It's been a while since we've had any good news on the Breillat home video front, but here's some now! 1999's
Romance, or
Romance X as it's known in many markets, is getting restored in HD for an all new, special edition blu-ray! Due to hit stores just next month, April 19, it's being put out by Second Sight in the UK, and its
Amazon listing boasts a "[b]rand new scan and restoration." Up 'till now, all existing DVD editions have been pretty barebones. The French DVD had an interview with Breillat, but it wasn't English friendly, so it wasn't much more help. Second Sight, however, promises all new interviews with Catherine Breillat, star Caroline Ducey and producer Jean-Francoise Lepetit, finally giving this film the level of special edition it deserves!
Now,
you may remember that the original UK DVD had a brief bit of its extremely graphic sexuality cut. That DVD was put out by a company called Bluelight. But in 2014, Second Sight reissued
Romance on DVD (bumping their non-anamorphic transfer up to anamorphic in the process), and they got that cut waived by the BBFC. So it's highly unlikely that this new 2019 edition should have any concerns on that front.
So this is exciting! Hopefully this is just the beginning, as a lot of Breillat's work is in desperate need of rescue from their very dated DVD transfers, to say nothing of those films still M.I.A.... But for right now, we can be pretty happy with this.
