Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

The Legend of the Holy Drinker Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 22, 2017

Certain qualities about The Legend of the Holy Drinker made me resort to looking up the differences between a couple of words in some online dictionaries. “Legend” is variously defined along the lines of “a traditional story sometimes popularly regarded as historical but unauthenticated” or “a story coming down from the past; especially one popularly regarded as historical although not verifiable”. Another somewhat similar word, “fable”, has elements in its various definitions which might in fact refer more accurately to some of the elements in this 1988 film from Ermanno Olmi (The Tree of Wooden Clogs), namely “a narration intended to enforce a useful truth” or “a short tale to teach a moral lesson”. Many definitions of the word “fable” mention that traditional stories in this idiom frequently have animals (sometimes anthropomorphized), and that’s one central way in which The Legend of the Holy Drinker is probably not accurately (or at least totally adequately) defined as a fable, but there are a number of almost supernatural elements in this film, one culled from a novel by Austrian writer Joseph Roth, which seem more in tune with a fable than with a truly historical account. A certain magical realism tends to pervade The Legend of the Holy Drinker, a film that really doesn’t have a whale of a lot of “plot”, instead giving way to what amounts to a vignette driven exercise depicting the various trials (and some might say temptations) suffered by a homeless Parisian man named Andreas Kartack (Rutger Hauer) who in the film’s opening scene is gifted with 200 francs by a mysterious stranger credited in the film only as The Distinguished Gentleman (Anthony Quayle). Andreas is not particularly desirous of this gift, and in fact insists that it is a loan, agreeing to repay it as soon as he’s able after The Distinguished Gentleman suggests that as an alternative. There are some quasi-mystical elements playing into even this “deal”, including the fact that The Distinguished Gentleman insists he’s on a religious mission of sorts for Saint Thérèse of Lisieux.

There’s another somewhat related term that could conceivably play into an understanding of The Legend of the Holy Drinker, namely “allegory”, which is defined as “a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.” I’m not quite sure how “hidden” anything about The Legend of the Holy Drinker really is, though, and the kind of “one to one correspondence” between an allegorical take on a given subject and its referent(s) is probably not sustainable in any in depth analysis of Andreas’ trek toward — well, even that is a little hazy, but one might at least suggest it’s salvation he’s aiming for.

However one wants to approach this fairly minimalist tale, there are some interesting ambiguities just within the character of Andreas himself which could give pause to anyone trying to come up with a “rational” explanation for everything. Despite a troubled history and a long relationship with hooch, Andreas seems to be a man of considerable integrity, and in fact some of the story's inherent tension arises simply because one feels Andreas wants to do the right thing, in terms of repaying this unexpected windfall, even as circumstances seemingly conspire to keep him from doing just that. As evidenced by a brief epigram evidently culled from Roth’s original novella which caps this somewhat desultory enterprise, it would seem that perhaps Roth’s only real “message” was to give hope to alcoholics that they might die in peace, despite whatever ravages their addictions had brought to their life. It’s a peculiarly German (or maybe Austrian) attitude that would seem to chafe at Olmi’s warmhearted Italian tendencies and the film’s setting in Paris, the co-called City of Lights, which (in this film, anyway) might be better termed the City of Torrential Downpours.

While the “realism” part of that aforementioned magical realist approach is defined in any number of ways throughout the film, including the information doled about what has brought Andreas to his sad state of affairs, and even with regard to depictions of his unhappy life shivering underneath newspaper “blankets” beneath bridges crossing the Seine, it’s the “magical” part of the story that somehow suffuses things in a more hypnotic fashion. This includes what seems to be Andreas’ “visions” of Thérèse (Dalila Belatreche), who may or may not be just a little girl who wanders the same streets that Andreas does. This very ambiguity actually only points up the underlying spirtuality of the tale, which is almost mystical in import, suggesting epochal metaphysical realities without ever attempting to really describe them.

Because of the film’s slow, almost languorous, pace, The Legend of the Holy Drinker may not be everyone’s cup of tea (no pun intended). But this is a film built out of careful, nuanced observation, and it provides Rutger Hauer with a really interesting opportunity to delve a little deeper than some of his more action oriented roles. Quayle is suitably enigmatic as The Distinguished Gentleman, and the large supporting cast includes Jean-Pierre Jeunet regular Dominique Pinchon as one of Andreas’ drinking buddies. The film is gorgeously shot by Dante Spinotti, who gives a supposedly downtrodden Paris a certain romantic quality despite an inherent dankness.

The Legend of the Holy Drinker Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Legend of the Holy Drinker is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Academy with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. The insert booklet included with this release contains the following information on the restoration:

The Legend of the Holy Drinker has been exclusively restored by Arrow Films and is presented in its original aspect ration of 1.85:1 with 5.1 and 2.0 stereo sound.

All restoration work was carried out a L'Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna. The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 4K resolution on a pin- registerd Arriscan and was graded on Digital Vision's Nucoda Film Master.

Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches and other instances of film wear were repaired or removed through a combination of digital restoration tools and techniques. Image stability was also improved. The original language English 4 track mix was transferred from an original Dolby print and has been newly remastered to the highest quality possible. The stereo English and Italian language tracks were remastered from the optical sound track negatives. There are times in which audio synchronisation will appear slightly loose against the picture, due to the fact that some of the dialogue in both languages was recorded in post-production.

Despite the drabness of the content and underlying ambience of the film, The Legend of the Holy Drinker has its own rather sumptuous if downtrodden beauty, and this transfer brings out the lustrous lighting techniques of cinematographer Dante Spinotti. Detail levels are uniformly excellent, with an understanding that Olmi and Spinotti often favor a kind of gauzily soft look, especially for some of the Parisian scenes that are more or less establishing or at least contextualizing shots. When characters are on screen, and especially when close-ups are employed, detail and fine detail levels are excellent. The palette is subtly infused with blue some of the time, but overall has a natural appearance. Grain also resolves naturally, though it occasionally attains a slightly yellow tinge (aside and apart from opticals).

The Legend of the Holy Drinker Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Legend of the Holy Drinker features the original English language track in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0, as well as an Italian dub in LPCM 2.0. Unless you're a native Italian speaker, I'd advise staying away from the dubbed track, which doesn't have the same presence as the English language tracks. The surround track significantly opens up the use of Igor Stravinsky's music, which is utilized for underscore, as well as providing more naturalistic ambience for the many outdoor scenes. Both tracks deliver dialogue cleanly and clearly, with no noticeable damage or distortion.

The Legend of the Holy Drinker Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interview with Rutger Hauer (1080p; 9:20) is an interesting sit down with the actor, who talks about how unusual this part was for him at this stage of his career.


• Interview with Tullio Kezich (1080i; 25:47) is a more in depth piece with the film's screenwriter, who discusses his approach as well as some data about the shoot.

As usual Arrow has provided a nicely appointed insert booklet with writing and archival stills.

The Legend of the Holy Drinker Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's an undeniably melancholic aspect to this interesting and rather unique film. The Legend of the Holy Drinker plays almost like (here comes another synonym, for what it's worth) a parable at times, though I'd be hard pressed to "translate" what its ultimate meaning might be. This is certainly one of Hauer's most arresting performances, and the film, despite its rather dour undertone, is surprisingly life affirming. Technical merits are strong, and while not for everyone, The Legend of the Holy Drinker comes Highly recommended.