6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
A writer uses the strange inhabitants of a small island as a basis for characters in his new book.
Starring: Michel Piccoli, Catherine Deneuve, Eva Dahlbeck, Britta Pettersson, Ursula KublerForeign | 100% |
Drama | 60% |
Fantasy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
French: LPCM Mono
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Note: This film is available as part of
The Complete Films of Agnès Varda.
In the wake (figurative or otherwise) of Agnès Varda’s death last year at the age of 90, quite a bit has rightfully been written about this iconic force
in
both
French and global cinema. Varda’s output includes well over fifty credits as a director (including some television entries as detailed by the
IMDb), and aside from listing some of her better known triumphs,
many obituaries and/or eulogies about Varda mentioned any number of other biographical data points, including her rather unique position as a
woman in France’s nouvelle vague movement, her own feminism which was featured none too subtly in some of her films, and her
frequently provocative experimental style. But you know what one of the things that kind of fascinates me personally most about Varda? That she
was married for 28 years to Jacques Demy, from 1962 until Demy’s death in 1990. That Varda, often a purveyor of verité infused
“realism”,
whether that be in outright documentaries or at least ostensibly more “fictional” outings, and Demy, a director whose candy colored, dreamlike and
at least relatively "Hollywoodized" musicals with
Michel Legrand brought a new luster and gloss to French cinema, managed to make a marital go of it for so long is certainly testament to the
maxim
that “opposites attract”, even if those oppositional forces in this instance played out at least in part in terms of what kinds of films the two were
often
best remembered for. If Varda's long marriage to Demy is more than enough reason to celebrate her personal life, her professional life is
beautifully
feted in this rather astounding new set from Criterion, which aggregates an amazing 39 films (albeit some running as short as a few minutes) to
provide what is arguably one of the most insightful
overviews of Varda's cinematic oeuvre. Perhaps unavoidably, but also undeniably movingly, these personal and professional sides of
Varda
merge in at least some of the films in this set, including
The
Young
Girls Turn 25, The World of Jacques
Demy, Jacquot de Nantes, and The Beaches of Agnès.
Les créatures is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Some prefatory text states that the film was shot on 35mm black and white and color stock and restored by Ciné Tamaris and the CNC in 2020. The prefatory text also states that the digital restoration was done from "the original negative backup", which I assume is tech speak for a dupe negative. Detail levels here are generally very appealing, especially in the black and white material, where black levels are secure and gray scale is generally very well modulated. The "negative backup" element may account for a slightly heavier grain field than I was expecting, and there's also some slight flicker at times, as well as a brief but pretty badly mottled section at circa 29:38 with Edgar in a field with a horse. I don't really consider the "color" sections to really be in color, since they're really more like black and white material that has been tinted various tones. That tinting can occasionally highlight grain even more, and at times fine detail levels can ebb as a result. Clarity is generally very good, but some intermittent outdoor material looks softer than the bulk of the transfer. My score is 4.25.
Les créatures features an LPCM Mono track that is just slightly surreal sounding at times, courtesy of a really strident and atonal score by Pierre Barbaud (interspersed with relatively tamer source cues from Henry Purcell), as well as what seems to be a lot of post-looped material, where (as they say) "sync is loose" and more than a bit reminiscent of Italian cinema. All of that said, fidelity is fine throughout the presentation, and I noticed no real issues with regard to damage.
Les créatures has a lot on its veritable mind, but I'm not sure it ever communicates that content adequately. The film is hallucinatory and certainly unique, but it may simply be too strange to really resonate. Technical merits are generally strong and the two supplements are worthwhile.
(Still not reliable for this title)
1981
Jane B. for Agnes V.
1988
The Pleasure of Love in Iran
1976
Diary of a Pregnant Woman
1958
Le petit amour
1988
1969
2015
You've Got Beautiful Stairs, You Know
1986
1984
L'univers de Jacques Demy
1995
Les glaneurs et la glaneuse... deux ans après
2002
Agnès Varda: From Here to There
2011
1976
1955
1991
Ydessa, the Bears and etc.
2004
2003
1964
Réponse de femmes: Notre corps, notre sexe / Women Reply: Our Bodies, Our Sex
1975
1958