7.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 5.0 | |
Overall | 5.0 |
A psychologically damaged war veteran and a neglected child begin a startlingly intimate friendship—one that ultimately ignites the suspicion and anger of his friends and neighbors in suburban Paris.
Starring: Hardy Krüger, Patricia Gozzi, Daniel Ivernel, Nicole Courcel, André OumanskyForeign | 100% |
Drama | 66% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
French: LPCM Mono
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 4.5 | |
Overall | 5.0 |
Winner of Oscar Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Serge Bourguignon's "Les dimanches de Ville d'Avray" a.k.a. "Sundays and Cybele" (1962) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; new video interview with the French director; new video interviews with actors Hardy Krüger and Patricia Gozzi; the short film "Le sourire" a.k.a. "The Smile" (1962); and more. The release also arrives with an illustrated leaflet featuring professor Ginette Vincendeau's essay "Innocent Love?". In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
Pierre and Cybele
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Serge Bourguignon's Sundays and Cybele arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.
The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray release:
"This new digital transfer was created in 2K resolution on a Spirit 4K film scanner from a new 35mm fine-grain master made from the original camera negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, and jitter were manually removed using MTI's DRS, while Digital Vision's Phoenix was used for small dirt, flicker, grain, and noise management. Customs stamps printed onto the original negative were also removed.
The original monaural soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from a 35mm D/M/E/ magnetic track. Clicks, thumps, hiss, hum, and crackle were manually removed using Pro Tools HD, AudioCube's integrated workstation, and iZotope RX 3.
Transfer supervisor: Rita Belda/Sony Pictures, Culver City, CA.
Colorist: Richard Cassel/Technicolor Los Angeles."
Please note that the screencaptures included with our review appear in the following order:
1. Screencaptures #1-19: Sundays and Cybele
2. Screencaptures #21- 24: Le sourire
The wonderful high-definition transfer makes this film look almost distractingly beautiful at times. When there is an abundance of natural light depth, clarity and fluidity are quite simply outstanding (see any of the footage with the lake). The true strength of the high-definition transfer, however, is in its ability to recreate the delicate balance between the nuanced grays, whites and blacks in areas of the film where light is restricted. Here fluidity is fantastic (see screencapture #7) and the film can look as impressive as On the Waterfront (another terrific restoration project completed by Sony Pictures). Grain is beautifully distributed and resolved throughout the entire film. Also, there are no traces of sharpening
adjustments. Overall image stability is outstanding. Lastly, large debris, damage marks, cuts, stains, scratches, and splices have been removed without affecting the integrity of the image. All in all, this is a wonderful organic presentation of Sundays and Cybele which will likely remain its definitive presentation on the home video market. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French LPCM 1.0. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.
It is very easy to tell that the audio has been restored -- depth and clarity are excellent and there is absolutely no background hiss. Random sounds and noises are well defined and balanced. Maurice Jarre's atmospheric soundtrack also breathes easily throughout the entire film. The dialog is consistently crisp, clear, stable, and easy to follow. The English translation is excellent.
Releases such as this one are the reason why Criterion are considered by many to be the best in the business. I very much doubt that without them Serge Bourguignon's astonishingly beautiful Sundays and Cybele would have been treated with the same respect. Indeed, not only does the film look magnificent on Blu-ray, but the newly produced supplemental features are some of the best I have seen this year. The exclusive interview with Hardy Krüger alone is a good enough reason to highly recommend this release. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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