I received this a few days ago and watched it. One oddity is that the 2021 amaray case version has a different classification on it: "Interdit aux moins de 12 ans", which means "prohibited for under 12", but I can find no record of a classification change. The only certificates for the film were issued in 1993, splitting the film into two parts: Part 1 (No. 80759) and Part 2 (No. 80760), both of which are "Tous publics" ("All audiences"). On the Blu-ray, the film is presented as one film and the end credits reflect both certificate numbers. There is no classification noted on the disc itself, so I must assume that there was a mis-print when Pathé printed the jacket cover.
The 2017 DigiPack edition apparently contains 2 DVD discs, which I assume are split between the film and the making of featurette, because the 2018 DVD edition of the film does not appear to contain any extras. The 2021 version is a one-disc release with only the Blu-ray disc.
Most of Pathé's editions of this film seem to have an inaccurate running time printed on the jacket. The film on Blu-ray runs 159 minutes, including about 26 seconds for a recent Pathé logo and screens mentioning the film's wins at the 1994 César Awards and that it was remastered in 4K by Pathé in 2016. At the end of the film, there is another screen with additional credits for the 4K remaster (Eclair for picture / L.E. Diapason for sound) which lasts about 7 seconds. This should make the film 158:40 from the opening AMLF credit to the end, but Pathé's Blu-ray editions say the film is 169 minutes and then carry the error over to the PAL DVD, saying it's 162 minutes. Even older PAL DVDs claim to be 160 minutes, when 25 fps versions should be 152-153 minutes.
BDInfo scan
The film's audio is offered in a choice of 2.0 or 5.1. In the scan below, the 5.1 track appears first, but on my system, the first track was the 2.0 track and also the default track. The other 2.0 track is audio description in French, which was produced by Pathé and involves both male and female readers.
The film is entirely in French. English subtitles are white in color, while the French HoH / SDH subtitles are in the usual "rainbow" of colors. Both subtitle tracks are in the same font, one which is slightly smaller, but thick and readable. The English subtitles are credited to Michael Latims and Hiventy, while the French HoH / SDH subtitles are uncredited.
The only extra is a making of featurette.
Code:
Total Video
Title Codec Length Movie Size Disc Size Bitrate Bitrate Main Audio Track Secondary Audio Track
----- ------ ------- -------------- -------------- ------- ------- ------------------ ---------------------
00000.MPLS AVC 2:39:14 42,573,606,912 45,207,409,385 35.65 26.90 DTS-HD Master 5.1 3399Kbps (48kHz/24-bit) DTS-HD Master 2.0 1591Kbps (48kHz/24-bit)
I enjoyed this film quite a bit, although it is part of a cycle of big budget French cultural epics which intended to rival Hollywood, and it often feels like a Hollywood film, especially an "old Hollywood" film, though the film's violence, casual nudity and occasional graphic images (a man
[Show spoiler]fleeing a mob of falls from a roof and dies, then his corpse is castrated with a knife, with sight of his bloody genitals
) mean it is unmistakably not from the old Hollywood studio system. The film was the most expensive in French film history at the time, costing 165 million francs, which was approximated at US $30 million by the New York Times in its March 1994 review, which in turn, would be worth over $65 million today. And that money is on the screen in the location shoots, the number of actors and extras in scenes and especially, the impressive set design, including a mine and related stunt sequences of the kind which, at least in the analog era, were usually only found in Hollywood films. Viewers will also spot Derek Meddings' name in the end credits for "effets spéciaux visuels réalisation", what IMDb says in English is actually a special effects co-ordinator.
Performances are generally excellent, with Judith Henry, Gérard Depardieu, Jean-Roger Milo and especially Miou-Miou (who, along with Henry and Milo, were all nominated for Césars) turning in very good work. I believe everyone is far too old for their characters, but only Renaud seems much too old to play Étienne Lantier (he is a French singer who acts only occasionally and was apparently sought out deliberately for the role by Claude Berri) and perhaps isn't as convincing as a younger actor might have been. Still, I am a sucker for historical drama and so I ate up what unfolded. Now I am keen to read the novel, which I understand is excellent and perhaps Zola's best work.
When researching the film after watching it, I was really perplexed by the film's release history on video, especially in the US. Sony acquired it for release via Sony Pictures Classics and there was even a Vintage Books film-tie-in (!) version of the novel published in the US as well (in Penguin's 1954 Tancock translation, also re-released for the film in the UK), followed by a VHS (on two tapes) and a Laserdisc, both of which apparently used yellow subtitles and didn't have any extras. But then, in the intervening decades, nothing, no DVD, even though Kino's Insider said in 2023 that the film was still with Sony and there was a Canadian DVD from Koch Entertainment, but that appears to be French only. Perhaps the weirdest situation is in the UK however, where Pathé UK released at least three Claude Berri films in the early 2000s and collected them into a box in 2006. Berri's Germinal was included in the box, but I'll be damned if I can find an earlier separate release like the other three films. The DVDs in the box do not have their own EANs, either, which makes it much more difficult. Interestingly, the film has compulsory cuts in the UK for at least one shot of cockfighting, but I wonder if the subtitles made their debut on the UK DVD or if the film was re-translated for the Pathé Blu-ray in 2017. In any event, the English subtitle translation seems excellent, even if I think Pathé's font could be a little better.
I thought the film looked nice, but the color seemed a bit...off somehow, and lo and behold, this is one of many films remastered in France that tenia has found to have a shared color signature, in this case, the film's picture was remastered (apparently from the original camera negative) at Eclair. I'm not familiar with the film outside of this Blu-ray, so I don't know how "off" the color is, but it is certainly quite a steely blue, with blacks that are less than inky. Berri unfortunately passed away in 2009, but Yves Angelo, the film's cinematographer, did apparently approve and / or supervise, since he is credited by Pathé.
The film only has a Dolby Stereo SR logo on it, never having had a 5.1 mix on the LDs or DVDs and like I said above, my Oppo shows the 2.0 track as the first track and the default track, so therefore, I opted for the stereo track, believing it to be the original. It sounds fine, with the film's elegant score by Jean-Louis Roques sounding lovely and dialogue clean and clear.
There was a BBC serial of Germinal in 1970, but as far as I can gather, it's never been officially released on home video. I did pick up a copy of a recent translation (Roger Pearson for Penguin in 2004), but I admit I'm not much of a reader, so it will probably sit gathering (coal) dust, at least for a while.
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Germinal (1993)
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