6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A veteran returns to his bleak Maryland hometown and takes a job as an occupational therapist at Poplar Lodge, a private mental institution for the wealthy, where he cares for and falls in love with the beautiful and enigmatic Lilith.
Starring: Warren Beatty, Jean Seberg, Peter Fonda, Kim Hunter, Anne MeachamDrama | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Films about women with mental illness have been a peculiar fascination of mine ever since I went down a Frances Farmer rabbit hole after having seen Frances several decades ago, but one of the kind of ironically cheeky things about Robert Rossen’s Lilith is, while it’s ostensibly about the mental illness suffered by its title character (played by Jean Seberg), it turns out an occupational therapist working at the institution where Lilith has been committed and who develops both a personal and professional interest in her, is maybe just a little bit crazy himself, at least by the end of the film. Rossen's films often had a kind of cold and clinical feel about them, even when dealing in some outsized emotions in efforts like Alexander the Great, and so a film about a worker at a mental institution becoming unhealthily obsessed with a patient there might not seem like a great marriage of material and director, but Lilith is actually a rather interesting if at times perhaps appropriately dissociative film.
Lilith is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Powerhouse Films' Indicator imprint with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. As tends to be the case with Indicator releases, there isn't a ton of technical information in the insert booklet, and the generic verbiage just basically states that an "HD remaster" by Sony was the source for this presentation, and that the mono audio was remastered at the same time. Sony-Columbia is typically one of the more reliable curators of its catalog, and that proves to be the case here again, with Eugen Schüfftan's rather lustrous, at times almost Abstract Expressionist, cinematography looking healthy and organic, with good, solid contrast and well modulated gray scale. The film does have a preponderance of optical dissolves, and there are some pretty dramatic upticks in grain and concomitant lessening of sharpness and overall detail levels in a number of these moments. There are also a couple of curious moments where the grain spikes and detail levels falter aside and apart from any issues with opticals, but those are the exception rather than the rule.
Lilith features a fine sounding LPCM Mono track which capably supports dialogue, some ambient environmental effects in scenes like the picnic sequence, and Kenyon Hopkins' kind of strange score. I'm a big fan of Hopkins' music, but his score here didn't strike me as particularly helpful. The main theme is kind of anachronistically chirpy and happy, something that seems to be at odds with the subject matter. Some of his orchestral flourishes struck me as being better suited to some kind of romantic drama set on the European continent. All of that said, the track supports the musical elements, including the "flute" playing, perfectly well.
Lilith has a number of unexplained or at least underdeveloped elements, including things like Lilith's fascination with roaring water, or even the full extent of whatever PTSD Vincent is experiencing. There are also a number of other weirdnesses Rossen introduces, though some may be culled from the source novel (which I've never read). This offers a really interesting performance from Seberg, and fans of her or other members of this interesting cast may want to check this out despite any perceived flaws. Technical merits are solid, supplements very interesting, and with caveats noted, Lilith comes Recommended.
2009
2016
Indicator Series
1965
2009
El Club
2015
1961
1988
Director's Cut
2013
Director's Cut
2013
2014
Vintage Classics
1976
Digitally Re-Mastered Centenary Edition
1958
2017
2009
2016
2012
Remastered
1971
1971
2014
Eureka Classics
1965