7.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Though happily married to the adoring Hélène and expecting a second child with her, the thoroughly bourgeois executive Frédéric cannot banish from his mind the attractive Paris women he sees every day. His flirtations and fantasies remain harmless until the appearance at his office of Chloé, an audacious, unencumbered old flame.
Starring: Bernard Verley, Zouzou, Daniel Ceccaldi, Jean-Louis Livi, Irène SkoblineForeign | 100% |
Drama | 85% |
Romance | 32% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
French: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Eric Rohmer's Six Moral Tales from Criterion.
One of the rather interesting if simultaneously peculiar trivia points about world cinema is how fecund the French movie critic community has been in
producing titans of film making. The iconic French publication Cahiers du Cinéma was a virtual hotbed of activity in this regard,
and if names like Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut may be at the apex of any list culled from those who began as writers for the magazine and
who went on to storied careers in film, there are any number of others, including Jacques Rivette, Claude Chabrol, and the man responsible for the six
films (some shorts) in this collection, Éric Rohmer. Rohmer's fame may have at least temporarily eclipsed the likes of Godard and Truffaut, for a
little while anyway, when the trifecta of My Night at Maud's, Claire's Knee, and Love in the Afternoon became
international sensations as the sixties gave way to the seventies. An obituary for Rohmer in a major newspaper mentioned his "durability" and
suggested that even if he didn't have the immediate name recognition of some of his peers, his work had outlasted any flash in the pan sensibility that
may have attended releases of films by other former critics. Really fascinatingly in the "trivial pursuit" category is the fact that all six of the
"tales" aggregated as exemplars of "morality" by Rohmer are based, at least tangentially, on F.W. Murnau's legendary Sunrise.
Love in the Afternoon is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. Criterion's insert booklet states that "the restoration of all six films was undertaken by Les Films du Losange, with the support of the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC)", and further specifies that this particular film was transferred in 2K from the original camera negative. This is another great looking presentation in color, though this film does not offer the same levels of scenic wonderment that its two predecessors in the Criterion Rohmer set do. There are recurrent outdoor moments here, but they're typically urban in nature, and really the bulk of the film plays out inside, as Frédéric pings pongs between Hélène and Chloé. Suffusion is quite appealing throughout, but this is another case where I personally felt the timing was just a tad too yellow at times. Detail levels are typically excellent, and grain resolves naturally throughout.
Love in the Afternoon features an LPCM Mono track in the original French that is very much in line with its more or less contemporaneous siblings in this set. There is some music in this enterprise, which sounds fine, but once again the bulk of the sound design is comprised of spoken material and occasional ambient environmental effects (most noticeably in some of the outdoor moments). Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.
Criterion has packaged Claire's Knee and Love in the Afternoon together on one disc with the following supplements, some of
which, while "officially" listed under one particular film, may be more general in nature.
Claire's Knee
If you've been married for a while, even if either fantasized or actual affairs have never entered the fray, you will probably find a lot in Love in the Afternoon will resonate. This is probably the most emotionally "mature" of the Six Moral Tales, even if it doesn't offer the visual blandishments of its two immediate predecessors. Technical merits are solid, and Love in the Afternoon comes Highly recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
The Collector
1967
La carrière de Suzanne
1963
Ma nuit chez Maud
1969
La boulangère de Monceau
1963
Le genou de Claire
1970
La femme de l'aviateur
1981
1987
Summer / Le rayon vert
1986
Les nuits de la pleine lune
1984
1987
Pauline à la plage
1983
Conte de printemps
1990
Conte d'été / A Summer's Tale
1996
Conte d'automne / Autumn Tale
1998
Conte d'hiver
1992
Jules et Jim
1962
Une femme est une femme
1961
Baisers volés
1968
Die Marquise von O
1976
En lektion i kärlek
1954