Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

The Valley (Obscured by Clouds) Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 7, 2011

Director Barbet Schroeder's second feature film "La vallee" a.k.a. "The Valley (Obscured by Clouds)" (1972) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of the British Film Institute. The supplemental features on the disc include theatrical trailers and three short films - "Le cochon aux patates douces", "Maquillages", and "Sing-Sing". The disc also arrives with an illustrated booklet featuring rare on-set photographs, newly commissioned essays, and an interview with director Barbet Schroeder. In French and English, with optional English subtitles. Region-Free.

Lovers

Viviane, the young and beautiful wife of a French diplomat stationed in Australia, travels to New Guinea to find exotic items for her boutique in Paris. There she meets Olivier, a handsome hippie, and his friends, who are on their way to the Valley, the gateway to Paradise. She decides to join them after Olivier reveals to her that she might be able to obtain some highly valuable feathers from the Mapuga tribespeople who live deep into the jungle.

Soon after they enter the jungle, Viviane falls madly in love with Olivier. The two make love and talk about the civilized world they have left behind. Both recognize that its rules and regulations have determined how they think, how they value things, and even how they love and feel. Eventually, Viviane becomes convinced that a simpler, more primitive way of life could be far more satisfying and truer to the essence of existence.

But Olivier begins to drift away from Viviane, and when eventually she sees him making love to another woman, she becomes seriously depressed. As the group slowly approaches the Valley, Viviane begins to reevaluate the meaning of love, jealousy and freedom.

Barbet Schroeder’s The Valley is a beautiful contemplative film about a culture with a unique pulse that set a lot of people who were part of it on a path to self-destruction. It is also a good-hearted nostalgic film, one that respects its characters and their views without necessarily agreeing with them.

Like More, The Valley begins on a bright note, but then gradually becomes darker and more unsettling. Similarly, its main character also undergoes a very serious character transformation. Both films are also complimented by strong atmospheric soundtracks courtesy of the legendary Pink Floyd.

The two journeys More and The Valley chronicle, however, are drastically different. In More, the young man and his lover end up in Ibiza, where they isolate themselves in a remote villa. In The Valley, the travelers isolate themselves by crossing into a different world. Naturally, their desire is to connect, explore and “seek the truth”, rather than reject and hide away. The two films also have notably different finales. More ends with a cold and sobering warning that is impossible to misinterpret. The Valley has a rather ambiguous finale that lets the viewer determine the fate of the travelers.

The cast is easily the best Schroeder has worked with. Bulle Ogier, arguably one of the finest and most underrated French actresses from the last decade, is superb as the enigmatic Viviane. The late Michael Gothard is also excellent as the enthusiastic but always rather skeptical Olivier. Valérie Lagrange and Jean-Pierre Kalfon, both actors with impressive resumes who would later on appear in films directed by the likes of Claude Lelouch, Andrzej Zulawski, François Truffaut, and Jean-Luc Godard, also deliver strong performances.

The Valley was lensed by legendary cinematographer Nestor Almendros (Francois Truffaut’s The Story of Adele H, Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven), and edited by Denise de Casabianca (Jean Eustache’s The Mother and the Whore, Patrice Chereau’s The Wounded Man).

Note: The Blu-ray contains the digitally restored and original endings of The Valley. The DVD that is included with the Blu-ray contains the unrestored ending of the film.

The Valley (Obscured by Clouds) Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Barbet Schroeder's The Valley arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of the BFI.

The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray disc:

"The Valley (Obscured by Clouds)was transferred in High Definition from the original 35mm Techniscope negative. Audio was transferred from the original magnetic tracks. The picture was restored using HD-DVNR and MTI restoration systems, removing dirt, scratches and warps, repairing damaged frames and improving stability issues. Audio issues such as pops, crackle and noise/hiss were also improved.

Barbet Schroeder supervised and approved this new transfer. The restored 'optical effect' ending was produced digitally using the original 35mm Techniscope negative at Deluxe Digital, London, at Barbet Schroeder's request. The original 'optical effect' ending was transferred from a 35mm print.

All original film and sound materials were made available by Les Films de Losange.

Telecine Producer: James White.
Technical Assistant: Douglas Weir.
Telecine Colorist: Fabien Napoli, Scanlab, Paris."

The presentation is enormously satisfying. A quick comparison with the R1 DVD release of the film, courtesy of the now defunct Home Vision Entertainment, reveals a massive gap in quality. Not only are detail and clarity dramatically improved, but the film has literally been given a brand new color-scheme. The fuzzy and often bleeding greens, browns, blues, and grays from the DVD have been replaced with warm and natural colors that give the film an entirely new look, adding greatly to its unique atmosphere, not detracting from it. Additionally, on the standard definition transfer there is a very distracting shimmer that often pops up around the edges, but the high-definition transfer is completely free of it. There are no traces of overzealous sharpening either. Some extremely light noise has been retained - and portions of it appear mixed with the film grain - but the image consistently conveys wonderful depth and fluidity. Lastly, there are no damage marks, cuts, or warps to report in this review. All in all, this is a fabulous presentation that allows the viewer to immerse into the unusual world of director Barbet Schroeder. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your PS3 or SA regardless of your geographical location).

The Valley (Obscured by Clouds) Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: French LPCM 2.0 (with portions of English). For the record, the BFI have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature (which appear only when French is spoken). When turned on, they split the image frame and the black bar below it.

The loseless audio track is invaluable, because without it the beauty of Pink Floyd's legendary soundtrack is simply lost (this is certainly the case on the DVD release of The Valley). The sequences with the fascinating rituals in the village also benefit from it, though the overall dynamic amplitude is indeed quite limited. The dialog is consistently crisp, clean, stable, and very easy to follow. Also, there are no sync issues or problematic audio dropouts. The English translation is excellent.

The Valley (Obscured by Clouds) Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailers -
  
  -- The Valley (Obscured by Clouds) - in French, with optional English subtitles. (4 min, 1080p).
  -- More - in French and English, with optional English subtitles. (3 min, 1080p).
  -- Maitresse - in French, with optional English subtitles. (2 min, 1080p).

• Short Films - three short films shot during a scouting trip which Barbet Schroeder took with cinematographer Nestor Almendros and Bulle Ogier six months before making The Valley. The films were transferred and restored by the BFI using the best available film elements.
  
  -- Le cochon aux patates douces a.k.a. Pork with Sweet Potatoes - in French, with optional English subtitles. (9 min, 1080p).
  
  -- Maquillages a.k.a. Make-up - in French, with optional English subtitles. (13 min, 1080p).
  
  -- Sing-Sing - in French, with optional English subtitles. (6 min, 1080p).

• Booklet - an illustrated booklet featuring rare on-set photographs, Emilie Bickerton's essay "The Valley (Obscured by Clouds)", an interview with director Barbet Schroeder, Rob Young's essay "Childhood's end: Pink Floyd's music for The Valley - Obscured By Clouds", and biographies.

The Valley (Obscured by Clouds) Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

In the lavish booklet offered with this Blu-ray release there is an excellent interview with director Barbet Schroeder, which was conducted by Emilie Bickerton in Paris in 2010. In it, the Franco-Swiss director notes: "The film is an object like nothing else. It is very surprising...Since it is not a dramatic film it is essential to be able to feel the sensuality of the image. That's why seeing it in Blu-ray is actually so important for me." I could not agree any more. I've owned The Valley on various formats, but this is the best presentation I have ever seen. Absolutely beautiful. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.