8.5 | / 10 |
Users | 5.0 | |
Reviewer | 5.0 | |
Overall | 5.0 |
An umbrella-shop owner's delicate daughter glows with first love for a handsome garage mechanic. When the boy is shipped off to fight in Algeria, the two lovers must grow up quickly.
Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo, Anne Vernon, Marc Michel (I), Jean ChampionForeign | 100% |
Drama | 95% |
Romance | 38% |
Musical | 6% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.0
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
French SDH, English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region B (locked)
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 5.0 |
Winner of the prestigious Palme d'Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival, Jacques Demy's "Les Parapluies de Cherbourg" a.k.a. "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" (1964) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French distributors Cine-Tamaris Video/Arte Video. The supplemental features on the disc include trailers for the film; extracts from archival interviews with Jacques Demy and Catherine Deneuve; archival video interview actress Virginie Ledoyen; extract from Agnes Varda's documentary The Universe of Jacques Demy; and more. The release also arrives with a 72-page illustrated booklet with writings on the film and technical information about the new 2K restoration. In French and English. In French, with optional English and French SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".
"Je t'aime, je t'aime, je t'aime..."
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Jacques Demy's The Umbrellas of Cherbourg arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French distributors Cine-Tamaris Video/Arte Video.
Recently restored in 2K (with the 2K scan done on Digimage-Classics' SCANITY scanner), Jacques Demy's The Umbrellas of Cherbourg looks fabulous on Blu-ray. Image depth and clarity are simply outstanding. Unsurprisingly, the numerous close-ups throughout the film look very impressive. The panoramic shots also boast excellent fluidity. During the first half of the film, shadow definition is also substantially improved (this is where most of the darker sequences are). What impresses the most, however, are the dramatic improvements in the area of color reproduction. There are entire sections of the film which now have a completely different vibe because of the various improvements. Balance, saturation and stability are simply terrific. As a result even minor changes in the way natural light is captured by the camera immediately make an impression (see screencapture #4). Furthermore, there are absolutely no traces of problematic degraining corrections. Compromising sharpening adjustments also have not been applied. Needless to say, from start to finish the film has an enormously satisfying organic look. Finally, there are no stability issues. Also, there are no scratches, debris, cuts, damage marks, or warps to report in this review. All in all, this is the very best restoration and presentation of a Jacques Demy film to emerge from Cine-Tamaris Video/Arte Video that I have seen to date. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.0 and French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0.
I viewed the film with the French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track and later on tested a few random sequences with the French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.0. Depth and clarity are enormously impressive. There is a terrific range of nuanced dynamics as well, though you should not expect to have the muscles of your audio system tested. The beauty of the new lossless track is in its ability to very effectively capture the unique qualities of the voices and during the duets maintain excellent separation between them. The balance between the music and the singing is also terrific. For the record, there no audio dropouts or distortions to report in this review. The English translation is very good.
I sincerely hope that the same team that is responsible for this wonderful new restoration of Jacques Demy's legendary The Umbrellas of Cherbourg will also work on the restoration of the French director's excellent Bay of Angels. The new restoration is currently available on an English-friendly Blu-ray only in France, but there have been speculations that Criterion will be bringing it to the United States. If you can play Region-B releases, you don't want to miss Cine-Tamaris Video/Arte Video's release. It is one of the year's very best. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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