6.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
In a rented house in the sun-soaked Hollywood Hills, a woman and two men delight in one another's bodies while musing on love, stardom, and politics.
Starring: Viva, Gerome Ragni, James Rado, Shirley Clarke, Carlos ClarensDrama | 100% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
English: LPCM Mono
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
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.
Lions Love (. . .and Lies) is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.66:1. Some prefatory text discloses that this was restored in 2013 by L'Immagine Ritrovata Laboratory, in association with The Film Foundation, the Annenberg Foundation, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Ciné Tamaris, with a 4K restoration from the the 35mm original negative. Agnès Varda supervised the color grading. This is one of the standout offerings in this set from an organic, natural looking presentation standpoint. The palette is very nicely suffused, but it is perhaps surprisingly not quite as psychedelic as some might expect. That said, greens and purples in particular are utilized throughout the film and pop extremely well. While not an "exciting" color range, tans and beiges also predominate and are relatively vivid. There is a wacky seen in a pool with the focal trio where the pool water is a really luscious teal color. Detail is typically excellent throughout, and patterns like the leopard print coat that Shirley Clarke wears resolve without issue. Some of the traveling outdoor material can look just slightly rougher and softer than the bulk of the presentation, and there are a couple of late moments with Clarke in her room where the grain is noticeably grittier than in the bulk of the presentation.
Lions Love (. . .and Lies) features an LPCM Mono track in English. Prefatory text states that the original English soundtrack was restored from the 35mm optical sound negative. The track has some rather unexpected dynamic range, as evidenced from the very first scene, where some voiceover turns to dialogue which then gives way to a piercing scream. Later sometimes cheeky musical elements like the stars singing Cole Porter's "True Love" (of all things) sound fine as well.
As a film, I'm not sure Lions Love (. . .and Lies) is completely successful, but as a time capsule, it's virtually indispensable, and it certainly has one of the most unusual star trios of its era. Technical merits are solid, and with caveats noted, Lions Love (. . .and Lies) comes Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
1981
The Creatures
1966
Le petit amour
1988
The Pleasure of Love in Iran
1976
Diary of a Pregnant Woman
1958
Mural Murals
1981
2015
You've Got Beautiful Stairs, You Know
1986
1984
L'univers de Jacques Demy
1995
Jane B. for Agnes V.
1988
Les glaneurs et la glaneuse... deux ans après
2002
Les fiancés du pont Mac Donald ou (Méfiez-vous des lunettes noires) / The Fiancés of the Bridge Mac Donald
1961
Agnès Varda: From Here to There
2011
1976
Les cent et une nuits de Simon Cinéma
1995
1955
1991
L'une chante, l'autre pas
1977
Ydessa, the Bears and etc.
2004