Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		2.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

My Dinner with Andre Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov November 14, 2017

Louis Malle's "My Dinner with Andre" (1981) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Curzon/Artificial Eye. There are no bonus features on the disc. In English, without optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

Wally

They are good friends who have not seen each other in a long time -- a very, very long time. Now they have arranged to have dinner in a posh restaurant somewhere on New York’s Upper East Side.

Wally (Wallace Shawn, Vanya on 42nd Street), a struggling actor-playwright, is the first one to arrive in the restaurant. He looks nervous and completely out of sync amongst the elegantly dressed couples. At the bar he orders a club soda, but is promptly informed that the place serves only Source de Pavilion.

Andre’s (Andre Gregory, Author! Author!) arrival is different. He is a regular and everyone seems to know him. Before he orders a spritzer, the bartender casually mentions that it is great to see him again. It is hard to believe him, but no one questions his sincerity.

The men are then quickly seated and invited to order. Andre chooses the Cailles aux Raisin and the Terrine de Poissons. Wally seems confused by the menu, but decides that Cailles aux Raisin sounds exactly like the dish he has always wanted to try. Then, just to be safe he adds Bramborova Polevka, "a delicious potato soup".

While they are waiting for their food to be prepared, Wally and Andre begin talking. Actually, it is Andre that does the majority of the talking. Wally only occasionally asks questions and Andre quickly clarifies important details so that his friend can better digest his information.

Depending on who you ask, Louis Malle’s My Dinner with Andre is either a brilliantly executed film or a boring and quite pretentious chamber piece loaded with a massive amount of meaningless words. As it often happens with such polarizing films, however, the truth is somewhere in the middle.

The bulk of the film is really quite fascinating to behold. While one may not “get” all of its important points about the meaning of life, sacrifice, and art, it is difficult not to agree that there is an incredible chemistry between Shawn and Gregory. There is obvious mutual respect on display that also prevents their conversation from evolving into an elitist debate.

But is this enough to keep one interested in their conversation?

It probably is, assuming that one is also part of the same reality the two friends belong to and is intrigued by the same subjects their minds find fascinating -- the evolving standards of acting workshops, Martin Buber’s theories about human nature, or the obvious and not so obvious benefits of electric blankets. The logic behind their thoughts and observations is flat-out mesmerizing.

But the film can also be quite frustrating because it does test one’s IQ without giving second chances to those who miss the sea of references and witty jokes. (Are you familiar with Konstantin Stanislavsky’s work? What do you know about Albert Speer?) In other words, viewing the film could be like attending a masterclass presented by a brilliant nuclear medicine physician who has a lot of meaningful things to say, but while describing his findings constantly draws parallels that don’t seem to make a whole lot of sense.

The film’s visual style is simple but very effective. The camera moves around the table and carefully observes the faces of the two actors from a variety of different angles. Occasionally, it also captures the funny glances of their surprisingly hostile waiter (Jean Lenauer).

My Dinner with Andre Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Louis Malle's My Dinner with Andre arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Curzon/Artificial Eye.

The release is sourced from a recent remaster that was apparently prepared by Gaumont in France. Whether the actual technical work was performed in France, however, I do not know at the moment. Either way, when compared to the master that Criterion used in 2015 to produce the North American release of My Dinner with Andre, the technical presentation is entirely different. Frankly, it is so 'different' that I have to, once again, wonder if any references were used to confirm how the film should look when it transitions to Blu-ray. Aside from the different aspect ratio -- which I find to be an odd choice to say the least, but in an equally odd sort of way not surprising because when Gaumont restored Louis Malle's Elevator to the Gallows the folks there again opted for the 1.37:1 ratio and I have never seen a theatrical presentation of it in that ratio; the 1.66:1 ratio was the standard -- the entire film is very awkwardly graded, boasting a variety of wild primaries with equally puzzling nuances. The gamma levels are also off and as a result the film's entire dynamic range collapses. This, I must say, is not a surprising occurrence as I have lost track of the various remasters that Gaumont, as well as some well-known Italian labs, have produced with the same type of anomalies, but the end result here is so obviously flawed that it is hard to believe that someone was actually looking for accuracy. (For reference, there are large portions of the film with the type of anomalies that you would see in StudioCanal's equally disappointing 4K restoration of Purple Noon -- a blanket yellow font with a clear digital origin produced by inaccurate LUTs with digital flatness wiping out existing detail and compromising depth, clarity, etc). So while clearly looking fresh, the film's basic qualities are so compromised that it is just painfully obvious that it does not look as its creator envisioned it. Very disappointing remaster. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

My Dinner with Andre Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are not provided for the main feature.

I did not detect any technical anomalies to report in our review. The exchanges between Wally and Andre are very clean, sharp, and easy to follow. Balance is excellent. There are no audio dropouts, background hiss, pops, or digital distortions to report.

My Dinner with Andre Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Unfortunately, there are no bonus features on this Blu-ray release.

My Dinner with Andre Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This recent release of Louis Malle's My Dinner with Andre is sourced from a new remaster that was apparently finalized by Gaumont in France. I think that the end result is extremely disappointing because in addition to the unusual aspect ratio that was chosen there are all sort of serious technical anomalies. So, if you are interested in adding My Dinner with Andre to your collection, consider the North American release, which is also available as part of this three-disc box set.