Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 12, 2019

Claude Sautet's "Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud" (1995) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film and exclusive new audio commentary by critic Kat Ellinger. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked'.

What do they think of us?

What would you do if that truly special person you have been waiting for your entire life appears at the ‘wrong’ time? The answer to this question should be very easy because you have only two options to choose from. You can surrender and convince yourself that you were never meant to be together and then spend the rest of your life being utterly miserable, wondering day and night what could have been if it wasn’t so. Or you can fight and do what is needed to change the ‘wrong’ into ‘right’, and then spend the time you have left experiencing true love and happiness.

Self-proclaimed pragmatists will tell you that the second option is beyond melodramatic and usually unavailable in real life, and a few would even attempt to convince you that fighting is not just severely overrated but pointless. In real life, you will hear them argue, you have to learn to compromise, make the best of the cards fate has dealt you. But you should never trust them. Do you know why? Because these pragmatists are people that once faced the same dilemma and went with the first option, and when the inevitable realization that they choose poorly and have no one else but themselves to blame hit them, their lives became hell. Their pragmatism and cynicism are just facades hiding this very simple and painful truth, which is why they want you to be like them. The bigger their group gets, the easier it becomes for them to deny the truth. Misery loves company.

The main protagonists in Claude Sautet’s film could not be any more different. Nelly (Emmanuelle Beart, La Belle Noiseuse) is in her late twenties and married to a man (Charles Berling, Ridicule) who has failed to evolve into the husband and lover she wanted in her life -- he is unemployed and self-absorbed loner who rarely walks out of their tiny Parisian apartment. Nelly has tried her best to save their relationship but now they are also on the verge of a complete financial collapse. Pierre (Michel Serrault, Mortelle randonnée) is in his sixties and financially secure. He lives alone but routinely talks to his ex-wife who has settled down in Geneva and has a drastically different lifestyle. The only other person that Pierre sees and talks to is an old friend and business associate, Dolabella (Michael Lonsdale, Ronin), who has a serious gambling problem. During a casual encounter in a Parisian café, Pierre loans Nelly a large sum of money and later on hires her to help him organize his memoirs. At first it is a strict business relationship and both feel satisfied with the work they are doing together, but then they gradually begin to realize that the other is the perfect partner they always wanted to share their life with. Slowly but surely the masks of decency then fall off, and the more candid their conversations get, the more convinced they become that their lives ought to change.

A film like Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud can destroy the career of any director because it deals with such straightforward dilemmas and simple truths that even a tiny misstep could make it appear unbearably artificial. An older man and a younger woman begin a romantic relationship in the most romantic city in the world -- the entire summation sounds problematic already, doesn’t it? Of course, it does, and any smart director would instantly recognize the potential for a giant disaster. With Sautet behind the camera, however, the film becomes utterly unpredictable and there isn’t a single frame of it with questionable authenticity. No, it is not one of those hyper-realistic dramas that Maurice Pialat, the French John Cassavetes, legitimized; on the contrary, it is very delicate and occasionally funny, at times maybe even playful, but it oozes casual sincerity that becomes incredibly attractive. This is the film’s secret -- cinematic sincerity of the highest quality.

Jean-Hughes Anglade (Betty Blue, Killing Zoe) plays the publisher that is waiting to read the final draft of the novel that Pierre and Nelly are working on. He also connects with Nelly, but for different reasons.

Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

During the DVD era, In France the folks at StudioCanal produced a R2 DVD release of this film that was English-friendly. I have it. This Blu-ray release is not sourced from an old DVD master. It is sourced from a brand new master, and if I had to guess, I would say that it was finished in 4K. Why? Because the density levels of the new master are exceptional, and because the fluidity has the type of consistency that only very high-quality masters deliver.

My one and only minor criticism pertains to a few small fluctuations of the gamma settings. Basically, there are a couple of darker shots where some nuances could have been exposed better; they appear somewhat flattened now (see screencapture #3). However, the overall appearance of the film is lovely. Depth and clarity, in particular, look very strong, which means that if viewed in native resolution the new master is almost certainly a stunner. I like the color grading as well, though this is the area where some careful adjustments could have been made to eliminate the gamma inconsistency that I mentioned above. Regardless, this film looks gorgeous now, the absolute best it ever has. (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).

Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud 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.

The outstanding lossless track has me convinced that this film has undergone a complete makeover at StudioCanal. It is flawless. Clarity, depth, and stability are outstanding. Obviously, dynamic intensity is rather limited, but such is the film's original sound design. There are no encoding anomalies to report in our review.

Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - a vintage trailer for Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud. In French, with optional English subtitles. (2 min, 1080p).

• Commentary - new audio commentary by critic Kat Ellinger.

• Additional Trailers - additional trailers for the following releases from Kino Lorber's catalog:
  
  1. A Heart in Winter.
  2. Last Year at Marienbad

• Booklet - 10-page illustrated booklet featuring critic Jonathan Rosenbaum's essay "An Encyclopedia of Nuanced Gestures: Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud" and technical credits.

Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Most critics would argue that A Heart in Winter is an all-around better film than Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud. I disagree. The former is a really good film as well, but it has a dramatic edge that occasionally erodes its casual sincerity, and this is the one quality that I think makes Claude Sautet's work truly special. (Hopefully, The Things of Life will soon transition to Blu-ray on this side of the Atlantic because it is the biggest Sautet film but never received a legit DVD release). Kino Lorber's recent release of Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud is sourced from a fantastic restored master, which I think was finalized in 4K. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.