7.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
A cabaret chanteuse awaiting the return of a long-lost lover is unwilling to entertain the adoration of another love-struck soul, the wanderer Roland.
Starring: Anouk Aimée, Marc Michel (I), Jacques Harden, Elina Labourdette, Corinne MarchandForeign | 100% |
Drama | 92% |
Romance | 35% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
French SDH, English
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region B (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 2.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Jacques Demy's "Lola" (1961) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French distributors Arte Video. The supplemental features on the disc include original trailer for the new restoration of Lola; restoration featurette; extracts from two interviews with Anouk Aimée conducted by Agnes Varda; video interview with French director Benoit Jacquot; excerpt from an episode of the French TV program Cineastes de notre temps; and more. In French, with optional English and French SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".
The beautiful girl
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Jacques Demy's Lola arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French distributors Arte Video.
According to information provided by Arte Video, the original negative for Lola, Jacques Demy's debut feature film, was destroyed in a fire around 1970. In early 2000, a new internegative was produced from a print found at the British Film Institute. The process was coordinated by Archives francaises du film, while the production work was supervised by Agnes Varda with the support of legendary cinematographer Raoul Coutard, Lola's director of photography. In 2012, Lola also underwent complete digital restoration, which was used as a foundation for the new high-definition transfer this Blu-ray release uses. The color grading was supervised by Mathieu Demy.
The restoration work was carried by:
1. Cine-Tamaris (Agnes Varda, Rosalie Varda, Mathieu Demy, Cecilia Rose)
2. Fondation Technicolor pour le Patrimoine du Cinema (Severine Wemaere)
3. Fondation Groupama Gan Pour le Cinema (Gilles Duval)
4. Technicolor Restoration Services - Los Angeles (Tom Burton, Danny Albano, Joe Zarceno, Dennis O'Neil, Bob Schneider, Danielle Cantwell, Jason Fabbro)
5. Technicolor Sound Services - Los Angeles (Andrew Giacumakis, Marty Vites)
The newly restored Lola does not impress. It is obvious that at some point either during or after the restoration was completed specific digital corrections were performed to make the film look smoother, and the final result now reminds of Pathe's problematic release of Marcel Carne's Children of Paradise. To be clear, there are traces of moderate to very strong filtering corrections throughout the entire film, some causing select darker sequences to almost completely collapse.
For example, take a look at screencapture #10 where the fine detail is eliminated by the overwhelming filtering. Elsewhere contrast is also seriously destabilized by the filtering (and for the record, this has absolutely nothing to do with Raoul Coutard's unique use of light and shadow in the film), with heavy digital artifacts also becoming quite prominent (see screencapture #19). Some of the daylight sequences also look disappointingly flat. Healthy shadow definition, in particular, is virtually non-existent (see screencapture #16 and 18). Lastly, there is a small amount of motion smearing as well. All in all, considering how impressive Arte Video's release of Les demoiselles de Rochefort was (a film which was also restored by Cine-Tamaris), I have to admit that I was not expecting to see such an underwhelming presentation of Lola. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray disc: French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (with small portions of English). For the record, Arte Video have provided optional English and French SDH subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they split the image frame and the black bar below it.
The lossless track is solid. The dialog is consistently crisp, stable, and very easy to follow. There are no distortions or audio dropouts. Legendary composer Michel Legrand's score also benefits from the lossless treatments, with the violins and flutes in particular sounding notably rich. The English translation is very good.
Considering the amount of very important people involved with the restoration of Jacques Demy's Lola, I have to admit that the final result is indeed quite underwhelming. However, after watching the supplemental features on the disc, I am under the impression that the restorers, as well as Mathieu Demy, definitely tried to preserve the film's organic look. This leads me to believe that some additional corrections were made later on, perhaps after the restoration was completed. Whatever the case, a lot of grain was removed from this film, and it definitely shows. Naturally, I cannot recommend Arte Video's Blu-ray release of Lola.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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