Madame de... (1953 | Max Ophüls) - May 22, 2017

[UncleBuckWild]

Madame de...

Release Date: May 22, 2017

Madame de Blu-ray

When, beset by debt, the titular Countess Louise (Danielle Darrieux) decides to sell a pair of earrings that were a wedding gift from her husband André (Charles Boyer), she unwittingly sets in motion a chain of events that will have serious consequences not only for the Parisian couple but for André's mistress and for an Italian Baron (Vittorio De Sica), who purchased the, by then, much-travelled jewellery. Featuring nuanced performances by all three lead actors and directed by celebrated auteur Max Ophüls, this intricately constructed and elegantly designed drama is a searing study of fateful passion wound up in deceits, deals and desires.

[sjt]

So, after the problematic Criterion release and the satisfactory-but-not-spectacular Gaumont one the following year, will it be third time lucky for Ophuls? Fingers crossed...

[BigNickUK]

Originally Posted by sjt

So, after the problematic Criterion release and the satisfactory-but-not-spectacular Gaumont one the following year, will it be third time lucky for Ophuls? Fingers crossed...

Problematic Criterion release...surely not. You will have to keep those opinions close to your chest round here or you will be lynched

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by BigNickUK

Problematic Criterion release...surely not. You will have to keep those opinions close to your chest round here or you will be lynched

Hardly, the Criterion release was roundly criticized for being filtered to an extreme. People have speculated that this was baked into the master given them, but there has never been any official acknowledgement of the problem.

[DavidGallow]

Originally Posted by ravenus

Hardly, the Criterion release was roundly criticized for being filtered to an extreme. People have speculated that this was baked into the master given them, but there has never been any official acknowledgement of the problem.

You totally missed the broader point the poster was making.

[adamhopelies]

Is there any word on where the source is from for this release? I love the film, and Ophuls, but have long held off of the Criterion due to the apparent problems with that release.

[MichaelB]

I'm slightly surprised that the BFI apparently doesn't know that the correct spelling of Max Ophuls' name is like that, without an umlaut. Much like the composer formerly known as George Frederick Händel, he ditched the umlaut after leaving his native Germany.

UPDATE: I emailed the BFI, and it'll be corrected. They are also well aware of the troubled release history of this film, but can't make any promises until they've had a chance to examine Gaumont's materials.

[nitin]

Originally Posted by adamhopelies

Is there any word on where the source is from for this release? I love the film, and Ophuls, but have long held off of the Criterion due to the apparent problems with that release.

Presumably Gaumont's second less filtered restoration and with hopefully no Gaumont level encoding gaffs.

[aewb]

Hopefully the BFI will include Adrian Martin's commentary and Tag Gallagher's visual essay.

[Persona]

I bought the Criterion release last year but have yet to watch it, after hearing bad things I shall wait to see how this release is before selling.

[rapta]

Originally Posted by MichaelB

I'm slightly surprised that the BFI apparently doesn't know that the correct spelling of Max Ophuls' name is like that, without an umlaut. Much like the composer formerly known as George Frederick Händel, he ditched the umlaut after leaving his native Germany.

Interesting, I didn't know this. Was there any reasoning for the removal of the umlaut, or was it done to conform a little when he moved to France and America? I suppose it didn't matter much anyway since it was an adopted stage name.

I seem to remember the opening titles to Letter from an Unknown Woman actually spell his name as "Max Opuls". Was this intentional as well?

[ScreenWash]

Originally Posted by MichaelB

UPDATE: I emailed the BFI, and it'll be corrected.

Thank you Michael!

[LPM0317]

What is the problems with the Criterion Blu-Ray release?

[javi92]

Originally Posted by LPM0317

What is the problems with the Criterion Blu-Ray release?

It uses Gaumont's first master, which was filtered to death.

[Rich Pure Doom]

This is out. Where are the reviews/screenshots?

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by javi92

It uses Gaumont's first master, which was filtered to death.

This tells me there's hope someday that a proper unfiltered version of the Children of Paradise restoration might see the light of day.

[manicsounds]

Originally Posted by Rich Pure Doom

This is out. Where are the reviews/screenshots?

No screenshots but DVDCompare review states that the picture is an improvement from the US and French releases.

[tenia]

It seems unlikely. Gaumont is the right holder for the new restorations (the awful one licensed to Criterion, and the better one that replaced the awful one after the backlash towards Criterion), so since the BFI has licensed the master from Gaumont, the basis is one or the other (fortunately, it seems it's the good one).

The only improvement possibles is :
- Gaumont had the (bad) habit to have 2 restored digital masters made in the past : one with the grain "intact", and one visibly degrained (see Gaumont VS Arrow on Rififi). They might have used a degrained master for the French release but the BFI licensed the clean one.
- Gaumont has had serious encode issues on some of their recent releases (notably some of their Louis Malle titles like Elevator to the Gallows). I don't recall Madame de having such issues, but maybe the BFI had the restored master slightly tweaked for their disc, thus making it look a bit better.

All in all though, I'd be surprised if the improvement is big.



As for Children of Paradise, the excessive digital scrubbing has been performed as part of the "restoration" so it's baked-in. The only way to get something better would be for Pathé to scrap this expensive "French Premiere 4K B&W restoration" (which, IIRC, even got a French Technical award for the "best restoration") and redo it from scratch. And this won't happen before years - if ever.

[malakaheso]

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film6/blu-r....._blu-ray.htm

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by tenia

As for Children of Paradise, the excessive digital scrubbing has been performed as part of the "restoration" so it's baked-in. The only way to get something better would be for Pathé to scrap this expensive "French Premiere 4K B&W restoration" (which, IIRC, even got a French Technical award for the "best restoration") and redo it from scratch. And this won't happen before years - if ever.

I doubt it's baked in, just like it wasn't baked into this one. The scrubbing came as one of the final steps, after all the print damage had been corrected, etc, so it's 100% likely to believe there is an untouched master on file before all the scrubbing. There wouldn't magically be 2 masters from Gaumont, just files at different stages of restoration.