Mississippi Mermaid Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Mississippi Mermaid Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 20, 2023

François Truffaut's "Mississippi Mermaid" (1969) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include archival audio commentary by critics Julie Kirgo and Nick Redman and vintage trailer. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Welcome to my life.

Louis (Jean-Paul Belmondo) lives on Reunion Island. Julie (Catherine Deneuve) is from New Caledonia. They establish contact through a personal ad in a popular French newspaper. After exchanging an unspecified number of long romantic letters, Louis invites Julie to come visit him, secretly hoping that she would turn out as he has envisioned her and agree to become his wife.

On the day when Louis finally meets Julie the world becomes a magical place. She is even more beautiful and elegant than he had envisioned her, more cultured yet modest too, and by the time she unpacks her bags at his mansion, he realizes that her presence has filled a void in his life he always knew existed. Then, a few weeks later, after Louis reveals to Julie that he is a co-owner of a massive tobacco plant, they officially become husband and wife.

But just hours after Louis gives Julie access to his personal and business bank accounts, she quickly withdraws all of his funds and disappears without a trace. Stunned and barely able to contain his anger, Louis hires a private detective (Yves Drouhet) to track her down, and then, to escape the nightmare he has created, heads to Nice. While trying to clear his head, Louis accidentally discovers that Julie makes ends meet in a local striptease club and follows her back to her place, determined to put a bullet in her head.

However, after Julie surrenders, Louis changes his mind, and then, while learning about a man who pulled her strings and started a new life with his money, welcomes her back into his life.

Play stupid games, earn stupid prizes. This popular phrase perfectly sums up the message that emerges from Mississippi Mermaid, but Francois Truffaut tries very hard to convince that his film is about two people who discover true love under unusual circumstances. Sadly, Truffaut’s reworking of the original material from Cornell Woolrich’s novel that inspired it is so poor and his direction so disappointing that Mississippi Mermaid does not even look legit as an unusually bad romantic film. It is just a bad film that should have never been released in its current form.

The big and consequential flaws are virtually everywhere and impact everything from the quality of the character arcs to the authenticity of the different locations Truffaut’s camera visits. For example, Louis accidentally discovers where Julie works in Nice, and later, while trying to gather his thoughts, accidentally bumps into the private detective. Each of these supposedly accidental encounters permanently resets the main relationships in the film and irreversibly redirects it. (Do not read any further if you have not seen the film). Also, after he has his bank accounts emptied, left to ponder his naivety, and made to suffer after he is tricked into swallowing old rat poison, Louis still sees Julie as deserving of his love and goes back to her. In fact, he does it multiple times. There are plenty of gullible men out there, but even the most desperate among them are not as clueless as Truffaut wants Louis to be.

The final twenty or so minutes are simply unbearable. Alone in a secluded cabin somewhere in the freezing and covered with snow mountains, Louis and Julie slowly confess what they really think of each other and choose to protect their deeply compromised relationship. It is a nauseatingly positive chatter that is absolutely impossible to take seriously. Meanwhile, Loius is in so much pain he can barely stand on his feet.

Truffaut probably wanted to make a film about the power of love, how it can withstand adversity, and ultimately make anyone who gives it a chance a better person. But his screenplay and direction produce a drastically different, oddly artificial, and laughably illogical film.

Mississippi Mermaid Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Mississippi Mermaid arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The master that was used to produce this release comes from MGM's vaults and is old, not recent, but I like it a lot. I think that its one and only 'weakness' is the presence of some small surface imperfections, like tiny nicks and blemishes, a few scratches, and optical dirt. A few are somewhat annoying, so they could have been removed, but the rest looks very good. For example, delineation, clarity, and depth are typically very pleasing. A lot of the wider panoramic shots also maintain solid density levels. There are no traces of problematic digital corrections. A few segments reveal momentary softness, but grain exposure is almost always very nice. Color balance is convincing, too. All primaries are stable and natural. A few of the supporting nuances can be slightly better saturated, but they look good as well. Image stability is good. My score is 4.25/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Mississippi Mermaid Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

You will easily follow all exchanges. However, the audio can use a new remastering job that addresses small balance and dynamic issues that are definitely not inherited. Indeed, there are several segments where it almost feels like the sound is trying to move away from the images, creating unevenness that can become a bit distracting. The music is supposed to help the suspense and drama too, but it frequently feels unusually anemic. There are no audio dropouts or distortions to report in our review.

Mississippi Mermaid Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary - this archival audio commentary was recorded by critics Julie Kirgo and Nick Redman.

• Trailer - presented here is a vintage U.S. trailer for Mississippi Mermaid. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

• Cover - reversible cover with vintage poster art for Mississippi Mermaid.

Mississippi Mermaid Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Plenty of people consider Mississippi Mermaid one of Francois Truffaut's most disappointing films and, unfortunately, it is very easy to agree with them. I have always had a spot for it in my library, but only for reference purposes. I think that even before it reaches the half-hour mark, Truffaut loses control of it, and from there everything quickly begins to fall apart. If your take on Mississippi Mermaid is drastically different and you wish to have a good copy of it in your library, I suggest that you consider picking up this release. Several of Truffaut's color films were recently restored in France and now they do not look as they should. I think that it is only a matter of time before Mississippi Mermaid is given a similar treatment as well.