Original Sin Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.5

Original Sin Blu-ray Movie Review

The Worst Sin Is Losing the Audience

Reviewed by Michael Reuben August 31, 2011

On paper, Original Sin had a lot going for it. It reunited Angelina Jolie with director, playwright and actor Michael Cristofer, who had overseen her breakthrough performance in the HBO film Gia, which he also wrote. The film paired Jolie with Antonio Banderas, whose screen persona appeared to be a perfect match for the recent Oscar winner, especially in a story about uncontrollable passion and love beyond reason. The script had impeccable credentials, having been adapted by Cristofer himself from a novel by noted mystery writer Cornell Woolrich that had previously inspired François Truffaut's Mississippi Mermaid featuring Catherine Deneuve and Jean-Paul Bemondo. And Cristofer had relocated the story from its original New Orleans setting to early 20th Century Cuba, providing an entirely new and colorful locale for Woolrich's tale, which one might characterize as a kind of reverse film noir, in which the femme fatale ends up accomplishing the opposite of what she sets out to do, entrapping herself instead of the man she was after.

So what went wrong? Why is the result so utterly inert, even as presented here in its unrated original cut, with the MPAA-mandated trims restored so that all the sex and nudity is fully included? I wish I knew. Ever since I first saw Original Sin, I've been baffled by how so much talent could labor so hard to so little effect, and I keep hoping that it'll work the next time, but no such luck. Tales of sexual obsession and unreasoning love have to draw you into their world at least a little to weave their spell. Even when you know that Matty Walker in Body Heat or Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity is up to no good, you still have to feel the tug of fascination pulling at Ned Racine or Walter Neff if you're to have any stake in the story. But that never happens with Original Sin. Something about the way the film is put together keeps the viewer at arm's length.

Luis Antonio Vargas (Banderas), a successful Cuban coffee grower and exporter, anxiously awaits the arrival of a mail-order bride from Boston. When Julia Russell (Jolie) arrives, she does not resemble the pictures she sent. Julia explains that she did not want a husband who desired her only for her beauty, and Luis confesses that he, too, has misrepresented himself, having claimed to be no more than a clerk in the export business. Julia smiles as she observes that neither of them can be trusted.

After a lavish wedding, Julia and Luis settle into a happy life. Asked by his partner, Alan Jordan (Jack Thompson), whether he has found love, which is based on giving, or lust, which is all about taking, Luis replies that he's found both.

Still, a few oddities occur. At the theater one night, the actor playing the devil in a production of Faust seems to recognize Julia, who disappears backstage at intermission, explaining, when Luis goes to find her, that she'd gotten lost. Julia's sister, Emily (Cordelia Richards), writes numerous letters concerned and complaining at Julia's lack of correspondence, until Luis finally insists that Julia write back and posts the letter himself.

Not long after, a detective (Thomas Jane) appears at Luis's office claiming to have been hired by Emily to find her sister. Luis assures him that Julia is fine and invites him to the house the following weekend to see for himself. But before any social event can occur, Emily herself arrives demanding to know who wrote the letter she received, because the handwriting is not her sister's. Luis gallops home on horseback to find all of his wife's belongings gone. Further inquiry reveals that she's cleaned out his bank accounts, to which he'd given her full access.

And that's only the first act of the film. There's well over an hour to go, and you find yourself wondering what it could possibly be about -- which may be the problem. Original Sin suffers from a surfeit of plot, or, to be more precise, a failure to sufficiently maintain a clear focus on what kind of story it wants to be. It is entirely conceivable that many of the story's more bizarre turns could have been successfully accommodated within a film that cast the fever-dream spell director Cristofer was clearly after. But it's impossible to hypnotize an audience when you're constantly snapping your fingers to say: "Pay attention! We're heading off in a new direction!"

Cristofer tries to maintain a sense of continuity by returning regularly to Julia (whose real name is "Bonny") in a jail cell confessing to a priest the night before she is to be executed, and this often cryptic confession continues in voiceover, but the effect is the opposite of what's intended. Instead of drawing us further into the relationship between Julia and Luis, it pushes us away.

And that relationship is the film's real subject, despite the multitude of distractions. If the film's first forty-five minutes mimic the plot of a classic film noir, the remainder tries to explore what happens when the scheming woman accidentally falls in love with the man she's played for a chump. But having taken so long to get to his real subject, Cristofer proceeds to put all sorts of distractions in the way, some of which were there in the Woolrich novel and some of which, as Cristofer describes in the commentary, he added on his own. I won't spoil the details for those who still want to experience Original Sin for themselves, but the result of the elaborate plot distractions is to shortchange the one area that should be critical, namely, Julia/Bonny and Luis exploring their love and passion for each other now that all pretense has been flung aside. We are told about this, but we're not shown it; we're meant to take it on faith, but that's not enough. When key scenes arrive -- notably, a pivotal conversation over two cups of coffee -- they don't work dramatically, because the narrative hasn't supplied sufficient emotional underpinning.

The actors can't be faulted. They're playing what they've been given, and it's obvious that both Julia and Luis are complex people. But complexity alone doesn't make a good dramatic character. Clarity and focus are also required, and those are a director's job, especially in a medium that gives the director final cut. When the director is also the writer, the buck truly stops there.

Original Sin Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

In his commentary, director Cristofer notes that Original Sin was subjected to a "skip bleach" process to take out some of the "warmth" and make it "less beautiful". From the film's appearance, it's apparent that he's referring to one of the variously named "bleach bypass" procedures that can be calibrated to a percentage, thereby allowing colors to be desaturated, but only to a certain degree. (Today this can be done with even greater precision on a digital intermediate.) The 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray reproduces this often monochromatic effect with excellent black levels, fine delineation of shadow details, natural-looking grain and expanses of white that never look too white. Colors are distinct but never intense, whether it's the blue sky when Julia arrives or the red of the devil's costume in Faust. I did not detect any evidence of DNR, digital tampering or compression artifacts.

The major criticism of this presentation is that the source material is in less than pristine condition. There are many more spots and scratches than one would expect on a film that is just ten years old. I don't want to overstate this issue, or dissuade anyone from acquiring the disc who would otherwise be interested. One can go for a long time without seeing any source issues, and then there will be a series of small flaws in rapid succession. It's worth remarking on simply because it's so rare in a film from this era.

Original Sin Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 mix, presented in DTS lossless, is relatively conservative in its use of the surrounds, but it can be aggressive when the circumstances require. A notable use is a scene in which Luis exits a Havana hotel during the carnival season and steps into a street filled with revelers. The entire soundfield comes alive with the scene, which moves around the five speakers as Luis moves through the street. Subtler uses of the surrounds occur in such locales as the waterfront, the theater and the plantation fields.

Terence Blanchard's atmospheric score gets plenty of breathing room and often has more emotional conviction than the action it accompanies. Dialogue is always clear and well-reproduced.

Original Sin Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary by Writer/Director Michael Cristofer: Cristofer speaks deliberately, with quiet enthusiasm. Pauses between comments grow longer as the commentary progresses. He's very much an actors' director, which is evident in his detailed observations regarding the working methods of both Jolie and Banderas. But he also points out numerous technical elements and identifies influences (the shooting style of Max Ophuls is a big one), and he comments frequently on the need to remove interesting performances in the editing room for the sake of the overall story. (Where are the deleted scenes?)



• Gloria Estefan, "You Can't Walk Away From Love" (SD; 1.78:1, non-enhanced; 1:47): The song plays over the closing credits.



• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2.35:1; 2:09): It gives away about the first half of the plot, and it also contains lines of dialogue that aren't in the finished film.

Original Sin Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I'm cynical enough to believe that the principal audience for this disc consists of Jolie fans interested in acquiring hi-def images of her simulating lovemaking in the buff. If that's your goal, this disc fits the bill. As far as an interesting story is concerned, some of it is interesting, and the production design and cinematography (by Amores Perros's Rodrigo Prieto) are exceptional. What's missing is a compelling narrative that draws you in and holds you for the entire running time. Without that, I can't recommend the movie or the disc.