7.5 | / 10 |
Users | 4.6 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Dissatisfied in marriage and life, Ferdinand takes to the road with the babysitter, his ex-lover Marianne Renoir, and leaves the bourgeoisie behind.
Starring: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Anna Karina, Graziella Galvani, Samuel FullerDrama | 100% |
Foreign | 82% |
Romance | 24% |
Crime | 7% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
French: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Jean-Luc Godard's "Pierrot le fou" (1965) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The disc contains a high-definition transfer created on a Spirit Datacine from the original 35mm negative, and color corrected on a Specter Virtual Datacine, that has been personally approved by cinematographer Raoul Coutard. Amongst the special features on the disc are an interview with Anna Karina recorded exclusively for the Criterion collection, the documentary "A Pierrot primer", "Belmondo in the Wind", "Venice Film Festival, 1965", "Godard, L'amour, La poesie", as well as the original theatrical trailer for the film. Region-A "locked".
Pierrot
Presented in aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Jean-Luc Godard's Pierrot le fou arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.
A lovely transfer approved by cinematographer Raoul Coutard! Contrast, detail and clarity are indeed very convincing. The color-scheme is also fabulous – reds, blues, greens, yellows, blacks and whites are lush and well saturated (take a look at the party shot from the first half of the film as well as the panoramic shots from the second half of the film). Additionally, neither edge-enhancement nor macroblocking plague the transfer. On the contrary, Pierrot le fou looks very fresh yet natural. There are no stability issues to report either. Dirt, scratches, debris, or stains are nowhere to be seen (many have been manually removed using MTI's DRS system and Pixel Farm's PFClean system). For the record, when blown through a digital projector, Pierrot le fou looks incredibly strong. All in all, this is fantastic upgrade over the existing SDVD release of the film that will certainly please even the most demanding amongst you.
There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: French LPCM 2.0 mono. For the record, Criterion have provided optional white English subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.
The monaural soundtrack has been remastered at 24-bit from a 35mm optical track print. A number of pops, cracks and hissings have been removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle has been attenuated using AudioCube's integrated audio workstation. As a result, the French LPCM 2.0 track sounds as good as it probably could – there are no stability or balance issues to report whatsoever. Furthermore, the dialog is incredibly clean and easy to follow. Antoine Duhamel's superb music score sounds lovely as well. Indeed, I have absolutely no reservations with the audio treatment.
Anna Karina - in this interview, recorded for Criterion at the Brasserie Lipp in Paris 2007, celebrated actor Anna Karina recalls working with her former husband director Jean-Luc Godard and her role as Pierrot le fou's Marianne Renoir. (15 min, 1080i)
A Pierrot primer - this segment, with commentary by filmmaker and educator Jean-Pierre Gorin (Tout va bien, Letter to Jane, My Crazy Life), presents an introduction to Pierrot le fou. (36 min, 1080i).
Belmondo in the Wind - in the following excerpted program, Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina comment on Belmondo's role in Pierrot le fou and his easy desposition as an actor and collaborator. The interviews were recorded during the film's production by journalist Mario Beunat, for the television series Panorama, and originally aired on June 18, 1965. (10 min, 1080i).
Venice Film Festival, 1965 - Pierrot le fou premiered at the Venice Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Golden Lion award. During the event, Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina were interviewed by Maurice Seveno and Christian Durieux for a French TV news segment on the festival that originally aired on September 2, 1965. Excerpts from the segment are presented here. (4 min, 1080i).
Godard, L'amour, La poesie - a fifty-three minute documentary created by French filmmaker Luc Lagier in 2007, tracing Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina's marriage and films, from Le petit soldat through Pierrot le fou. The documentary also includes interviews with Karina and Godard collaborators Charles Bitsch, Raoul Coutard, Jean Douchet, and Jean-Paul Savignac. (53 min, 1080i).
Trailer - (2 min, 1080i).
Booklet - a 46-page illustrated booklet containing the following: "Self-portrait in a shattered lens" by Richard Brody (the author is an editor and writer at the New Yorker), "Sarris on Pierrot le fou" by Andrew Sarris (the review originally appeared in the Village Voice on January 23, 1969, on the occasion of Pierrot le fou's long-delayed New York release, and was later reprinted in the author's anthology of film writing, Confessions of a Cultist), "Let's Talk About Pierrot: An Interview with Jean-Luc Godard" (the interview was conducted by Jean-Louis Comolli, Michel Delahaye, Jean-Andre Fieschi, and Gerard Guegan, and appeared in the October 1965 issue of Cahiers du cinema, upon the film's release in France).
Jean-Luc Godard's Pierrot le fou looks and sounds fantastic. Once again, I cannot think of a single reason why you would not want to have this disc in your collections. At this point, my only advice to Criterion is - release more! Very Highly Recommended.
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