Rating summary
| Movie |  | 4.0 |
| Video | | 4.0 |
| Audio | | 4.0 |
| Extras |  | 1.0 |
| Overall |  | 3.5 |
Viva Maria! Blu-ray Movie Review
Reviewed by Brian Orndorf November 9, 2014
Here’s a comedy that opens with string of public bombings and an act of suicide. Either it’s insane work or French. Turns out, 1965’s “Viva Maria!” is a little of both, with director Louis Malle (who also co-scripts) guiding a highly bizarre farce that teases darkness while engaging in madcap antics that often resemble an episode of “The Benny Hill Show.” It’s Brigitte Bardot and Jeanne Moreau as circus performers transformed into Central American revolutionaries. If that isn’t enough to entice a viewing, perhaps this isn’t the film for you.
Malle goes big with the feature, but not necessarily noisy. Using sly bits of comedy and aggressive tonality to introduce the characters, “Viva Maria!” slips into a comfort zone of banter and road movie shenanigans, with the two leads, named Maria and Maria, engaging in a bonding process that fusses with sexuality, stage confidence, and romance, with a revolutionary named Flores (George Hamilton) triggering purpose in the women that lead them to challenge El Dictator for the future of San Miguel. Malle accepts how odd the premise is and runs with it, encouraging bright performances from Bardot and Moreau to lead the way, while filling scenes with amusing slapstick from circus performers who populate the supporting characters.
Viva Maria! Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality
The AVC encoded image (2.33:1 aspect ratio) presentation gets off to a rocky start with some of the roughest opening titles I've seen on a BD, displaying incredible damage that suggests a woeful viewing experience to come. Thankfully, it's an isolated incident, with the rest of the picture stabilized and open for inspection. Sharpness is generally good for this type of softer widescreen cinematography, capturing human features quite well for those who want to stare at the leading ladies. Costuming and expanse are also open for inspection, with welcome textures on grimy supporting players. Colors are bright, with inviting primaries that retain the greenery of the jungle and blazing reds on outfits. Skintones are natural. Blacks share periodic solidification, but largely preserve screen information.
Viva Maria! Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality
The 2.0 DTS-HD MA sound mix is tested with multiple scenes of stage performance and a score by Georges Delerue, keeping music a priority for the track, which handles instrumentation well. The picture, mixing Spanish, French, and English, has quite the blend of performance speeds and languages, but nothing is missing from dialogue exchanges, which retain their tartness. Jungle and performance hall atmospherics are open for inspection, and the group dynamic isn't too cluttered, though obvious age remains.
Viva Maria! Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras
- A Theatrical Trailer (3:09, HD) is included.
Viva Maria! Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation
The final act of "Viva Maria!" transform into a cartoon, but a properly designed one, finding Malle working with graceful editing and long takes of destruction to conjure a silly mood. And there's the image of Bardot and Moreau mowing down enemies with a Gatling gun. It's difficult to resist much of what "Viva Maria!" is selling, with its good-natured chaos growing on the viewer the longer Malle gets to play with expectations. It's frequently hilarious and always charmingly strange.
