Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

One Deadly Summer Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov November 9, 2015

Nominated for the prestigious Palme d'Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival, Jean Becker's "One Deadly Summer" a.k.a. L'été meurtrier" (1983) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of independent distributors Tanelorn Films. The supplemental features on the disc include an original French theatrical trailer for the film; archival interview with Isabelle Adjani; two archival interviews with director Jean Becker; and stills and promotional materials. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

The beautiful girl

This film is easy to compare to Jean-Jacques Beineix’s Betty Blue. Jean Becker completed it in 1983, three years before Beinex’s film, and his preferred cut was also over three hours long. Unlike Beinex, however, Becker never managed to assemble it, despite the fact that he apparently had easy access to the footage that was removed prior to the film’s official theatrical release.

The film is set in a very small French town where it seems like nothing exciting ever happens. Here even the young bachelors prefer to have a drink in the local pub rather than try to impress the single girls and go out on a date with them. A few brave souls occasionally disrupt the peace, but then they quickly run out of money and go back to their drinking pals.

Pin-Pon (Alain Souchon, All Fired Up) is one of those bachelors who prefer to spend their free time in the pub. But when the young and very beautiful Elle (Isabelle Adjani, Queen Margot, Possession) seduces him and later on tells him that she is pregnant, he assumes that he has met the right girl to start a family with and despite the protests of his mother (Maria Machado) welcomes her in their modest house. Soon after, they marry.

It is here that the film moves in a different direction and becomes a lot darker. Elle begins looking for three Italian immigrants that years ago raped her mother and seriously confuses Pin-Pon. His deaf aunt, Costagna (Suzanne Flon, Moulin Rouge), is the only one that understands how Elle feels and sides with her, but everyone else concludes that she is the bad girl they warned him not to bring to the family.

The film features a superb performance by Adjani, who deservedly won the Cesar Award for Best Actress (France’s equivalent to the Oscars). In the first half she can easily be mistaken for a naïve young girl who simply loves to flirt, but later on a different side of her character is revealed that effectively changes the film’s atmosphere.

In Beineix’s director’s cut of Betty Blue, Beatrice Dalle’s character undergoes a similar transformation, but the buildup is longer and a lot more intense. It would have been interesting to see Becker’s longer cut of this film and whether it might have had a similar progression because it does feel like there are a couple of segments where some trims were made to keep it safer. Elsewhere, there is also footage that probably would have been edited slightly differently. (In an archival interview included on this release, Becker actually confirms that he intended to do precisely that if he ever was given a chance to release his preferred cut of the film).

Souchon is very good as the clumsy car mechanic who falls madly in love with the beautiful girl. Apparently, Becker initially wanted Gerard Depardieu for the role, but it is hard to imagine him replacing Souchon as his physique is very different. More importantly, during the early 80’s Depardieu typically played strong and quite aggressive characters that resonated with audiences in a particular way. Also, he and Adjani had already appeared in Andre Techine’s gritty thriller Barocco about a feisty boxer who wants to start a new life with a lonely girl.

The film is based on the novel by Sebastien Japrisot, who was a dear friend of Becker. The two also collaborated on the excellent period piece The Children of the Marshland.

One Deadly Summer Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.64:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Jean Becker's One Deadly Summer arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Tanelorn Films.

The Blu-ray release is sourced from the same master that was used to produce the DVD release of One Deadly Summer in the United States. It is an older master, but one that it is actually quite good. Obviously, there are some visible limitations -- there is a whiff of very light noise that sneaks in and the range of color nuances isn't as good it should be; density also isn't optimal. However, there are no traces of recent digital adjustments and this really does make quite a difference. The majority of the daylight footage, for instance, boasts decent depth, and even some of the darker footage has acceptable shadow definition. Most close-ups look quite good as well, though as mentioned earlier it is easy to see that density could be better. Image stability is very good. Finally, there are no large cuts, damage marks, stains, or debris to report in our review. All in all, there is clearly room for improvement, but the film does have a stable organic appearance and for the most part now looks quite a bit better than it does on the DVD. My score is 3.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

One Deadly Summer Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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

Even though the audio has not been fully remastered for this release, depth and clarity are actually very good. Balance is also does not disappoint. The best news, however, is that there isn't any distracting background hiss. (With older masters this is a common issue). The dialog is stable, clean, and easy to follow.

One Deadly Summer Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original French trailer for One Deadly Summer. In French, not subtitled. (3 min).

• Interview with Jean Becker - in this archival interview, director Jean Becker discusses his friendship with writer Sébastien Japrisot (who wrote the novel that inspired One Deadly Summer), the first version of the script for the film, the unique balance between comedy and drama in it, his desire to produce films that please the audience rather than the critics at Cahiers du cinema, the casting of Isabelle Aadjani (the role was also offered to Valerie Kapriskky, who shortly after appeared in Andrzej Zulawski's La Femme Publique) and Alain Souchon, the shooting of the film, etc. The interview was conducted in 2006. In French, with optional English subtitles. (28 min).

• Vintage Interview with Jean Becker - in this archival interview, director Jean Becker explains in great detail how One Deadly Summer came to exist, how Isabelle Adjani was approached and offered the role of Eliane Wieck, how his style evolved after One Deadly Summer, why the film did not win any major awards at the Cannes Film Festival (it was already a smash hit in France and the Cannes jury rarely recognized successful films), etc. In French, with optional English subtitles. (25 min).

• Interview with Isabelle Adjani - in this archival video interview, Isabelle Adjani discusses the character she plays in One Deadly Summer, her new "star image", the press/paparazzi attention, how she approaches each new film, etc. Director Jean Becker also answers various questions. The interview was conducted at the Cannes Film Festival in 1983. In French, with optional English subtitles. (21 min).

• Stills Compilation - a wonderful collection of stills from the film, lobby cards, posters, and production stills. With music. (7 min).

One Deadly Summer Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

By the time Isabelle Adjani made One Deadly Summer with Jean Becker she was already a big star in France, but I think that this film cemented her status. I like it quite a lot, though I would love to see the three-hour version which Becker has mentioned in various interviews. I have a feeling that if it ever emerged -- though it seems very unlikely -- it would end up being vastly superior, quite like the longer director's cut of Jean-Jacques Beineix's Betty Blue turned out to be a much better film than the shorter theatrical version. One Deadly Summer can look better in high-definition, but the Blu-ray represents a nice upgrade in quality over the old DVD release. Also, there are some very informative supplemental features on the Blu-ray that are not included on the DVD release. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.