Switch Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		2.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.5

Switch Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov May 3, 2012

French helmer Frédéric Schoendoerffer's "Switch" (2011) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Anchor Bay-UK. The only supplemental feature on the disc is the film's original theatrical trailer. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

I am a Canadian citizen...

An aspiring young Canadian artist, Sophie (Karine Vanasse, Polytechnique, I'm Yours), is told about Switch.com, a place where people from different countries can swap their homes for a short period of time. Without thinking much, she offers her place to a French girl from Paris who wants to visit Montreal. Shortly after, she gets a key for a luxurious flat not too far away from the Eiffel Tower. She packs her bags and heads to Paris, while the French girl jumps on the first plane to Montreal. The two never meet. They communicate only via email.

Hours after she lands in Paris, Sophie decides to try her luck and see if she could have a memorable rendezvous. She approaches a handsome young man in the park who gives her his phone number - in case she needs someone to show her the city. Then, feeling exhausted she goes back to the flat, has dinner and falls asleep.

In the morning, SWAT teams raid the flat. Sophie is arrested and later on told that the mutilated body of a young man was found in the room next to her bedroom. She attempts to explain to Detective Forgeat (Eric Cantona, Looking for Eric, De Force), who is convinced that she is the owner of the flat and the dead man’s girlfriend, that she is only a guest, from Canada, but he refuses to believe her. However, Detective Forgeat agrees to double-check her identity with the Canadian embassy, though not before the weekend is over.

But Sophie isn’t willing to wait and instead insists that a dentist examines her teeth to confirm that she isn’t French (apparently, Canadian fillings are not as good as those sold in France). Detective Forgeat agrees and she manages to escape from the dental office.

A wild chase ensues – Detective Forgeat and his men go after Sophie while she runs through some of the risky areas in Paris. Sophie also phones her mother (Sophie Faucher, The Child Prodigy) in Montreal and asks her to find out the identity of the person living in her house.

The film is fast and intense. It is also full of excellent twists that effectively change the direction of its story. However, experienced viewers are likely to notice a few important details that solve the mystery early.

Director Frédéric Schoendoerffer manages the action well. The chase sequences are stylish but realistic, never longer than they should be. The main protagonists and their reads of the situations they are presented with are also credible. They also ask logical questions and get logical answers – though they are not always the right answers because the logic in this film constantly evolves.

The leads are good, with Cantona in particular looking very confident in front of the camera. Vanasse looks appropriately confused and later on determined to prove that she is innocent. Some of the supporting actors, however, are not as convincing. The lines a few of them utter feel rushed and a few times even out of place.

Ultimately, Switch is an enjoyable film which should appeal to viewers who like high-octane European action thrillers. It does not break any new genre boundaries, but it certainly delivers what it promises.

Note: Director Schoendoerffer’s previous film Truands a.k.a Paris Lockdown, starring Benoît Magimel, Olivier Marchal, Béatrice Dalle, and Philippe Caubère is an excellent crime drama very much worth seeing.

Switch Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Frédéric Schoendoerffer's Switch arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Anchor Bay-UK.

Despite the fact that the high-definition transfer has strong characteristics the presentation is enormously disappointing - the film has been cropped from its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1 to 1.78:1 and often times it is simply unwatchable. There are entire sequences that are so poorly framed that it feels like someone has been practicing with the camera, not shooting a serious film. Take a look at screencapture #16 where half of Eric Cantona's head is simply missing - there are many such examples throughout the entire film. What is even more disappointing is the fact that the majority of the film is basically a long and very intense chase shot with a hand-held camera and because of the cropping and zooming it could literally make the viewer feel sick. This said, the uncropped master must have been very strong because detail, clarity and contrast levels are excellent. There are no traces of sharpening and compression issues either. Very, very disappointing release, and this isn't the first time Anchor Bay-UK have cropped a contemporary French film (see 22 Bullets). So, I wonder: Is someone at Anchor Bay-UK not paying attention? Or, is someone in France not playing according to the rules? (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Switch Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and French LPCM 2.0. For the record, Anchor Bay-UK have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

The French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is very potent. Once the chase begins the dynamics literally move to an entirely new level - the audio becomes very aggressive and surround activity is often used to spice up the action. This is not to say that the French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is likely to test the muscles of your audio system, but the film was very well mixed and audiophiles will certainly appreciate the wide range of dynamics. The dialog is crisp, clean, stable, and easy to follow.

Switch Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - the original French theatrical trailer for Switch, in its correct aspect ratio of 2.39:1. In French, with optional English subtitles. (2 min, 1080p).

Switch Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I wonder why Switch has been cropped from its original aspect ratio. Anchor Bay-UK also released a cropped version of Richard Berry's 22 Bullets, also a contemporary French film, though distributed by EuropaCorp. Could it be that someone isn't paying attention? Or is someone in France not playing according to the rules? Either way, this is disappointing because I like the films the UK distributors bring on the market. Let's hope that proper adjustments are made soon. In the meantime, the best I could do is recommend that you RENT this film if you want to see it since the French Blu-ray release isn't English-friendly.