The film's audio is offered in a choice of DTS-HD MA 5.1 or a 2.0 fold-down, with optional English subtitles in a slightly smaller white font, which can be disabled either in the menus or via remote control. The translation is excellent, however, the subtitles lose italicization very early on and there are many lines which should be italicized.
While all of the other opening / end credits and graphics in the film are in the original French, the film's title card has been localized (presumably from Bernadette) to the English-language title The President's Wife.
Extras include two short deleted scenes (with optional English subtitles) and Cohen Media Group's trailer for the film.
Code:
Total Video
Title Codec Length Movie Size Disc Size Bitrate Bitrate Main Audio Track Secondary Audio Track
----- ------ ------- -------------- -------------- ------- ------- ------------------ ---------------------
00004.MPLS AVC 1:33:38 28,605,235,200 31,791,454,339 40.73 34.56 DTS-HD Master 5.1 2345Kbps (48kHz/24-bit) DTS-HD Master 2.0 1557Kbps (48kHz/24-bit)
This is a fairly light comedy which admits right from the start that it's considerably fictionalized, though without looking up recent French political history, it's difficult to know what's fact and what's fiction. Catherine Deneuve is obviously the star here, she's in every scene and plays her role with a seemingly effortless grace, easily winning someone like me, who really didn't know anything about Bernadette Chirac, over to her side. Politically, the film plays a lot like many American ones of the same sort, where a sympathetic portrayal requires focusing on things like Bernadette's humor or charity instead of political issues, with the film portraying her as a broadly popular figure who, it is implied, is largely responsible for her rather dense husband's (Michel Vuillermoz) political success. At a guess, I would think this might be where the film diverts from reality somewhat, but it's still fun to watch Deneuve sort of glide through the film, battling late 1990s female stereotyping along the way, at least to a point. I'm not a fan of the title change from Bernadette to the rather bland The President's Wife, and while I can see changing it for the packaging, I do wish they'd kept the film's original title card and not localized it for the Blu-ray presentation.
EDIT: Afterwards, I looked up the Chiracs and discovered that in real life, Jacques Chriac
[Show spoiler]had many extramarital affairs
. There is reference to this in the film when,
[Show spoiler]on the night of Diana's death in Paris (31 August 1997), Chirac is nowhere to be found and is eventually discovered (via phone) with an "Italian actress". According to a memoir published by his chauffeur, the woman in question was
[Show spoiler]Claudia Cardinale
, who, as that article mentions
, is then slyly referred to by Bernadette in a later scene, though not quite as directly as in real life.
The film is a touch "digital" looking at times, but quite bright, too, with interiors and outdoor scenes that would likely "pop" in 4K UHD. A surprising number of visual effects shots are also used, mostly to digitally insert Deneuve, Vuillermoz and others into what seems to be otherwise real French news and political rally footage, presumably to give the film a more authentic feel of the period. The Blu-ray picture is excellent, while the DTS-HD MA 5.1 sound is pretty standard, but gets a bit of a workout thanks to some songs in the film.
The extras are limited to two deleted scenes, both of which are actually short extensions of scenes already in the film and which probably could have stayed in. As I mentioned above, Cohen's trailer for the film is also included and at startup there are several trailers for other Cohen titles, which can be skipped one at a time.
At 94 minutes (the run time here is padded slightly by numerous logos at the start of the film, including Cohen Media Group and StudioCanal, but surprisingly, not the Warner Bros. shield), this pretty much breezes by and is a fun watch for anyone who likes Deneuve, French films (and / or French politics, I guess) or light comedies which leave you feeling good afterwards. If you want to watch it, I would defintely grab the Blu-ray, which is only $16.99 right now, not bad for a brand new release in 2025.
FYI: I no longer check for region coding, but tonight I am using a multiregion Oppo Blu-ray player set to Region B, so I checked this disc and it puts up a region code error screen saying it will only work in Region A.
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The President's Wife / Bernadette (2023)
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