Sunday, April 20, 2008

Romance (1999)

Controversial upon its original release, Romance (or Romance X) is a film that was censored heavily in most regions for its original home video release, but on DVD we're finally given the 99 minute director's cut. All DVD editions of this film feature nice looking 1.66:1 transfers and include the theatrical trailer (on the US disc from Trimark, left, it's a hidden "easter egg"). Unfortunately, the US disc isn't anamorphic.

The UK DVD from Bluelight - while essentially the director's cut - is still slightly edited, so stay away from that. It's out of print and a bit hard to find, now, anyway. A second UK DVD was released in 2014 from Second Sight, which is both uncut and anamorphic.

The French disc from Éditions Montparnasse once again has it best - featuring an interview with Breillat - but does not feature English subtitles. It also has a much better cover than the ultra-cheesy US DVD (to be fair, yes, the US cover is based on the film's poster... but the US poster was super cheesy; and the French DVD cover is based on the far superior, original French poster). It's also included in Éditions Montparnasse's Catherine Breillat boxed set.

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