6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Comedy-drama about a successful novelist who invites a handsome young man to his home to provide input to his screenplay. His wife completes the romantic triangle.
Starring: Glenda Jackson, Michael Caine, Helmut Berger, Michael Lonsdale, Kate NelliganDrama | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.65:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: LPCM 2.0
None
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Fiction becomes real in The Romantic Englishwoman, a cleverly self-referential 1975 British film from director Joseph Losey, an American who moved to London after being blacklisted in Hollywood for his supposed communist sympathies. Losey is best known for his collaborations with playwright Harold Pinter, who wrote the screenplays for 1963’s The Servant, 1967’s Accident, and 1971’s The Go-Between, three films that—amongst other things—explore gender roles, sexual psychology, and infidelity. Working off a screenplay by Thomas Wiseman and Tom Stoppard—the latter of whom would go on to co-write Shakespeare in Love—Losey returns to the subject of sex for The Romantic Englishwoman, examining upper-class boredom, the “New Woman” of the 1970s, and the dangers of letting fantasy influence reality. Like a more accessible version of Alain Resnais’ Last Year at Marienbad, which had to have had some influence on the script, the story revolves around a “did they, or didn’t they” mystery of sexual tension and malaise. It’s also darkly funny, a fact that goes overlooked in much discussion of the film.
The Romantic Englishwoman
Kino-Lorber brings The Romantic Englishwoman to Blu-ray with a faithful 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer that's a pleasure to watch. As is usual for the distributor, Kino's approach is decidedly hands-off. There's been no attempt to boost the image artificially, scrub out grain with DNR, or artificially sharpen the picture—the film looks entirely natural. The starting point for this transfer is a very clean print; you'll notice a few scattered flecks, small scratches, and minor fluctuations, but no major debris or damage. Though obviously softer than most contemporary releases, the nearly 1.66:1-framed image —I believe this is original exhibition ratio— yields an excellent level of clarity, revealing detail in the fine textures of the actors' faces and even, in close- ups, in the fabric of Michael Caine's tweedy suit jackets and turtleneck sweaters. (Seriously, I think it was a requirement in the film that every character wear a turtleneck at least once.) Color is also somewhat muted by today's standards, but looks wonderful—realistic and sufficiently dense. Black levels and contrast are consistent as well, and don't appear to have been tampered with here. I didn't spot any excessive noisiness or any other compression problems either. As I see it, the only possible improvement that could be made would be to digitally clean up the print, but the small specks you do see are insignificant and far from distracting.
For audio, we get the film original stereo output by way of a Linear PCM 2.0 track. There's not much to say here; this is a functional mix that does what it needs to do with little flourish. There are a few moments when the dialogue seems somewhat low or gets broken up by some slight crackling, but this isn't a common occurrence at all. For the most part, this is a clear, concise track, with voices that are easy to understand—which is good, because there are no subtitle options on the disc whatsoever—and a score that's rich and expressive. There's not much breadth in the music's dynamics—everything is confined to the mid range—but it sounds wonderful nonetheless. Most importantly, there are no harsh hisses, sudden drop-outs, or other inexcusable issues.
The Romantic Englishwoman is an enigmatic film, part love affair melodrama and part self-conscious meta-movie. It wasn't as well received as some of Losey's earlier films—The Servant won several British Academy Awards, for instance, and The Go-Between took the Golden Palm prize at Cannes—but it's certainly worth revisiting, as it serves as a kind of summary of the director's favorite themes. And really, you can't go wrong with Michael Caine in the '70s. Kino-Lorber's release looks and sounds great—this is the first time the film has appeared on disc in the U.S.—so I see no reason for the curious not to pick The Romantic Englishwoman up. Recommended.
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