7.3 | / 10 |
Users | 3.8 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Maria, an entitled white woman living in Africa, is desperately unwilling to give up her family's crumbling coffee plantation despite the civil war closing in on her.
Starring: Isabelle Huppert, Isaach de Bankolé, Christopher Lambert, Nicolas Duvauchelle, William NadylamDrama | 100% |
Foreign | 91% |
War | 11% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Nominated for Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival, Claire Denis' "White Material" (2009) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include the film's original theatrical trailer; three exclusive interviews with director Claire Denis and actors Isabelle Huppert and Isaach de Bankole; delete scene; and a short film documenting director Claire Denis' return to Cameroon for the 2010 premiere of White Material at the Ecrans Noirs Film Festival. The disc also arrives with an illustrated booklet featuring a new essay by film writer Amy Taubin. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
Alone
Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Claire Denis' White Material arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.
The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray disc:
"Director Claire Denis and cinematographer Yves Cape supervised and approved this new high-definition transfer, which was created on a Spirit Datacine from a 35 mm interpositive. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, and flicker were manually removed using Anti Scratch and MTI's DRS system.
Telecine supervisors: Claire Denis and Yves Cape.
Telecine colorist: Eddy Nakaa/Eclair Labs, Pais."
Supervised by director Claire Denis and cinematographer Yves Cape, this high-definition transfer looks very similar to the one British distributors Artificial Eye used for their Blu-ray release of White Material. The Artificial Eye transfer is slightly brighter and the film's prominent red/light brown tint looking just a tiny bit weaker on it. On the Criterion transfer the variety of reds, browns, and blacks seem marginally better saturated. Unsurprisingly, fine object detail is excellent. The numerous close-ups of Isabelle Huppert, for instance, look wonderful. Compression is definitely better here, and in my opinion the large panoramic vistas look marginally tighter than they do on the Artificial Eye release. Edge-enhancement and macroblocking are not a serious issue of concern. I also did not see any traces of heavy noise reduction. Finally, there are absolutely no stability issues to report in this review either. To sum it all up, as far as I am concerned Criterion's Blu-ray release of White Material looks marginally better than that produced by Artificial Eye, but the subtle difference in quality will likely be noticed only when the film is projected. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.
The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray disc:
"This film features a fully digital soundtrack. The audio was mastered at 24-bit from the original digital audio master files using Pro Tools HD."
The French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is solid. As I mentioned in our review for the Artificial Eye Blu-ray release of White Material, Stuart Staples' dark and moody soundtrack benefits enormously from the loseless treatment. There is a wide range of nuanced dynamic that enhance tremendously the tense atmosphere. The dialog is crisp, clean, stable, and exceptionally easy to follow. I also did not detect any disturbing pops, cracks, hissings, or audio dropouts to report in this review.
A very personal film, indeed. I believe that many would agree that White Material is one of director Claire Denis' best films, very much on par with Chocolate, Beau travail, and L'intrus. As expected, Criterion's Blu-ray release of White Material looks and sounds terrific. It also contains three very good exclusive interviews. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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