7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Upon discovering that her husband is cheating on her, Catherine hires a prostitute Marlene to play a role as "Nathalie" to seduce him and report back to her. A strange relationship develops between the two women and soon Catherine enters a startling world that changes her forever.
Starring: Emmanuelle Béart, Gérard Depardieu, Fanny Ardant, Wladimir Yordanoff, Judith MagreForeign | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.36:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Nathalie. . . seems to want to be a kind of psychosexual thriller that might have attained considerable energy under the direction of someone like Henri-Georges Clouzot or Claude Chabrol, though this is most definitely a post-modern enterprise wherein a quasi ménage à trois situation has both heterosexual and homosexual elements once the already titillating plot really kicks into motion. Catherine (Fanny Ardant) is an incredibly well put together middle aged woman who is a successful gynecologist but who discovers after a botched try at a surprise birthday party for him that her husband Bernard (Gérard Depardieu) may have been cheating on her. Attempting to reassert her own version of control over the situation, Catherine hires a prostitute named Marlène (Emmanuelle Béart) to play the part of a woman named Nathalie and to seduce Bernard and keep Catherine posted on what ensues. This already provocative premise gets more salacious when Nathalie is not only happy to oblige, but turns out to be rather, well, descriptive in her meetings with Catherine where she relates her sexual adventures with Bernard. It's a plot setup virtually roiling with all sorts of inner drama and motivations, but despite some winning performances, there's surprisingly little energy here, and perhaps by design, virtually no suspense whatsoever, despite a valiant attempt to deliver yet another "mind blowing twist" toward the end of the tale.
Nathalie. . . is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cohen Film Collection, an imprint of Cohen Media Group, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.36:1. Cohen often doesn't tend to offer much in the way of provenance of elements or transfer specifications in its cover verbiage, though they do tend to mention new restorations or transfers they've personally undertaken, and in the absence of any such touting on this disc, I'm assuming this may have been the work of StudioCanal. The transfer has both strengths and weaknesses at times, with variant color temperature that often seemed skewed more toward yellows than I would have liked (that said, actual dialogue later in the film mentions how yellow daffodils are, so maybe it was intentional). This tendency can push reds toward orange territory at times and give flesh tones a somewhat jaundiced look. In some of the more brightly lit material, the palette attains a more naturalistic appearance. Detail levels are generally very good, though the entire transfer is kind of gauzy and soft, especially some of the nightclub material.
Nathalie. . . features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 options in the original French. There's frankly not a huge difference between these tracks, but that is at least partially due to the "chamber drama" nature of the piece, which tends to emphasize interior spaces and talky dialogue scenes. Michael Nyman's expressive score sounds great and arguably has a bit more presence and spaciousness in the surround mix. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Cohen continues to offer foreign language releases with burnt in English subtitles for some reason, rather than making subtitles optional.
Nathalie. . . was remade by Atom Egoyan as Chloe in 2009, and that version may have offered more of a traditional thriller aspect, at least in some ways. This is a kind of curious film from a number of reasons, not the least of which is trying to figure out what exactly Catherine is after and why. Technical merits are generally solid for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.
Le capital
2012
2011
Vivre sa vie: Film en douze tableaux / My Life to Live
1962
Hôtel du Nord
1938
1981
36 quai des Orfèvres
2004
1967
Golden Marie
1952
1968
Oh, Sun
1967
Le livre d'image
2018
2017
Le vieil homme et l'enfant | 50th Anniversary Edition
1967
So Long, Stooge | Limited Edition
1983
L'avenir
2016
Panic
1946
Out 1, noli me tangere
1971
1973
Le souffle au coeur
1971
Code inconnu: Récit incomplet de divers voyages
2000