The Bakery Girl of Monceau Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

The Bakery Girl of Monceau Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 9, 2024

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Eric Rohmer's Six Moral Tales from Criterion.

One of the rather interesting if simultaneously peculiar trivia points about world cinema is how fecund the French movie critic community has been in producing titans of film making. The iconic French publication Cahiers du Cinéma was a virtual hotbed of activity in this regard, and if names like Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut may be at the apex of any list culled from those who began as writers for the magazine and who went on to storied careers in film, there are any number of others, including Jacques Rivette, Claude Chabrol, and the man responsible for the six films (some shorts) in this collection, Éric Rohmer. Rohmer's fame may have at least temporarily eclipsed the likes of Godard and Truffaut, for a little while anyway, when the trifecta of My Night at Maud's, Claire's Knee, and Love in the Afternoon became international sensations as the sixties gave way to the seventies. An obituary for Rohmer in a major newspaper mentioned his "durability" and suggested that even if he didn't have the immediate name recognition of some of his peers, his work had outlasted any flash in the pan sensibility that may have attended releases of films by other former critics. Really fascinatingly in the "trivial pursuit" category is the fact that all six of the "tales" aggregated as exemplars of "morality" by Rohmer are based, at least tangentially, on F.W. Murnau's legendary Sunrise.

The Bakery Girl of Monceau kind of plays like a veritable Reader's Digest version of themes and approaches Rohmer would take with his lengthier and more developed Moral Tales, but basically once again involves a kind of hapless schlub , rather interestingly portrayed by Rohmer's longtime producing partner and future respected director Barbet Schroeder, who wants to romance a woman who works in a bakery.

The Bakery Girl of Monceau Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Bakery Girl of Monceau is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. Criterion's insert booklet states that "the restoration of all six films was undertaken by Les Films du Losange, with the support of the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC)", and further specifies that this particular film was transferred in 2K from the 16 mm original camera negative. This is an appealing looking presentation for the most part, though it does suffer from some noticeable age related wear and tear (you can see a rather bad vertical scratch toward the middle of the frame in a couple of the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review). Detail levels are basically decent, though Rohmer likes "fly on the wall" framings that are frequently in the midrange category, meaning fine detail levels can ebb and flow. Grain resolves naturally.

The Bakery Girl of Monceau Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Bakery Girl of Monceau features a pretty basic but completely listenable LPCM Mono track in the original French. There's voiceover and dialogue, all of which is presented without any major issues, but which can sound just a trifle boxy at times. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Bakery Girl of Monceau Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Criterion has packaged The Bakery Girl of Monceau and Suzanne's Career together on one disc with the following supplements, some of which, while "officially" listed under one particular film, may be more general in nature.

The Bakery Girl of Monceau

• Presentation, or Charlotte and Her Steak (1951) (HD; 9:52) is a very early Rohmer effort that took years to complete and which once again revolves around mismatched lovers.


• Moral Tales, Filmic Issues (HD; 1:24:07) is a really interesting conversation between Rohmer and his longtime producing partner Barbet Schroeder. Subtitled in English.

Suzanne's Career

• Nadja in Paris (1964) (HD; 13:11) is a really sweet travelogue of sorts.

The Bakery Girl of Monceau Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Bakery Girl of Monceau is kind of an "appetizer" for more filling fare that will be discovered by those who go through this set in chronological order. Technical merits are generally solid, though the element has some noticeable if not overwhelming damage. Recommended.