7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 2.8 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
It is French Colonial Vietnam in 1929. A young French girl from a family that is having some monetary difficulties is returning to boarding school. She is alone on public transportation when she catches the eye of a wealthy Chinese businessman. He offers her a ride into town in the back of his chauffeured sedan, and sparks fly. Can the torrid affair that ensues between them overcome the class restrictions and social mores of that time? Based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Maugerite Duras.
Starring: Jane March, Tony Ka Fai Leung, Frédérique Meininger, Melvil Poupaud, Lisa FaulknerForeign | 100% |
Erotic | 57% |
Drama | 49% |
Romance | 41% |
Biography | 12% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
French, French SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Region free
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Nominated for Oscar for Best Cinematography, Jean-Jacques Annaud's "L'amant" a.k.a. "The Lover" (1992) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French label Pathe. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; new audio commentary with the French director recorded exclusively for the new 4K restoration of his film; archival making of featurette; archival conversation with Marguerite Duras et Jean-Jacques Annaud; collection of stills from the film; and more. In English and French, with imposed French subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.
Jane March
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Jean-Jacques Annaud's The Lover arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French label Pathe.
The Lover was initially released on Blu-ray in Germany and I thought that the technical presentation was decent enough to easily recommend the release to fans of the film that wanted to upgrade their DVD releases (on the old R1 and R2 releases there was plenty of room for important improvements). However, Pathe's new Blu-ray release of The Lover, which uses as a foundation a brand new 4K restoration of the film, is vastly superior. Indeed, not only are detail and clarity dramatically improved, but color reproduction is also a lot more convincing. Many of the outdoor close-ups and panoramic shots, for instance, now look strikingly crisp and vibrant, and, more importantly, image depth is consistently far more pleasing (see screencaptures #2, 4, and 17). The most striking improvements, however, are during sequences where light is restricted. On the German release these were the weakest areas and more often than it was quite easy to see the limitations of the old master that was used to produce it (compare screencapture #15 with screencapture #18 from our review of the German release). Furthermore, there are no traces of problematic degraining or sharpening adjustments. Predictably, the light grain is beautifully resolved and evenly distributed throughout the entire film. There are no serious stability issues. Lastly, there are no debris, scratches, cuts, damage marks, or stains to report in this review. The encoding is also very good. To sum it all up, Pathe's new restoration of The Lover is indeed very beautiful and I have to speculate that it will remain the film's definitive presentation on the home video market. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your PS3 or SA regardless of your geographical location. For the record, there is no PAL or 1080/50i content preceding the disc's main menu).
There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Also included is a French Descriptive Audio DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track. For the record, Pathe have provided imposed French SDH subtitles for the main feature. (The subtitles cannot be turned off via the main menu or with the remote control, but they are in fact generated by the player).
The lossless English track is outstanding, but I have to mention that I would have preferred to have a 2.0 track included as well. Still, it is easy to tell that the audio has been remastered as depth is excellent and Gabriel Yared's beautiful score breathes even easier than it does on the German release. I also noticed that the high-frequencies are slightly better defined. The dialog is very crisp, stable, and easy to follow.
Pathe's new 4K restoration of Jean-Jacques Annaud's The Lover is very beautiful. I think that the film now truly looks as good as it should and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this new restoration will also remain its definitive presentation on the home video market. Pathe's release comes with imposed French subtitles for the original English audio track, but this was more than likely a contractual obligation for the Blu-ray to be Region-Free. Hopefully, Cohen Media or Criterion will bring the restoration to the U.S. (with the new audio commentary) so that fans of the film here can see it as well. Bravo Pathe! VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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