Belle Toujours (New Yorker Films DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Film: B-
Though
short and simple, longtime director Manoel de Oliveira pays tribute to Luis
Bunuel and his 1967 classic Belle du
Jour with an interesting sequel entitled Belle Toujours (2006) in which Michel Piccoli reprises his role of
Henri Husson from the first film. Older
and somewhat wiser, yet still persistent as ever, he walks the current Paris as
if it was his upscale playground and to his shock, spots Séverine Serizy
(played here by Bulle Ogier, replacing by Catherine Deneuve) decades
later. He wants to talk, talk and maybe
get revenge.
For some
the absence of Deneuve will be unacceptable and certainly this film cannot
possibly have the impact the original did upon its controversial release, but
the film becomes not only a sequel, but visual poem to the original, to France
and a French cinema that is being lost to too many slick, lame Luc Besson-type
garbage instead of the groundbreaking cinema that made the country’s films
great.
Film
lovers should see it, but only after the Bunuel film. For some, it will be a curio, but for others,
an interesting exercise in French Cinema that needs to return and soon.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image is a little softer than it should be,
but the cinematography by Director of Photography Sabine Lancelin has done an
amazing job of approximating the look of Bunuel’s original film in many sly
shots throughout the film. This should
be one of New Yorker’s top Blu-ray candidates.
Color and depth have their moments as well. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has no
surrounds, but is nicely recorded, including the dialogue and music which plays
more of a role than usual, though silence is also used effectively. Extras include on the set stills, PDF
downloadable presskit, text essay and interview snippet inside a paper foldout
in the DVD case and on camera interviews with the cast and crew.
- Nicholas Sheffo
