Love on the Run 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		2.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

Love on the Run 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov August 17, 2025

François Truffaut's "Love on the Run" (1979) arrives on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the release include archival content with Francois Truffaut and Marie-France Pisier, and trailers. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Leaud) and his beautiful wife, Christine Darbon (Claude Jade), have agreed to officially part ways. Now, it is only a matter of time before they sign the proper paperwork and finalize their divorce.

But the two are still good friends and remember the great times they had together. They both feel that without the other, their lives would have been a lot more conventional, and they would have likely fallen in love with people who would have brought plenty of painful drama in them. The fact that the two are now getting a divorce does not mean they will forget their history together and stop seeing each other -- they will simply be free to move on to the next chapter in their lives.

While waiting for the divorce to be finalized, Antoine begins seeing Sabine (Dorothee), a young girl working in a popular music shop. She likes him too, and the two spend plenty of time together, but he repeatedly fails to keep his promises, and eventually she concludes that she cannot be in a serious relationship with him.

Around the same time, Antoine accidentally meets Colette (Marie-France Pisier), who is now a divorced lawyer with an excellent reputation. Antoine attempts to rekindle their relationship, but Collete quickly realizes that even though Antoine has grown older, he is still as unreliable as she remembers him.

Francois Truffaut’s fifth and final film with Leaud’s legendary character, Love on the Run, has a rather unusual structure. A large portion of it takes place in the present, where Antoine is confronted by the women he has had a romantic relationship with, but numerous flashbacks link episodes from his past to the present.

Some of the flashbacks effectively redirect the film and allow Truffaut to reveal a different side of the older Antoine, but there are portions of it where Truffaut also becomes emotional and allows himself to stay in the past a bit longer than necessary. Some feature memorable sequences with the young troublemaker in which he is taught important lessons about life, but there are also more than a few hilarious flashbacks in which the older Antoine is desperately trying to meet the expectations of the women he loves. The end result is a slightly uneven but still very moving film that essentially allows its creator to part ways with Antoine in a respectable manner.

Leaud looks significantly older in this film. However, he is still enormously energetic and likable as Antoine. Pisier and Jade are terrific together. The sequence in which their characters meet and talk about the man they loved and shared is arguably the best in the entire film.

Truffaut worked with cinematographer Nestor Almendros, who also lensed Bed and Board. Unsurprisingly, the two look equally warm and fluid.

The soundtrack was created by Oscar-winning composer Georges Delerue (Jean Luc-Godard’s Le mépris, Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Conformist). The popular title song, L'Amour en fuite, was composed by Laurent Voulzy and performed by Alain Souchon.

Love on the Run 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Criterion's release of Love on the Run is a 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack. The 4K Blu-ray is Region-Free. However, the Blu-ray is Region-A "locked". Please note that some of the screencaptures included with this article are taken from the 4K Blu-ray and downscaled to 1080p. Therefore, they do not accurately reflect the quality of the 4K content on the 4K Blu-ray disc.

Screencaptures #1-24 are from the Blu-ray.
Screencaptures #27-39 are from the 4K Blu-ray.

The release introduces the recent 4K restoration of Love on the Run that was completed at the French lab Hiventy on behalf of MK2. In native 4K, the 4K restoration can be viewed with Dolby Vision and HDR grades. I chose to view it with Dolby Vision. Later, I spent time with its 1080p presentation on the Blu-ray.

Like Stolen Kisses and Bed and Board, which were also redone at Hiventy, Love on the Run has been fully regraded and given an odd contemporary appearance. The new color grade covers large areas of Love on the Run with a prominent yellowish/greenish tint that frequently compromises the dynamic ranges of different visuals as well. Most of these visuals are from darker material with nuanced shadows, but even daylight visuals can look quite poor. See examples here and here. In some places, delineation is also compromised. Unsusprisingly, the color temperature is off by a lot, and many, many visuals are flat-out distracting. (For what it's worth, virtually all of the distracting anomalies are more or less identical to the ones that are present on Hiventy's 4K makeover of La Piscine). Image stability is excellent. The entire film looks spotless.

I did several comparisons between the native 4K and 1080p presentations. Most were from darker areas, where some of the biggest issues emerge. The Dolby Vision grade further flattens these areas and it becomes very easy to tell that native detail is lost. The dyalight footage, like the one this screencapture is taken from, simply looks off by a lot. It is too bad because the raw 4K files are clearly of exceptionally high quality.

Love on the Run 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this release: French LPCM 1.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The lossless track is very healthy. There is good music in Love on the Run that sounds terrific, too. However, dynamic intensity is limited, even in areas where there is plenty of activity. Also, the original soundtrack does not have any memorable effects. All exchanges are very clear and easy to follow. The English translation is excellent.

Love on the Run 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

4K BLU-RAY DISC

• Bonus Features - there are no bonus features on the disc.

BLU-RAY DISC

• Champ Contre Champ - presented here is an excerpt from an episode of the French TV program Champ contre champ in which Francois Truffaut explains how he began directing and some of the difficulties a director is presented when shooting a character like Antoine Doinel. The episode aired on January 31, 1981. In French, with English subtitles. (8 min).

• Truffaut and Pisier - presented here is an excerpt from an episode of the French TV program Les rendez-vous du dumanche in which Francois Truffaut and Marie-France Pisier discuss their collaboration on Love on the Run. The episode aired in 1979. In French with English subtitles. (8 min).

• Closing the Doinel Cycle - in this excerpt from an episode of the French TV program Cinescope, Francois Truffaut discusses the evolution of Antoine Doinel and his decision to end his adventures with Love on the Run. The episode aired in 1980. In French with English subtitles. (4 min).

• Theatrical Trailer - presented here is a vintage theatrical trailer for Love on the Run. In French, with English subtitles. (3 min).

• 4K Series Trailer - presented here is a trailer for the recent 4K restorations of films in The Adventures of Antoine Doinel box set. In French, with English subtitles. (2 min).

ADDITIONAL CONTENT

• Booklet - 50-page illustrated booklet featuring essays by Annette Insdorf, Kent Jones, Andrew Sarris, Noah Baumbach, and Chris Fujiwara, and a 1971 piece by Francois Truffaut, as well as technical credits.

Love on the Run 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There is honesty in Love on the Run that makes one think about the things that matter in life, which can be appreciated only after one has experienced some of the triumphs and disappointments its protagonist has. This is arguably the biggest reason Love on the Run resonates differently with different viewers. I like it and think that it brings a proper closure to Antoine Doinel's adventures. Criterion's combo pack introduces a new 4K restoration of Love on the Run that is very problematic. It is included in The Adventures of Antoine Doinel, an eight-disc box set.