The Love of a Woman Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

The Love of a Woman Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 22, 2017

On the spectrum of films dealing with outsiders coming to an isolated island community, one might reasonably grade from a pretty much happy ending (a la I Know Where I'm Going!) to a pretty much unhappy ending (a la The Wicker Man). While not quite at the level of, you know, human sacrifice and all that, The Love of a Woman definitely falls toward the sadder end of the above (obviously cheeky) scale. This interesting drama from underappreciated French director Jean Grémillon offers Micheline Presle as Marie Prieur, a young doctor who takes a job on the real life island of Ushant, an outcropping on the southwestern end of the English Channel in Brittany. The island is a cloistered environment, one which seems to “keep” its most needed employees, like the doctor or schoolteacher, for their entire lives. Marie is a strong willed woman, one who invites both umbrage from some females and occasionally lascivious commentary from some males, but her strength is tested when she meets a handsome Italian man named André Lorenzi (Massimo Girotti), a dashing engineer working on the island who has decidedly “old school” ideas about the proper place for a woman, especially after marriage. There’s really not a lot to the basic setup of The Love of a Woman, but it’s a film that is extremely strong on mood and which offers Presle an excellent opportunity to display both fortitude and vulnerability.

One indication of the “lifetime appointment” aspect to at least some of the jobs on the island of Ushant is alluded to in the film’s opening sequence, when an elderly male doctor is seen inoculating the island’s schoolchildren and talks about his impending retirement. The only slightly less elderly schoolteacher, Germaine Leblanc (Gaby Morlay), talks about only having one more year on the island before her retirement. The film quickly segues to a kind of commuter dinghy stuffed full of people, off which Marie embarks, though initially it’s not clear that she is the new doctor replacing the elderly departing male.

The first part of The Love of a Woman seems like it’s going to exploit Marie’s status as an outsider, and in fact that takes up the bulk of the film’s opening sequences, especially with regard to her supposedly unconventional doctoring techniques. The story weaves in side stories of several islanders, among them a sweet little girl named Aline, who is quite ill but who is surrounded by narrow minded townspeople who don’t necessarily cotton to Marie simply waltzing in and curing her, as nonsensical as that may sound. This story, as well as some others dealing with patients, recur throughout the film and it might be some indication of the film’s kind of melancholic overall emotional tenor that some of these tales do not come to happy conclusions.

At least Marie’s ministrations to Aline tangentially lead her to André, which is when the film tips into what might be termed a Douglas Sirkian ambience. Marie is instantly drawn to André, and the film features some sumptuously staged scenes that don’t appear to be studio bound (the IMDb lists Île d'Ouessant as one of the locations). Director Jean Grémillon, still kind of curiously unknown (or at least lesser known) on this side of the pond than some of his contemporaries, delivers a well paced middle section that quickly establishes Marie’s intense love for André even as it clearly shows her increasing uncertainty about how to balance his desires for her life with her own. While the basic conceit here verges on the melodramatic, nicely dialed down performances keep things from getting too overheated, something that even continues as the film wends its way toward its tearful conclusion.

There’s some kind of odd and not necessarily meaningful symbology that Grémillon and co-scenarists René Fallet and René Wheeler employ, including the use of a lighthouse that initially might be seen as a beacon of hope for Marie, but one which takes on a curiously sinister aspect later in the film, though one that perhaps leads to a catharsis for the young doctor. The film has a really palpable sense of place (even if it evidently wasn’t filmed on the actual Ushant), and it features an intense but always believable performance by Presle. The closing moments of the film offer a great lesson in finely timed acting technique, as Marie looks uncertainly toward an equally uncertain future.

The Love of a Woman Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Love of a Woman is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Academy with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. Arrow only offers a somewhat generic informational blurb about the transfer in the insert booklet accompanying this film, to wit:

The Love of a Woman (L'Amour d'une feeme) was digitally restored by Gaumon from original film elements, and presented in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.37:1 with original mono sound.

I haven't been able to track down any authoritative data on what elements exactly Gaumont restored and how exactly it restored them, but my hunch is there may have been at least some secondary elements utilized, since there's a somewhat variable image quality on display. The entire transfer has a commendably organic look, with good resolution of grain and an overall natural appearance, but there are definite variances in clarity and grain structure, with some moments looking a bit fuzzier than others. Despite these changes, detail levels are often quite good and even some midrange shots offer decent levels of fine detail, as in the slight pill that can be seen on André's sweater in screenshot 3. Contrast is solid throughout (though I personally found things to be a bit on the dark side at times). I'm rating this a 4.0, since it looks like film and whatever restoration that was undertaken has ameliorated if not completely eliminated any major signs of age related wear and tear, but those who are more sensitive to variances might be apt to give this a somewhat lower score.

The Love of a Woman Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Love of a Woman features an LPCM 2.0 mono track in the original French. This dialogue heavy film features good fidelity throughout, and the spoken moments sound reasonably full bodied and clear. There's a noticeable boxiness in some of the effects, especially some of the water and/or storm effects that accrue in later parts of the film. The score by Elsa Barraine and Henri Dutilleux can also occasionally sound just a trifle shallow, but has no actual issues with regards to distortion or dropouts.

The Love of a Woman Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• In Search of Jean Gremillon (1080p; 1:36:09) is a top notch French television broadcast from 1969 that has excellent background and some winning interviews. In French with English subtitles.

As usual, Arrow has provided a nice insert booklet with writing and stills.

The Love of a Woman Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I've seen a couple of other Jean Grémillon films like Remorques but count myself among those who should probably know more about this interesting French auteur. The Love of a Woman was Grémillon's final feature film, and if it seems somewhat slight on some narrative counts, it's quite accomplished in terms of character development and especially in terms of some of the technical aspects of what was at least in part a location shoot. Micheline Presle is as elegant but accessible as she typically is, and delivers a fine performance as a headstrong young career woman trying to make her way in a time and at a location where that kind of attitude and life goal aren't especially appreciated. Girotti (who was evidently dubbed, at least according to some online sources I researched in preparation for this review) can't quite match Presle's performance acumen, but he does a good job with a character some more contemporary types will probably want to dismiss out of hand. Arrow has provided a release with solid technical merits and an outstanding documentary about Grémillon. Recommended.