The Moment of Truth Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

The Moment of Truth Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov May 7, 2018

Jean Delannoy's "The Moment of Truth" a.k.a. "La Minute de vérité" (1952) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French label Gaumont. The supplemental features on the disc include a vintage trailer for the film; restoration comparison; and archival featurette from Gaumont's vaults. In French, with optional English and French SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

The suspicious doctor

As they look at each other it instantly becomes clear that they are still very much in love. Their large and beautifully decorated apartment also suggests that they have had successful careers. Madeleine (Michele Morgan) appears to be in her late thirties, possibly early forties, while Pierre (Jean Gabin) is a few years older.

On the eve of their tenth anniversary, however, a strange discovery rocks their marriage. While visiting the studio of a bohemian painter named Daniel Prevost (Daniel Gelin) who has collapsed and needs urgent medical care, Pierre sees a large photograph of Madeleine next to his bed, and then before the ambulance arrives realizes that he is about to help her secret lover. Later that night, while struggling to control his emotions, Pierre demands answers from his wife.

A series of long flashbacks begin to reconstruct the long demise of what hours earlier seemed like the perfect marriage. In one of them Madeleine explains how she met Daniel and repeatedly lied to Pierre as she felt and feared that she was going to erode the foundation of their union. She also confesses that even though there were times when Pierre angered her she never stopped loving him or thought of walking away from him. In another flashback Madeleine reveals that the moment when she really fell for Daniel came after he took a huge risk to purchase a large dose of penicillin on the black market that she needed to help another woman. Then she agreed to meet him again and he took her to see an abandoned house on the outskirts of the city that he had plans to rebuild for them.

However, a different set of flashbacks also reveals how Madeleine found out that Pierre was having an affair with a younger nurse that worked in his office. It was right around the time when she met Daniel. While she was around Pierre, she pretended to be a clueless wife who was focused on her acting career and the reviews that the critics published after each new production. Then as she realized that Pierre was just as good while playing the role of the faithful and happy husband, the bitterness and pain that she struggled to suppress disappeared. She was just sad that together they had irreversibly damaged and were in the process of losing what countless other couples never had.

The simplicity of this wonderful romantic drama from Jean Delannoy is quite deceiving because it identifies with surgical precision the exact ways in which conditions are created to erode the foundation of a perfect marriage. As one of the early flashbacks reveals, for instance, a spontaneous exchange where the intent behind some very simple words is misjudged could have profound consequences. Elsewhere an unexpected reaction triggers a series of negative responses that also hurt the trust that exists between the two partners. So the ‘casual’ affairs that emerge after the accidental discovery in the beginning of the film actually become the culmination of a long process that was initiated and then strengthened by poor communication.

Gabin and Morgan, two of post-war French cinema’s greatest stars, effortlessly play their compromised characters and truly are a pleasure to behold. There is a good number of clichéd situations that easily could have been overwhelmed by dull melodrama, but the two stars are always in control and their perfect chemistry actually makes it awfully difficult not to consider them some of the highlights of the film.

*In the late 1930s, Gabin and Morgan also appeared in Marcel Carne's classic film noir Port of Shadows, which is already out on Blu-ray courtesy of StudioCanal. You can see our listing and review of this release here.

The Moment of Truth Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Jean Delannoy's The Moment of Truth arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Gaumont.

The release is sourced from what appears to be a first-class 2K restoration of the film. In fact, the restoration is so good that I would say that it is the best that I have seen from Gaumont in a couple of years. However, the technical presentation is a bit frustrating. Once again it appears that the disc is encoded with improper gamma levels that make the entire film look brighter and somewhat flatter. I can easily make the proper adjustments on my system -- and there are actually a lot of players that will do this automatically -- so that the black levels come very close to where they need to be, but it is unfortunate that the folks at Gaumont do not take care of this issue. With a few minor tweaks they can have some really impressive releases. Still, there are plenty of good news here. There are no traces of problematic degraining or sharpening adjustments, density is very good, overall stability is exceptional. In other words, on a big screen this film looks as if a director shot it only a few months ago. (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).

The Moment of Truth Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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

I am convinced that the audio was fully restored when the film was restored because clarity, depth, and stability are fantastic. There are absolutely no traces of age-related imperfections. The English translation is also very good.

The Moment of Truth Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original trailer for The Moment of Truth. In French, not subtitled. (4 min).

• La Minute de verite - before-and-after restoration comparison. (3 min).

• Reportage sur le tournage du film - presented here is an archival featurette with raw footage from the shooting of a key sequences. With French narration. (14 min).

The Moment of Truth Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The flashbacks that reconstruct the demise of the seemingly perfect marriage prove that poor communication is responsible for it. The affairs that are revealed later on are simply the culmination of a long process that easily could have been reversed. I was not surprised that this was the message of Jean Delannoy's romantic drama The Moment of Truth because it is true, and because proper communication is and always has been the universal fix for all troubles. Jean Gabin and Michelle Morgan are wonderful as the compromised husband and wife and the entire film is as attractive as it is because of their perfect chemistry. The release is sourced from a fantastic new restoration, but I wish the folks at Gaumont would make some minor but permanent adjustments to address old issues that continue to pop up from time to time. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.