7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
In a small town in the south of France, an earnest auto mechanic and aspiring firefighter falls under the spell of a mysterious and sexy newcomer to his community. Their burgeoning romantic bond is complicated by her mental instability and a brutal secret from the past.
Starring: Isabelle Adjani, Alain Souchon, Suzanne Flon, Jean Gaven, François CluzetForeign | 100% |
Erotic | 51% |
Psychological thriller | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Romance | Insignificant |
Mystery | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.64:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
French: LPCM 2.0
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
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
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).
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.
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.
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