Léon Morin, Priest Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Léon Morin, Priest Blu-ray Movie Review

A exploration on faith with compelling performances by Jean-Paul Belmondo and Emmanuelle Riva

Exploring some highly complex societal themes revolving around issues of faith and religion, Jean-Pierre Melville's Léon Morin, Priest is a fascinating character-study drama about Léon Morin (Jean-Paul Belmondo), a priest who is beloved by many in his town but who struggles with his growing affection for a younger widow, the gorgeous Barny (Emmanuelle Riva). Taking place in France during the period of Nazi occupation in the country, the story delicately explores both the intimate relations of its characters while posing some serious thematic questions for audiences to explore.

When the widow Barny comes to give priest Morin her confessions, she falls into a conversational spell with the complex and charming priest. The two have some opposing views on religion and it leads to a complex period of discussion. Barny comes to the priest as an atheist while Morin remains a man of faith. Over the course of the story the two find themselves delving into deep conversations about religion and its role and the story leaves a lot of room for conversation after the end credits roll. Featuring superb performances from the two leads and highly evocative cinematography by Henri Decae (The 400 Blows, The Professional), Léon Morin, Priest is a quiet gem of understated beauty.

Do you believe?

For more information on the film please refer to colleague Dr. Svet Atanasov's review.

Léon Morin, Priest Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Léon Morin, Priest arrives on Blu-ray from distributor Kino Lorber with a remastered presentation. The film has been presented in the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.66:1 widescreen. The 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded presentation presents the film with a 4K restoration of the 35mm source elements. It's always such a joy to see classic black and white films receive this level of restoration. It's almost like comparing night and day when one compares a new 4K scan to a standard 2K presentation.

The quality of the print itself is enormously impressive and the encoding quality also matches it with a consistently pleasing image. The film has fine, natural film grain and an organic appearance which remains highly consistent throughout the presentation. Having been previously released on Blu-ray from the Criterion Collection in 2011, the image quality on this release seems to bear a striking resemblance to the original Blu-ray edition and this new presentation appears to have been sourced from the same 4K master used by Criterion for their release. The encode quality is outstanding with an enormously high 34.95 mbps bit-rate transfer.

Update: Upon checking in with Kino regarding the source utilized for this release, Kino confirmed the 4K scan on this edition is from the original camera negative. The 4K transfer on the Criterion edition was from an older master of the film.

Léon Morin, Priest Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The film arrives on Blu-ray with a lossless mono audio sound presentation. The dual mono audio presentation is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio. This is a generally impressive sound presentation with exceptional clarity and detail on the track. The dialogue is clear and easy to understand. While the overall fidelity is not on par with a modern film, the fidelity is still exceptional for a film of its age and its clear excellent work went into the restoration efforts.

I did notice some faint hiss on the track around the 1 hour and 40 minute mark in the film. In this scene, there was momentarily distracting hiss during the presentation and for this extremely brief passage it seemed like there was a brief loss in clarity. For the most part, I found the sound to be highly satisfactory and a generally good match for the excellent video.

According to colleague Dr. Svet Atanasov's original review, there was no distortion or hiss on the Criterion Collection edition so that release might be superior sounding to this still impressive audio track. Some of this might come down to the compression utilized on the Blu-ray as this Kino release has a 16 bit depth audio track, compared to the Criterion edition's 24 bit depth track. I would expect both to be close in quality but a edge to the Criterion edition.

Léon Morin, Priest Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Audio Commentary by Filmmaker and Historian Mike Siegel

"The Demon Within Him" Interview with Assistant Director Volker Schlondorff (HD, 29 min. 33 sec.) is an in-depth discussion with Jean-Pierre Melville assistant. He discusses the process of working with the filmmaker and delves into the history of Melville's development as a director. There are also some rather surprising and interesting insights for viewers (such as the revelation of Melville's real last name, as the filmmaker took the "Melville" moniker based upon author Herman Melville's Moby Dick.

Master Class with Philippe Labro & Remy Grumbach (HD, 1 hr, 1 min. 06 sec.) is a enlightening sit down discussion between French filmmakers Labro (The Inheritor, Cover Up) and Grumbach (Les rendez-vous du dimanche). The duo discuss the filmography of director Jean-Pierre Melville and delve into some of his most significant films and the reasons why these inventive stories have made such a lasting impression on audiences over the years.

Exploring the filmmaker and his body of work from a number of angles, these two scholarly gents deliver a highly insightful and exploratory discussion which is engaging from start to finish. Film enthusiasts who have an appreciation for the director will want to check out this art appreciation discussion as there is a lot of great information to learn about the director's creative process at work behind the scenes.

24 heures de la vie d'un clown (SD, 18 min. 47 sec.) is a short film directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. The piece is worth a watch with its unique visuals and uncommon artistic approach. While this short film is not something I would classify as being on the same level as Léon Morin, Priest, I was engaged and entertained by Melville's creative vision nonetheless and find this to be a worthy inclusion on the release.

Léon Morin, Priest Theatrical Trailer (SD, 3 min. 15 sec.)

Trailers for the following Kino Lorber films are also included: Bob Le Flambeur (SD, 3 min. 38 sec.) and Le Doulos (SD, 2 min. 24 sec.)

Léon Morin, Priest Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Léon Morin, Priest is a compelling drama from acclaimed French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville. The film has been rightfully regarded as a classic for a number of reasons: the exceptional performances by the cast and the haunting cinematography are two excellent reasons that shouldn't go overlooked. The new Blu-ray release from Kino Lorber includes an exceptional 4K scan of the director's cut of the film which does not disappoint and there are some engaging supplemental features which make the release an easy recommendation.

Owners of the original Criterion Collection release might want to skip the new re-release as the encode appears to be sourced from the same 4K restoration utilized on the earlier Blu-ray release unless enticed by the director's cut. However, given that the Criterion Collection edition is now out of print and this new release includes brand new supplemental features, it's still worth a look for those who missed out on the first release. It may even be worth owning both editions for fans who want to have a more comprehensive supplemental package as each release includes some compelling and unique extras.