6.8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A girl causes chaos on the streets of Paris after she runs away from her transvestite uncle.
Starring: Catherine Demongeot, Philippe Noiret, Hubert Deschamps, Carla Marlier, Annie FratelliniForeign | 100% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Fantasy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
French SDH, English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Louis Malle's "Zazie dans le metro" a.k.a. "Zazie in the Subway" (1960) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French label Gaumont. The supplemental features on the disc include an original French theatrical trailer for the film and a documentary film produced by Pierre-Henri Gibert. In French, with optional English and French SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.
Zazie
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Louis Malle's
Zazie dans le métro arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French label Gaumont.
Gaumont's transfer is not identical to the one Criterion used for the U.S. release of the film in 2011. Density is clearly superior and in select areas edges are far better defined. Unfortunately, there are some quite obvious traces of filtering adjustments that have collapsed shadow definition. In fact, even in areas of the film with plenty of natural light detail has been affected. As a result, more often than not depth and detail are a lot more convincing on the Criterion release. You can see the damaging effects of the filtering adjustments in screencaptures #8 (see the flat gray area on the left side of the frame) and screencapture #15 (see how shadow detail has collapsed and the hat is essentially filtered out on the left side of the frame). Furthermore, it is easy to tell that the new transfer has a very good range of nuanced colors, but the digital adjustments have also destabilized the color scheme. The balance between the blacks and grays is especially problematic and at times even clarity suffers (compare screencapture #10 and screencapture #1 from our review of the Criterion release). Overall image stability is excellent. Also, there are no large debris, cuts, damage marks, or torn frames. All in all, because the Criterion release was sourced from an older master, I expected Gaumont's release to be superior. It is not, and even though there is clearly room for improvement on the Criterion release, I think that the older transfer is unquestionably superior. 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).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (Mono). Optional English and French SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.
The lossless track has a fairly modest range of nuanced dynamics, but Fiorenzo Carpi and André Pontin's score easily opens up the film in all the right places. The dialog is stable, clean, well balanced, and easy to follow. There are no pops, cracks, disturbing background hiss, or digital distortions to report in our review. (I also did some direct comparisons with the lossless track from the Region-A release and depth and clarity are indeed identical).
I expected Gaumont's release of Louis Malle's Zazie dans le metro to be superior to the one Criterion produced in 2011, but it uses a new transfer that is quite inconsistent. At present, the release is the only alternative for folks who reside in Region-B territories and wish to own a copy of the film, but I think that it should be considered only if it can be found on sale.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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