Meg, a married couple approaching 60, return to Paris to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary, with hopes of reigniting the spark in their relationship. Desperately clinging on to their marriage, which has evidently gone stale in the past few years, they visit memorable landmarks and places of mutual interest in the French capital. Despite their best endeavours, it is clear that both possess reservations about the relationship. However, a chance encounter with an old friend results in the couple being invited to a party at his fashionable home, and their run-in with the Parisian bourgeoisie threatens to change their perspective on life - and each other - profoundly.
Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Jim Broadbent, Lindsay Duncan, Olly Alexander, Sophie-Charlotte HussonDrama | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Romance | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Some of you married readers who haven’t quite reached the thirty year anniversary mark that serves as the background to the alternately ebullient and acerbic film Le Week-End, probably have vacationed in Paris with your spouse and can attest that even the wonders and inherent romantic ambience of the City of Lights don’t always make for a stress free holiday. This deliberately small scale film may be big on the sights its characters whisk by, but its focus is intentionally intimate, detailing two people who have been with each other so long they communicate almost through telepathy. That doesn’t keep them from arguing or even occasionally engaging in more polite discourse, of course, but it’s notable that Le Week-End shies away from any overt melodrama, preferring instead to mine some rather considerable emotion out of those hushed moments that often take place between a husband and a wife, especially when they’re out in public and don’t want their dirty laundry being aired in front of complete strangers. The basic set up of Le Week-End is simplicity itself: married professors Nick (Jim Broadbent) and Meg (Lindsay Duncan) have decided to return to Paris, the place of their honeymoon some three decades past, for a weekend celebration of their anniversary. The two day jaunt ends up sparking a reexamination of their relationship, as well as bringing forth a revelation or two between them. Aside from a late entrance by Jeff Goldblum as an old college buddy of Nick’s, Le Week-End is almost entirely what theater buffs call a “two hander”, playing out nearly totally between Nick and Meg, and it’s a testament to the skill of frequent collaborators screenwriter Hanif Kureishi and director Roger Michell that the film is never less than engaging, if also at times more than a bit unsettling.
Le Week-End is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Music Box Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Shot digitally utilizing the Arri Alexa, Le Week-End is just a bit softer at times than many similarly shot features, and it also tends to tamp down the palette, playing out in shades of beige and (especially in wide shots featuring the whole of Paris) white. That said, the image here is completely stable and close-ups offer excellent fine detail, revealing everything from the down on Duncan's face to the deep crags on Broadbent's. Contrast is strong, though there are a number of quite dark scenes in the film that don't provide a wealth of shadow detail. There are no issues of video noise or other compression artifacts on display.
Le Week-End features two nice sounding lossless tracks, a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. The 5.1 track offers substantially more ambient surround activity and also provides a much more spacious soundfield for the absolutely charming jazz inflected score by Jeremy Sams (think "So What" era Miles Davis with muted trumpet). Everything is cleanly and clearly presented and very nicely prioritized with wonderful fidelity and no problems of any kind to report.
I'm not completely sure Le Week-End is quite as deep as it may seem, but that hardly matters when one takes into consideration the sheer breathless truth that emanates from the performances of Broadbent and Duncan. The film is a bit too discursive for its own good, talking around issues rather than confronting them head on, but that's part and parcel of the way this couple communicates. That old adage says "love conquers all", but Nick and Meg are still fighting back to various degrees. Highly recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
2014
Warner Archive Collection
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