Catherine Deneuve 5-film
Collection
(Lionsgate)
Picture: Sound:
Extras: Film:
Manon 70 (1968) C+/C+/D/B-
Le Sauvage (1975) C+/C+/D/C+
Hotel Des Ameriques (1981) B-/C+/D/B-
Le Choc (1982) C+/C+/D/C
Fort Saganne (1984) C+/C+/D/C+
Similar
to the Sophia Loren box set from Lionsgate comes the Catherine Deneuve set,
which comes in the same type of cool plastic case, but unlike that set, this
one contains 5 films of Ms. Deneuve.
Although like that other set, this one contains both hits and misses,
but it’s great to have a set like this that puts some of her lesser known films
together, even the bombs. Of course I
like to think of Deneuve as the French predecessor to Gwyneth Paltrow, only
better.
Manon 70 feels like a refurbished version
of 1967’s Belle Du Jour directed by
Luis Buñuel, but couldn’t hold a candle to that film unfortunately and since it
arrived a year later, it would have been easy for her to be type cast as a
woman only interested in sleeping with me in order to obtain her own power,
wealth, and lifestyle, but in this case she ends up falling in love with one
her ‘customers’, who is nothing but a poor reporter. Presented in 1.78 X 1 the image is a bit soft
at times, but doesn’t look as bad as other films I’ve seen of this age.
Le Sauvage is a bit whimsical and not nearly
as good as it could be, even with Yves Montand co-starring. Here Deneuve follows him to a private island
and begins to take over his life, but unfortunately gets tired and can’t fill
it’s 103-minutes worth of plot. The image
looks dated on arrival as well, even though it’s only a few years after Manon 70, it still appears just as
dated with a 1.85 X 1 widescreen image it is also in need of some
restoration.
Hotel Des Ameriques is one of the better films in
this set and demonstrates the dramatic range of Deneuve as successful doctor
who begins a bizarre relationship with a highly emotionally unbalanced man and
the results the ensue are quite surprising.
The film was shot in 2.35 X 1 scope and is better looking that the other
films in this set, but still looks soft overall.
Le Choc is the bomb in this set as
Deneuve doesn’t know what to do in this suspense crime thriller co-starring
Alain Delon, who is trying to retire from his life of being a hired killer, but
in his seclusion from life and the ‘bosses’ he finds Deneuve and the rest is
history of course. Presented in 1.66 X 1
widescreen the image is occasionally soft with some detail loss, but overall is
acceptable.
Fort Saganne also stars Gerrard Depardieu
playing a military soldier in the French Sahara who finds himself as the lover
of a French journalist played by Deneuve.
This film works by partnering two of the superstars of French filmmaking
and despite the plots weaknesses the film manages to work overall. This film is the second scope film in the set
with a 2.35 X 1 aspect ratio and looks good overall, even though the print is
soft like the others, it doesn’t have quite the dated look and that might have
to do with it being the most recent film in the set.
All of
these films are in Dolby mono with no extras to speak of, but having these all
in one package are a great way to expose yourself to the work of Catherine
Deneuve and then track down some of her more familiar films like Umbrellas of Cherbourg, which was also
reviewed elsewhere on this site! We
can’t get enough of her at this site!
- Nate Goss
