Vatel Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

Vatel Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov July 17, 2015

Nominated for Oscar Award for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Roland Joffe's "Vatel" (2000) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French label Gaumont. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; archival footage with with Ennio Morricone; archival featurette; and audio commentary. In English or French, with optional English, French SDH, and French subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Vatel

In the year 1671, the prominent Prince de Conde (Julian Glover, For Your Eyes Only) is informed that Louis XIV (Julian Sands, Leaving Las Vegas) will visit his palace in Chantilly. The King plans to spend three days there and enjoy the simple pleasures of life in the country. Marquiz de Lauzun (Tim Roth, The Legend of 1900) is then promptly dispatched to approve the extravagant festivities that shall entertain the King.

François Vatel (Gérard Depardieu, Maitresse), Conde’s Master Steward, is ordered to organize the festivities. A perfectionist and a man with great taste and imagination, Vatel vows to create a grand spectacle which the King and his guests will remember for as long as they live.

Soon after the King and his guests arrive in Chantilly, Vatel meets the young and stunningly beautiful Anne de Montausier (Uma Thurman, Gattaca), who quickly steals his heart. Around the same time, however, the courtesan rejects Lauzun’s advances and he decides to sabotage work of his competitor, Vatel.

Help comes from an unlikely ally, the King’s brother (Murray Lachlan Young), who tries to seduce Vatel, but is politely rejected. Vatel’s touching confession earns his admiration and he orders his private guards to protect him from Lauzun.

Meanwhile, bad weather and hordes of food suppliers who have not been paid in months threaten to sabotage Vatel’s final surprise for the King – a giant feast and a play that is to be staged in the middle of Conde’s garden.

The excess can be quite overwhelming at times and the intrigues and backstabbing a bit too chaotic, but there is a sense of authenticity that permeates the entire film. Indeed, the Sun King was a man who appreciated various forms of sophisticated entertainment and those who wanted to earn his gratitude frequently went to great lengths to ensure that he was pleased.

Depardieu is spectacular as Vatel, the Master of Pleasures who has been given the opportunity of a lifetime to show off his talents to the most powerful man in France. When he inspects the carefully prepared dishes, the beautifully decorated vases or elaborate fireworks, one gets the feeling that he truly is a craftsman whose mission in life is to please others.

The intrigues that emerge after Thurman’s courtesan arrives are wonderfully observed. It takes a bit of time to get used to the role playing and the pompous code talk (virtually throughout the entire film what is said and what is meant are two entirely different things), but the performances and the writing are first-class and as a result the film has a terrific rhythm. After a while, it literally feels like one is transported to a different era.

The film’s one and only major flaw is that it was filmed in English. Tom Stoppard’s adaption of Jeanne Labrune’s French-language screenplay is very good, but it is difficult not to speculate that a period film about the Sun King should should be in French.

Director Roland Joffe shot the film with cinematographer (Jean-Jacques Annaud’s The Lover, John Frankenheimer’s Ronin). The lush orchestral soundtrack was created by the great Ennio Morricone.

Vatel Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Roland Joffe's Vatel arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French label Gaumont.

The technical presentation of this very elegant film is quite underwhelming. While select close-ups look rather decent, the various wider panoramic shots look disappointingly flat. The bulk of the indoor and nighttime footage, in particular, is quite problematic -- shadow definition consistently suffers and sharpness levels fluctuate a lot (see screencaptures #15, 16, and 17). Color saturation is not convincing. The browns, reds, and especially the greens appear quite weak. Grain is visible, but it is not evenly distributed and certainly not well resolved. The majority of these issues can be traced back to the master that was used to produce the release. It is clearly dated and with some quite obvious limitations (you can clearly see in screencapture #17 that the high-frequencies are clipped and as a result depth is problematic). Image stability is good. All in all, when comparing the Blu-ray release and the R1 DVD release there are some obvious improvements in terms of depth and fluidity, but the film could and should look a lot more convincing in high-definition. My score is 3.25/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your Blu-ray player regardless of your geographical location. For the record, there is no problematic PAL or 1080/50i content preceding the disc's main menu).

Vatel Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are four standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, and French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English, French, and French SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they split the image frame and the black bar below it.

I viewed the film with the English 5.1 track. Clarity and depth are excellent and the festivities in the large garden now sound a lot more impressive. Ennio Morricone's beautiful period score also benefits tremendously from the lossless treatment -- the strings are lusher and the woodwind solos better rounded. The dialog is clean, stable, and very easy to follow. I also tested a few sequences with the 2.0 track and think that it is very good. Obviously, dynamic intensity and separation are a lot more convincing on the 5.1 track, but the 2.0 track serves the film very well. There are no pops, cracks, audio dropouts, or distortions to report in this review.

Vatel Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Bande-annonce - original French trailer for Vatel. In French, not subtitled. (2 min, 1080p).

• Making of de la musique - raw footage from the recording sessions for the soundtrack of Vatel with Ennio Morricone. Music only. (4 min, 1080p).

• Les coulisses d'une histoire - in this archival featurette, director Roland Joffe explains how Vatel came to exist and discusses its production history. Also included are clips from interviews with Gerard Depardieu, Uma Thurman, costume designer Yvonne Sassinot de Nesle, and film historian Marie-France Noel, amongst others. In English and French, with imposed French subtitles where necessary. (29 min, 1080p).

• Commentaire audio de la chef costumiere et du chef decorateur - audio commentary in French, not subtitled.

Vatel Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I've wanted to see Roland Joffe's Vatel upgraded as the period costumes and decors seen in it are quite simply phenomenal. The great Ennio Morricone also created an outstanding orchestral score for it. Gaumont's new Blu-ray release of Vatel, however, isn't the type of convincing upgrade I expected to see. Obviously, there are various improvements, but the film can look a lot better in high-definition.