6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Pierre and Marcel are both celebrated concert violinists and lifelong friends, in spite of their differing temperaments. Pierre is modest, sensitive and content with his lot; Marcel is hungry, driven, and pursues a solo career that takes him to the four corners of the world. After years apart, the two friends reunite when Pierre invites Marcel to his home for dinner. It is then that Marcel first meets Pierre's wife Romaine, sparking a passionate affair that can only end in tragedy before the curtain falls.
Starring: Sabine Azéma, Fanny Ardant, Pierre Arditi, André Dussollier, Jacques DacqmineForeign | 100% |
Drama | 77% |
Romance | 18% |
Period | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
French: LPCM Mono
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (locked)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Sometimes even inveterate “word hounds” like yours truly can stumble across new information, in the “maybe you can teach an old dog — and/or hound — new tricks” department. Such was the case when one of the supplements on this Blu-ray mentioned that the Greek root μέλος ( melos , for the uninitiated) is a cognate of both “melody” and “melodrama”. I'm guessing that may very well be obvious to a bunch of you, but it frankly escaped my recognition until it was pointed out by analyst Jonathan Romney in one of the extras adorning this release. That same root also (perhaps more obviously) provides the title for Mélo, a rather interesting film from the legendary Alain Resnais, though anyone expecting the same sort of philosophical ruminations and presentational ambiguities that informed either Hiroshima mon amour or Last Year at Marienbad may be surprised, and potentially disappointed, by the rather blatant theatricality, meaning “staginess”, of this film. In fact the whole dialectic of “stage vs. cinema” is at the heart of understanding Mélo, as Romney also gets into in his appealing piece.
Mélo is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Academy with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.66:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information about the transfer*:
Mélo is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1 with 1.0 mono audio. The master was restored in 2K by MK2 and delivered to Arrow Films.That kind of generic statement may indicate that, while perfectly watchable (and perhaps better looking in motion than some of these screenshots may indicate), this is a title that might benefit from a freshening up (though some online sources denote this as a "new 2K restoration"). As can probably be made out fairly easily in many of the screenshots accompanying this review, this is a fairly coarse looking presentation, with a noticeably textured looking grain field. The palette has some fairly wide variances, and a few selected shots look more "dupey" than others (see screenshots 5 and 18 for a couple of examples). Even the supposed "outdoor" shots are obviously stagebound, and as such lighting conditions are often darker than might be expected. This can tend to elevate perceptions of an already gritty looking grain field. Still, detail levels can be quite inviting, helped perhaps by a fairly static camera that Resnais tends to offer, as well as some sustained uses of midrange and close-up shots.
Mélo features an LPCM Mono track in the original French. For a film about musicians (aside from the two violinists, Romaine plays the piano), the film only sporadically features music, and then typically as brief interstitials leading to more overheated dialogue. As such the mono track may be inherently narrow, but it certainly adequately renders what is often a very talky film. Fidelity is fine throughout the presentation, and there are no problems of any kind to report.
- Alain Resnais (7:18) is an audio interview stemming from 2002.
- Marin Karmitz (1080i; 13:18) (producer)
- Pierre Arditi (1080i; 11:47)
- André Dussollier (1080i; 28:47)
- Sylvette Beaudreau (1080i; 11:49) (script supervisor)
- Jacques Sauinier (1080i; 17:58)
It's perhaps instructive to note that despite the florid emotions on display in the central ménage à trois that informs the film, it was only a fairly tangential character, Christiane (Fanny Ardant), that I personally ended up caring about. Resnais is obviously aiming for some kind of statement with this film, but I have to say I mostly just heard a bunch of talk. Art House habitués may be considerably more engaged by the film than I was. Video is a little lackluster, but audio is fine, and the supplemental package quite enjoyable, for those considering a purchase.
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