The Last Mistress on Blu

Another Breillat film has secured an English-friendly HD release!  This time it's The Last Mistress on blu-ray from IFC Films, as a part of the Vinegar Syndromes partner label series.  This is also its first release in the United States except for the rare Blockbuster-exclusive DVD from 2007.  It follows a French language-only release that came out last year from Le chat qui fume.  You may remember me pointing out their release of Anatomy of Hell last year.  It turns out they're putting out whole bunch of  Breillat films on blu, including A Real Young Girl, Fat Girl, 36 Fillet, Bluebeard, Romance, Sleeping Beauty, and Abuse of Weakness.  Now again, those do not include any English language options at all; but it shows HD masters are available for all these films, so there's hope of new English-friendly releases in future.  A couple of 'em already have as good or better discs out there, but most of these are still DVD only titles in English and would be extremely welcome follow-ups to this Last Mistress blu.  Fingers crossed!

In the meantime, let's put aside all those birds in the bush and look at the one we have in hand.  I've matched screenshots with the 2008 UK DVD from Artificial Eye so we can see the differences:

2008 DVD on top; 2026 BD below.

Both discs are framed at 1.86:1 and look to be using the same root master.  Nothing on the new blu mentions any kind of new scan, and neither did the French disc, all suggesting this is an old ass master.  But the jump to HD is still a cleaner boost in clarity.  We see more fine detail (zoom in on Asia's face in the shots above, and it's obvious).  So while it fails to capture any of the natural film grain like a modern 4k, or even 2k, scan would, it's still a satisfying upgrade.  The 5.1 audio has also been boosted to a lossless DTS-HD track.

Surprisingly, though, while the English subtitles are removable on the DVD, as they almost always are, they're not on the blu-ray.  There is an On/ Off option in the BD menu, but it does nothing.  The subs aren't just forced; they're burnt into the raw video file on the disc.  ...I expect this was an error.

In happier news, this is quite the special edition.  First of all, the back of the case ad online listings don't mention it, but this blu-ray includes all the great extras from the AE DVD: Catherine Breillat's interview, the deleted scenes and the theatrical trailer.  Then, even more excitingly, they've cooked up a bunch of new stuff.  There's an expert audio commentary by Elena Lazic, which is quite good, with a lot of good info about the original novel and making of the film.  There's also a short video essay by Alexandra Heller Nicholas, which is okay.  It feels like a short addendum to the commentary.  Best of all, is a new video interview with Asia Argento who is surprisingly candid about her experience on this movie.  This release also includes a booklet by Beatrice Loayza, reversible artwork, and if you ordered the limited first pressing, a slipcover.

So yeah, good times.  Let's hope this is the first of many.

Anatomy of Hell Next To Make the Jump To Blu

Yes, you've read the title right; Breillat's most divisive film, Anatomie de l'enfer, b.k.a. Anatomy of Hell, is finally coming to blu-ray this summer.  Specifically June 5th.  I almost missed it, because it's being released as a part of Umbrella Entertainment's 'New Extremity Collection Volume 1' collection, and I'm really not interested in the other films in that set.  Anatomy of Hell is a real outlier, as it's the only non-horror title, alongside High Tension, Frontier(s) and Martyrs.

It would be hard to argue Breillat's film doesn't qualify as a "new French extremity" by dead-on definition, but I suspect a lot of fans of those other three films are going to be looking at Breillat's film like, "what the heck is this," not unlike how this Breillat fan is looking at the set thinking, "gee, I don't want to have to pay for all those other ones."  And no, there has been no individual release announced for any of the four films.  There is just a Collector's Edition and a Standard Edition, the distinction being a 100 page book, a poster, some unique artwork and some art cards.

Now, technically, this won't be Anatomy's debut on blu.  There is already a French blu-ray that came out last June.  But it is not English-friendly.  It's just got the original French audio with optional French subtitles.  Great if you're fluent in French (it even has a Breillat interview), but sadly useless for the rest of us.

And to give Umbrella due credit, they don't seem to be skimping on their release, packing it with special features.  Admittedly, a lot of these don't sound terribly exciting: an audio commentary by a     horror movie podcast host and three visual essays by experts.  But crucially, they've got an interview with Breillat.  They don't label it as "NEW" like all the other features on their website, so I'm guessing it's the original interview dating back to the Tartan disc, but it's still an important inclusion.  Umbrella's also got a stills gallery and the trailer.  And they're promising all the films are uncut and uncensored.

So as a Breillat fan, you're going to want this disc.  And cinephiles who are looking to explore modern films for their shock value should get a kick out of the whole package.  But I feel like this forced combination is going to annoy more people than it pleases.  Oh well.  It's still a net win to finally have another of Breillat's works available in HD and English for the first time.

Last Summer, Now From Criterion

It's here!  Catherine Breillat's first film in over a decade arrives today, Feb 18th, on DVD and blu, as part of their new Janus Contemporaries line.  We've known about Last Summer (then known as Inavouable, which translates to "Unspeakable") since early 2021, and have just been waiting patiently to get our hands on an English-friendly version of it.  The BD is a dual-layer 1080p disc matting the film to 1.85:1, screenshotted above.  The original French 5.1 audio is presented in DTS-HD with optional English subtitles.

There aren't a whole ton of extras, but critically, we do get an all new, 18+ minute interview with Breillat.  They also include the original theatrical trailer and an insert with notes by Michael Joshua Rowin, a film theorist who teaches at the School of Visual Arts in New York.  So it may not be the full-fledged special edition we were hoping for, but it's a satisfying package.  And most important, of course, we can just finally see this film.

And by the way, for those keen to check out the original 2019 Dronningen, a.k.a. Queen Of Hearts, the Danish film Last Summer is a remake of, there are a couple of foreign blu-rays, but they don't include English language options.  Our best bet is unfortunately standard definition-only: an American DVD from Breaking Glass.  It's a DVD-9 in anamorphic 2.39:1 in its original Danish/ Swedish (both stereo and 5.1 mixes) with optional English subtitles with no special features.

A Quick Update On Last Summer/ Inavouable

So, it's been a couple years since I posted about Breillat's then upcoming film, Inavouable.  Well, it's finished now, with a new title: L'Été dernier or Last Summer for us English speakers.  It's already been released on blu, but sadly (despite some reports to the contrary), it's not English-friendly at all.  Meanwhile, Last Summer's currently, as of this writing, playing a limited run in theaters here in the US.  To give you an idea, I'm in New Jersey, and the nearest screenings are in New York, an entire state away.  And I imagine it's even worse in other parts of the country.  But hopefully that means home video releases are to follow, and we'll finally get a chance to see it.  And if an English-friendly DVD/ BD/ UHD gets released, of course I'll be sure to cover it here ASAP.  Janus Films is listed as a distributor in sites like the IMDB, so hopefully that means a Criterion special edition is in its future.

The First Breillat Film To Come Out in 4k: Bilitis

Are you getting sick of Bilitis releases yet?  This one is big news, though, because it's the first edition on the highest 4k Ultra HD format.  The first Bilitis and the first of any of Breillat's films.  This is coming out through Germany's Capelight Pictures label, but all UHD's are region free, so it's playable anywhere in the world.  And yes, it's English friendly, including both the English dub, and better still, the original French audio with English subtitles.  For that matter, it also has a German dub and optional German subtitles.

It's a 3-disc set, including the UHD with HDR, a BD copy and the CD soundtrack.  It's a mediabook with 24 pages (presumably written in German, though), and includes the original theatrical trailer and the same interview with the cinematographer that was on the US blu.  And it's already out as of this writing.

Hopefully we see many more of Breillat's films hit 4k, especially some of the ones she directed!