Rapt Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Rapt Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 12, 2011

Nominated for four Cesar Awards, Belgian director Lucas Belvaux's "Rapt" (2009) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include original trailers and a gallery of stills from the film. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

You can eat now...

Stanislas Graff (Yvan Attal, My Wife is an Actress, Anthony Zimmer) is a lucky man. He is rich, married to a beautiful woman (A Christmas Tale, Wild Grass), and the CEO of a big corporation with clients all over the world. He routinely meets with some of the most powerful men in France. Occasionally, he is even seen next to the French president.

On his way to an important business meeting, Stanislas is kidnapped and taken to an unknown location. Men with masks and guns inform him that he can be free again only if they are paid 50 million Euros. Then they cut off one of his fingers, attach a ransom note to it, and mail it to the police to let them know that they mean business.

Word about Stanislas’ kidnapping immediately reaches the top shareholders in the corporation. They quickly gather and begin discussing strategies to bring their CEO back where he belongs. But the large amount of money the kidnappers are asking for makes some of them nervous. A few even suggest that Stanislas’ family should be involved in the discussion and asked to pay off the ransom.

Things get complicated when details about Stanislas’ personal life emerge. The shareholders are shocked to learn that he was a compulsive gambler with massive debts and an adulterer who spent lavishly on his mistresses. Less than enthusiastic about the return of their CEO and seriously concerned about the corporation’s public image, the shareholders vote to leave the case in the hands of the police.

Meanwhile, the details about Stanislas’ secret life also enter his home, and his wife, mother and children become overwhelmed by them. They also learn that they are not as wealthy as they thought they were – the best that they could do without going broke is which is why they could collect a[approximately 20 million Euros. But this isn’t enough and the kidnappers quickly sent a second note to the police announcing that if they don’t get the amount they have demanded, Stanislas will never be seen again.

Belgian director Lucas Belvaux, who is also a prominent actor, has crafted a tense and thoroughly engrossing film that reminds about his The Law of the Weakest, in which three unemployed friends decide to cook up a robbery – it has familiar neo-noir overtones and characters that are abruptly taken out of their comfort zones. Rapt also shares the same minimalistic look and sense of loneliness that permeates the director’s earlier films, and specifically the three films in his acclaimed The Trilogy (On the Run, Amazing Couple, After Life).

The film is formally divided into two large sections. The first focuses on Stanislas’ kidnapping and the complex negotiations that follow it. The second focuses on the various details about his secret life, as well as the dramatic impact they have on the people who knew him best. Both are very intense and also deliciously subversive.

What impresses the most is the film’s ability to convince the viewer that the unique world the main characters belong to – that of the enormously wealthy – is authentic. There is a certain degree of seriousness throughout the film that is very effective. There are some excellent apolitical observations about corporate culture and behavior as well.

Attal, one of the top actors currently working in France, is outstanding as the CEO whose life suddenly begins to spiral out of control. The elegant and always reliable Consigny is also very convincing as his disillusioned and on the verge of complete nervous breakdown wife.

Note: In 2010, Rapt earned four Cesar nominations, including Best Film and Best Director.

Rapt Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Lucas Belvaux's Rapt arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

Generally speaking, detail and clarity are very pleasing. Most close-ups convey good depth (see screencapture #2), while the larger panoramic shots look fluid. There are no traces of post-production sharpening or contrast boosting. Color reproduction is also convincing, but there is a wide range of soft and muted colors that have a tendency to affect overall sharpness levels. Natural light is also used carefully to enhance the film's unique look. There are a couple of sequences where I noticed mild banding patterns popping up, but their presence was not distracting (see the beach sequence). I did not see any serious aliasing or ringing patterns to report in this review. Lastly, there are no serious stability issues either. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your PS3 or SA regardless of your geographical location).

Rapt Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. For the record, Kino Lorber have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

The loseless audio track serves the film well, boasting a wide range of nuanced dynamics. Surround activity, however, is limited, and hardly adding anything of substance to the film's unique atmosphere. This is not to say that there are any technical limitations, rather that the film's surround design is quite modest. The dialog is crisp, clean, stable, and easy to follow. For the record, there are no sync issues or audio dropouts to report in this review. The English translation is competent.

Rapt Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailers - original trailers for Rapt (2 min,1080p), Film Socialisme (2 min, 1080p), The Robber (2 min, 1080p), City of Life and Death (2 min, 1080p), and Armadillo (2 min, 1080p).

• Stills - a gallery of stills from the film. (1080p).

Rapt Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I love Lucas Belvaux's work. His films are always very elegant, very modern and never predictable. Rapt, the Belgian director's latest film, is a stylish thriller about a powerful man trapped in a bizarre self-destructive cycle played by the always impressive Yvan Attal. Kino Lorber's Blu-ray release is the film's only English-friendly release currently on the market. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.