The Medic Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

The Medic Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov November 21, 2015

Nominated for Cesar Award for Best Supporting Actor, Pierre Granier-Deferre's "The Medic" a.k.a. "Le toubib" (1979) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French label Pathe. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film and new featurette produced by Jerome Wybon. In French, with optional English and French SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

The medic

The film is set during a massive military conflict, quite possibly WW3. Somewhere in Champagne, Jean-Marie Desprée (Alain Delon, Purple Noon) is abandoned by the woman he loves because their relationship has been a never-ending cycle of difficult compromises. He feels broken, but understands why he is alone.

A few days later, Desprée is sent to the front. Here he is a medical doctor who does whatever he can to save the lives of badly injured soldiers. At the large military camp there are other medical professionals working around the clock with him, but he is a loner who prefers to spend his free time with his thoughts. The people who know him best do not blame him because they understand that his personal life has been incredibly disappointing.

When the young and very beautiful nurse Harmony (Véronique Jannot, Shot Pattern) begins assisting Desprée, however, something deep inside him snaps and he is able to slowly let go of the past. Then gradually he warms up to her and they fall in love.

The more time the two spend together, the more Desprée begins to realize that they were meant to be together. They make love and even talk about the future when the world is a peaceful place again. Around the same time, however, Desprée accidentally discovers that Harmony is seriously sick and unaware that her condition is deteriorating.

Director Pierre Granier-Deferre adapted Jean Freustie’s excellent novel Harmonie ou les horreurs de la guerre and completed The Medic in 1979. It was his third and final collaboration with Delon after Le veuve Couderc (The Widow Couderc) and Creezy.

The military conflict is used as a pretext to reveal how the simple things in life that should matter the most become clear only during a time of crisis. Prior to meeting Harmony, Desprée is a wounded cynic who has essentially given up on life. He has tried to rebalance his life but has concluded that at his age it is too late to discard his painful experience as just another meaningless affair. After he arrives at the camp, however, he begins to see the obvious – that life is precious and every second of it is special.

Harmony’s arrival is essentially the litmus test that makes it easy for Desprée to see and feel again. It is a slow process which initially he attempts to reject, but her sincerity proves stronger than his cynicism. By the time they are ordered to move to a different camp, Desprée is already a completely different man.

It is after the relocation where the film stumbles a bit. The revelation that Harmony is seriously sick transforms it into a romantic melodrama that has a difficult time avoiding a number of clichés. The finale also feels a bit rushed, though considering the events that lead up to it the resolution is actually wraps everything up rather well.

Delon is likable as the cynical medic, but there are a number of other films, including Granier-Deferre’s The Widow Couderc, where he is far more convincing. Jannot is excellent as the beautiful nurse. There are memorable cameos by Jean-Pierre Bacri, Bernard Le Coq, and Bernard Giraudeau.

Philippe Sarde’s soundtrack features beautiful clarinet and violin solos that create very effective contrasts.

The Medic Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.66:1 encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Pierre Granier-Deferre's The Medic arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French label Pathe.

Pathe restored The Medic in 2K in 2014. The label entrusted the work to Eclair Group for the image and L.E. Diapason for the sound. Pathe's Blu-ray release of The Medic uses as a foundation the new 2K restoration.

Detail, clarity and depth are excellent. Even during sequences where light is restricted, such as the one where Alain Delon and Véronique Jannot visit the cave with the dead soldiers, the visuals are quite impressive. There are no traces of problematic degraining or sharpening adjustments. Throughout the entire film grain is evenly distributed and well resolved, never appearing lumpy or smeary. Overall image stability is excellent. Colors are stable and look healthy. However, color nuances could have been managed a little bit better as it is easy to see that there is a shift towards a stronger range of greens, blues, and warms yellow. The good news here is that even with the shift the whites have not been fully collapsed. There are no large debris, cuts, stains, damage marks, or torn frames to report in our review. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location. For the record, there is no problematic PAL or 1080/50i content preceding the disc's main menu).

The Medic Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Included with it is a French Descriptive Audio DTS 2.0 track. Optional English and French SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The lossless audio track is excellent, but at this point this is hardly surprising as all of the restoration work was done by the folks at L.E. Diapason. (I assume that the same team works on all of the high-profile restorations that have come via Pathe in recent years as the quality of the work is consistently impressive). Depth and clarity are very good throughout the entire film. Philippe Sarde's breezy score is also easily opens up the film during a number of important sequences. The dialog is stable, exceptionally clean and crisp, and very easy to follow. There are no audio dropouts or digital distortions to report in our review.

The Medic Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Film annonce - restored original trailer for The Medic. In French, not subtitled. (3 min, 1080).

• Pere et fils - presented here is a brand new featurette with clips from new interviews with Denys Granier-Deferre, son of director Pierre Granier-Deferre and producer Alain Terzian, as well as clips from archival interviews with Alain Delon and raw footage from the shooting of The Medic. The featurette was produced by Jerome Wybon. In French, not subtitled. (26 min).

The Medic Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Pierre Granier-Deferre's The Medic should appeal primarily to longtime admirers of Alain Delon's work. In it the great French actor plays a doctor who rediscovers his passion for life after he meets and falls in love with a beautiful young nurse during a massive military conflict. The film has been recently restored in 2K by French label Pathe. I think that the color grading could have been managed a bit better, but the film looks quite wonderful on Blu-ray. RECOMMENDED.