Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

The Innocent Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov September 27, 2023

Louis Garrel's "The Innocent" (2022) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Janus Films/Criterion. The supplemental features on the release include exclusive new program with the director and original trailer for the film. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

I’ll explain how it works. Load the cartridge like this. Only like this. Or it can blow up in your face. All right? Your life isn’t worth jack shit because you didn’t deserve it. But your death, you deserved it for sure. You listening? If you kill only one man, you break even with death. It will leave no trace, like you’re not even dead. Kill two men, you beat the odds. With two kills, you necessarily start leaving a trace. Something more. Whatever happens… You can’t be killed twice.

The tone that the man uses to deliver his lines is genuinely unsettling, which is clearly why the man in front of him has been quiet. It is just as clear that the former has been describing to the latter a job. A most dangerous job too, one that will require the use of guns, balls of steel, and a crystal-clear head. A job that will produce casualties, and the man that is being addressed could be one of them.

But as the talking man prepares to deliver his final instructions, a female voice from the rear announces: Men, today’s activity is over. Head for the exit. It’s great. The man, looking visibly relieved, then quickly removes a tiny earpiece and nervously declares: I forgot a line. But as if it to make a point that it was forced to observe the man against its wish, the camera abruptly moves away from him and reveals the owner of the female voice, a petite, middle-aged woman, who responds: No big deal, it was great.

During the next half an hour, the camera evolves into a most curious observer as the man, the woman, her son, and his girlfriend become closer, and three of them agree to participate in a heist with some shady characters.

There are a few interesting developments before the heist is executed. Several weeks after Michel (Roschdy Zem) is congratulated for his remarkably realistic performance by Sylvie (Anouk Grinberg), the two officially become a couple in prison where the former is serving a sentence. Sylvie’s son, Abel (Louis Garrel), who has lost his wife in a terrible car accident, struggles to accept his mother’s decision, so when Michel is released, he secretly begins spying on him. His girlfriend, Clemence (Noemie Merlant), joins the secret spying operation and almost instantly collapses it, forcing Michel to openly confront Abel and address his suspicion that he is not a reformed criminal, but a criminal wearing a mask.

Garrel is better known for his acting work than his directing work, but his fourth feature film, The Innocent, could signal a change. It is a small but wonderfully directed film that quickly creates the impression that its creator has grown tremendously and becoming very comfortable behind the camera.

Even though The Innocent is about a heist, there is as much suspense in it as there is comedy embellished with light romance. In fact, more than two-thirds of it is dedicated to the constantly evolving relationships between the four main characters and their individual interpretations of their ups and downs. In other words, The Innocent is not at all easy to profile as a neo-noir film because it spends very little time building the type of atmosphere a proper neo-noir film requires.

However, the absence of the specific atmosphere that would have transformed The Innocent into a proper neo-noir film is most beneficial. Indeed, it keeps the film grounded in reality and helps the main characters appear very authentic even when some of their supposedly impulsive decisions seem a tad suspicious. As a result, the biggest surprises do not emerge from unexpected developments before, during, and after the staging of the heist, but from the emotional swings of the main characters.

If there is one thing Garrel could have done differently and better it is the quality of the modern grading job, which gives The Innocent that most familiar sterile cool appearance that emphasizes creamy yellow and turquoise. So many contemporary films use it now that it is becoming annoying. Proper natural colors would have been far more appropriate for The Innocent.

The soundtrack utilizes Italian maestro Stelvio Cipriani's famous track "La polizia sta a guardare", which initially appeared in Roberto Infascelli's classic thriller The Great Kidnapping.

The Innocent Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, The Innocent arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Janus Films/Criterion.

The film looks very good on my system. I think that some small encoding optimizations could have been introduced to make select darker areas look even more convincing, but everything else is solid. Delineation, clarity, and depth range from very good to excellent, though I must point out that the contemporary color grade introduces some predictably fluctuations that affect some highlights and darker nuances. I listened to Louis Garrel's explanation why this was done after his 35mm tests turned out very disappointing, and to be honest, I suspect that the specialists he interacted with misled him because the current color grade most definitely does not produce or support an authentic '80s atmosphere/vibe. Image stability is outstanding. I did not notice any surface anomalies that may have been accidentally introduced when the master was finalized. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

The Innocent Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

The film has a fully digital soundtrack, and the 5.1 track is a proper replica of it. Clarity, sharpness, and stability are terrific. Dynamic intensity is very good too, though only during the second half there is some decent yet quite short action footage. I did not encounter any distortions, pops, or audio dropouts to report in our review. The English translation is excellent.

The Innocent Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Meet the Filmmaker - in this exclusive new program, Louis Garrel discusses his background and transition to the film industry, his maturation as an actor and director, and the production of The Innocent. There are some quite interesting comments about the invaluable lessons he learned from the great screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière (Belle de Jour). In English, not subtitled. (18 min).

• Trailer - presented here is an original U.S. trailer for The Innocent. In French, with English subtitles. (2 min).

• Leaflet - an illustrated leaflet featuring critic Michael Joshua Rowin's essay "The innocent: Love and Larceny".

The Innocent Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It appears that a lot of mainstream critics could not quite figure out how to deconstruct The Innocent and focused primarily on its humor, which is why publicity materials highlight quotes from them that describe it simply as a comedy. In France, films like The Innocent are referred to as comedie dramatique, but only if they stay in their lane and behave as expected. The Innocent has noirish roots and does not behave as expected, which is what makes it interesting. It is the best of the four films Louis Garrel has directed to date. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.