Breillat's Next: The German Cousin

Deadline has just posted a brief interview with Breillat announcing her next film, an adaptation of the Georges Simenon novel Chez Krull (The Krull House) from 1939.  "Just as the Krull house sits on the edge of a rural French town, the family occupies a marginal place in the life of the community around them. Snubbed by the locals despite having lived there for decades, they rely on trade with passing sailors to earn a living. When their relative arrives unannounced from Germany, with his unsettling, nonchalant ways, the family becomes the target of increasing suspicion and the scapegoat for a terrible crime," according to the back of the book.  Sounds very interesting and not necessarily something you'd expect from Breillat.

She'll be writing and directing, with Saïd Ben Saïd as her producer again.  She says she plans to keep it in the period and title it The German Cousin.  Filming isn't set to begin until late 2027, though, so best not get too worked up.  But it's great to have something promising to look forward to.

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!

Bluebeard, Better In the UK

Of course, it would be wonderful to get Bluebeard on blu-ray one day, but I can't say I'm too optimistic.  We're barely getting any of her theatrical work in HD, let alone her television films.  But in the meantime, whether it happens it or not, it's worth noting that there is a bit of an upgrade available just by importing from the UK.  Yes, two years after Strand released this on DVD in the US, New Wave Films released it in the UK, and it's surprisingly better in almost every way, considering it was a new release of a contemporary film using the same modern master.

For starters, the US DVD is interlaced, which means intermittent frames have a visible, and ugly, combing effect running through them.  Even if your player autocorrects interlacing, and practically all of them do, that's only a partial fix that makes the image stutter in motion and replaces combed frames with ghosted frames, where images have a messy double-image.  The aspect ratio is also very slightly shifted from 1.79:1 on the US to what appears to be the more correct 1.81:1 on the UK.  The framing is identical, but it fixes a very slight vertical pinch.  I suspect a BD could give us an even more accurate AR.  But between the two of them, New Wave's geometry is a pinch (get it? Eh, eh?) better.

2010 US Strand DVD top; 2012 UK New Wave DVD bottom.

The stereo audio tracks sound the same on both discs.  But the subtitles are burnt in on the US DVD, meaning they are unremovable if you want to see the image without the subs on screen.  The UK disc makes them optional, so you can turn them on and off.  So rack up another slight advantage to New Wave there.

But most compelling of all?  New Wave's DVD has an exclusive on-camera interview with Breillat herself!  Strand has the trailer and a couple bonus trailers for other Strand releases, but otherwise it has no special features.  Well, New Wave also has the trailer.  And while one interview doesn't exactly amount to a packed special edition, it's a substantial half-hour piece that gives us some solid insight into her work.  And honestly, interviews with Breillat are far too rare on these discs, so finding one here is a real treat.

So yes, I'd say it's worth importing.  And even if you already have the US DVD, it might be worth double-dipping just for the interview (and modest visual improvements).

The Definitive Dracula and Son

It was taking forever, but I knew it was only a matter only of time until a proper edition of Dracula and Son came out.  Some of those French TV movies I'm not holding my breath for, but a cult Christopher Lee vampire flick?  Oh yeah, it was inevitable.  And I'm glad it's Severin who's turned out to be the ones releasing it, because they've put together an impressive special edition, with both the original and abridged cuts of the film, both the original and altered language options in audio and subtitles, and a host of special features, including two audio commentaries, new and vintage interviews with the cast and crew, the trailer and even a soundtrack CD.

Now admittedly, this title is a low draw for Breillat fans.  She just appears in this film; she didn't have a hand in the writing, directing or anything.  Her sister Marie-Helene has the far larger role.  But if you're a collector, you collect, right?  This has been announced for release on May 31, as part of Severin's 5-film boxed set, The Eurocrypt of Christopher Lee, Collection 2, and can be pre-ordered direct from the company as of today.

Update 6/28/23: a stand-alone (i.e. you don't have to buy the whole Christopher Lee box set) edition has been announced for a September 26th release.

It Really Happened: A Proper US Bilitis Blu!

You know, it's been so long since I expressed confidence in the likelihood of a legitimate English-friendly Bilitis blu, I was starting to think I dreamt it.  But it's here, sitting on my desk as I type this!  A US special edition blu-ray release from Fun City Editions, just released this week.  And it's got pretty much everything a fan could've asked for.  It's the killer 4k scan of the original 35mm original camera negative featuring the original French mono track with removable English subtitles, and the alternative English dub.  It also includes some strong special features, including a great interview with the camera operator (from the 2021 French blu, but subtitled into English for the first time here), an all new expert audio commentary, a full color 12-page booklet, reversible artwork and a slipcover (the last of which is limited to the first 2,500 copies).  And just look how it blows away the DVD we've been living with:

2012 US Pathfinder DVD top; 2022 US Fun City BD bottom.

It's about time we finally got our hands on this restoration.  Still, you'll want to hold onto your Pathfinder DVDs if you've got 'em.  Catherine Breillat's interview is exclusive to that disc.  It's a shame they couldn't've licensed it from them, but oh well.

And UK fans, if you don't want to import, just hang in there.  Screenbound is a releasing their own blu-ray edition on your side of the ocean on March 28.

Romance Blu-ray Hitting the US

Bummed Romance was only released on the blu in the UK?  It is, after all, region B locked.  Well, cheer up, Charlie - Strand is releasing Romance in the US next month!

No real specs have been released yet, so we don't know if there will be any special features or anything yet.  My guess would be this will use the same transfer as the UK release and generally be pretty similar... no complaints if that's the case; it was a pretty great release.  But let's not get ahead of ourselves.  The release date is less than a month and a half way (Nov 30th), so we should learn more soon.

Update: Yep, it's still 1.66:1, and it keeps the lossless 5.1 remix (though not the stereo mix).  No extras on this one apart from the trailer and trailers for the other Breillat films available from Strand.

Brief Crossing (2001)

I wanted to come back and revisit the DVD releases of this film, which I'd given rather hasty, minimal coverage of in my original post. I've found, really digging into a proper comparison between the two available releases, that the distinction was greater than I thought.

Brief Crossing (Brève traversée in its homeland), about a chance encounter between an English woman in her mid 30's (Sarah Pratt) and a 16 year-old French boy (Gilles Guillan) during an overnight ferry ride, is a more subdued film, at least by Breillat standards. It still has an extensive, 10 minute long sex scene in the second act. But by and large, it's just intently focused on the flirtations and almost Socratic dialogue between the two leads who enter and leave each other's lives in a single night.

This film is available on two DVDs: the 2004 US edition from Wellspring (which has since been absorbed into the Weinsteins' Genius Products company) and the subsequent 2006 UK one from Second Sight Films.

US DVD on top; UK DVD below.

Both are widescreen transfers, but only the R2 PAL DVD is anamorphic. I've left the negative space around both screenshots so you can see how it will display on your set. What's more, the US disc is interlaced, presumably due to a poor PAL conversion, since both discs have nearly identical run times. Oh, and it's vertically stretched a bit, making the characters tall and skinny, while still cropping a substantial amount of picture off around the edges. Actually, the UK disc might be stretched a bit in the other direction at the same time, making everything too wide. You start getting into a weird uncanny valley comparing the two transfers: exactly how wide are these actors' natural faces? So maybe it's a trade-off in that respect. But the US disc is also a bit softer. So while a blu-ray would be ideal, to get this image into HD and really refine the aspect ratio and everything to perfection, I don't see that on the horizon anytime soon. So for now, and quite possibly always, the Second Sight disc is by far the preferable transfer.

However, Wellspring went the extra mile and recorded a new interview with the director for their edition. It's just over twenty minutes and nice to have since this film is one that rarely gets discussed. The US disc also has an exclusive 5.1 mix (both discs have the standard Dolby stereo track and removable English subtitles), which might be a draw for audiophiles. So you'll want to get the UK disc; but if you're a dedicated enough fan, it could be worth getting both.

Breillat's First Movie In Eight Years: Inavouable

I'm excited to have something new to report on this site, something big: a whole new movie.  Titled Inavouable, this will be Catherine Breillat's first new feature length film since Abuse of Weakness in 2013.  Producer Saïd Ben Saïd (Bacurau, Maps To the Stars) first announced it by posting the title page of the screenplay on Twitter March 29 with the simple descriptor "[b]ientôt" (soon), and has since been posting updates since.

The film is set to star Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Olivier Rabourdi.  It's actually a remake of the recent NC-17 Danish film Queen Of Hearts about a lawyer who has an affair with her teenage stepson.  The taboo sexual drama certainly feels like it's in Breillat's wheelhouse, but hopefully she's chosen this project because she feels she has something unique to express and wasn't just brought on to replicate the same film in another language because she sounded like an obvious choice.  But we'll see; I have faith.  It's certainly a good sign that she's both the writer and director.

A New (Mini) Film By Catherine Breillat Out Now!

Catherine Breillat has made a new film, and it's playing in theaters and streaming online now!  ...But, before you get too carried away, I should point out that this is an extremely short film.  It's part of Strand Films' (the company that's distributed her last several films here in the US) film series called 30/30 Vision: 3 Decades of Strand Releasing.  It's a series of thirty short films, each roughly a minute long, filmed on iphones by thirty of the filmmakers Strand has worked with over the past three decades.  Some of the other noteworthy filmmakers include John Waters, Rose Troche, James Schamus, Cindy Sherman, Claire Denis and Gregg Araki.

So yeah, as you can imagine, a single minute filmed on their phones suggests they're aiming pretty low compared to these filmmakers' usual feature work.  But that doesn't mean we don't wanna see them, right?  Well, all thirty films are playing together in various screenings throughout the month of December, including at the San Franciso Museum of Modern Art and UCLA.  Sounds like a fun event to attend!

But let's say you don't live in a hip, smartly artistically served community.  Or maybe, since you're here at breillat.blogspot.com and not breillatandtwentynineotherfilmmakerswhohappentohavethesamedistributor.blogspot.com, you only care about Catherine's film.  You just wanna watch it quick and painlessly online.  Well, you're in luck!  A neat little website called WomenInFilm.com happens to be streaming all of the female-directed 30/30 shorts, and Breillat's is right at the top of the list!  There ya go.  It's obviously a minor work, but for us starved Breillat fans who haven't had a new film from her in six years now, a "sad but beautiful" video postcard from our beloved director should be very welcome.  She says she's out there writing, so maybe we'll get another movie soon... and this can be a DVD extra!

Romance Finally In HD!

Okay, so they didn't quite make their April 19th release date, but that's okay.  Second Sight's blu-ray of Romance has finally arrived!  This should be especially big news for anyone who still has the US DVD, which wasn't even anamorphic.  I've already covered a good deal about this release when it was announced, though now that it's landed I can now confirm all of that info was correct: it is indeed uncut and the three promised interviews are on there...  Even on the packaging, they still don't tell us any information about this new scan: is it 2k, 4k or what?  If they'd sprung for 4k, though, I'm sure they would've told us, so I think it's safe to assume it's not.  But now that we have it in-hand, we can take a close up look, and even make a DVDExotica-style screenshot comparison to the old DVD, so let's do that!

US 2000 Lions Gate DVD on top; UK 2019 Second Sight BD bottom.

So I left the negative space around the first set of shots so you can get a clearer idea of the framing, and just how annoying non-anamorphic DVDs are in the age of modern, widescreen monitors.  It just floats there in a sea of negative space.  Anyway, the aspect ratio is almost the same, with the blu-ray slightly correcting the DVD's 1.61:1 to a properly pillar-boxed 1.66:1.  This essentially means the blu-ray has a little extra information along the left-hand side, and a sliver along the top.  The DVD's also slightly vertically squished.  Colors and levels are pretty much the same, although the BD is a bit on the light, or even pale, side.  Detail and resolution, however, are a massive leap forward in PQ.  You can see the film grain, making it look like a proper movie, unlike the DVD, which smears and compresses everything fine away.  The picture is decidedly sharper now, with no unwanted tinkering (i.e. edge enhancement, artificial sharpening or digital noise reduction), presented in 1080p with a high bitrate on a dual-layered disc.

The BD does pare away some language options, but it keeps the only important stuff, so I'm fine with it.  The DVD had both the original French audio and a slightly cringey English dub, both in Dolby stereo, as well as English, French and Spanish subtitles.  Second Sight ditches the dub, giving us just the French audio with optional English subtitles.  And Second Sight does add something to the audio mix, giving us the choice of the original stereo mix or a 5.1 remix, both in lossless DTS-HD.

And, of course, they've finally made it a bit of a special edition.  Each of the interviews is roughly 20 minutes, and are a must-watch for any fan of the film.  A minor disappointment is a lack of the trailer, which even the old Trimark DVD had (remember "www...taste... romance... com?").  So okay, that and it's a shame to lose the English dub, even if it's just to amuse yourself by snickering at.  But it all adds up to a teensy tiny step backwards and a massive leap forwards.  Great news for us Breillat fans, so let's hope they tackle another one of her films soon!

Romance (X) Restored for Blu-ray!

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.

Police on Blu-ray!

Whoops!  This one slipped under my radar.  I've done a couple posts on Police already, a 1985 film starring Gérard Depardieu that Breillat wrote but didn't direct.  Originally, there was a great French DVD, but it wasn't English friendly.  Then, in 2008, Artificial Eye put out an excellent, English friendly special edition DVD in the UK.  But what I missed was in 2017, Olive released it on blu-ray here in the US, and in Canada.  And not only that, it's been getting alternate blu-ray editions around the world, some of which are arguably even better.

Olive's blu is a pretty impressive looking 1.66:1 transfer, an upgraded DTS-HD soundtrack, but unfortunately it's barebones.  And here's where it gets frustrating.  Gaumont had already released it on blu in France back in 2013.  That one features the same transfer as Olive's blu, but not only does it import all of the special features from the previously French and UK DVDs, it also features new on-camera interviews with Pascale Rocard and cinematographer Luciano Tovoli.  Sounds like the way to go, right?  Sure, if you speak French, but otherwise, not so much.  The film itself features English subtitles, but none of the special features do.

So, for us English speakers, the ideal experience would be to get both the Olive blu-ray and Artificial Eye DVD, which would give you the best edition of the film and most of the special features.  There's a Japanese blu, but it's essentially the same as the Olive, English subs on the feature, but no special features.  It sure would be nice if they would issue an English-friendly blu with everything, but here at breillat.blogspot.com, I think we're used to these kind of disappointing compromises.  But hey, at least we got the film in HD now, that's a step forward.

Bilitis English language Blu

It was pretty disappointing when that German Bilitis blu-ray turned out to have no English language options. Well now there's another blu, this time from Spain, and it does have the English audio, as well as the French, German and Spanish tracks. Unfortunately, it has several subtitle options, but not including English, so you can't select the French audio with English subs. But still, this blu-ray has the English audio, which puts it leaps and bounds ahead of the German disc.

It's from a company called Llamentol - here's their official webpage. They've also released a DVD edition for fans who haven't gone blu. Unfortunately, Llamentol is known to release their discs on BD-Rs, which isn't ideal. But clearly the fates will not allow us an uncompromised Bilitis release; so if you're bound to the English language, this seems to be the new best bet.

Scratch One Off the M.I.A. List!

Woo-hoo!  I just got to remove a title off our DVDs Still M.I.A. column on the right, there!  La Pelle, Or simply The Skin as it's been directly translated to in the US, is coming to blu-ray this month. Giving us one more Catherine Breillat film finally available in English... and on a fancy shcmancy special edition blu-ray to boot!

I wrote about this film before, as part of a series of posts covering scripts Breillat had written or co-written. In this case, she co-wrote it with two other screenwriters, based on the memoirs of Curzio Malaparte. The film stars Marcello Mastroianni and Burt Lancaster, and has a had a couple untranslated DVDs in other countries. Then, in 2011, it was released on blu-ray in France... frustratingly, with no English language options!

Well, that's finally been corrected in the US by Cohen Media Group. Not only have they ported over the HD transfer onto blu-ray, but they've added a whole heap of English-friendly special features, including an audio commentary and four new featurettes. This will be out In just a week's time, January 13, and has received a very encouraging review from DVDBeaver - those screenshots look great. Wow. I didn't see this one coming.

Abuse Of Weakness on DVD!

Okay, I've done a couple posts leading up to it, but now I finally have the official Strand DVD release of Breillat's latest film, Abuse of Weakness, in hand. The transfer naturally looks great, since you'd almost have to go out of your way to screw up a brand new release. I've provided a screen cap, above (right click and "view image" to see it full size), for you to judge anyway. The IMDB lists this as 2.35:1, while this is visibly about 1.85:1; but I think that's just the IMDB being inaccurate. I could certainly see shots like the one above especially benefiting from an HD blu-ray presentation, but for a DVD release, you really can't hope for any better than this.

The extras are as detailed in my last post, but now that I've actually had the chance to watch them all, I can get a little more specific. The short film is indeed her Venice Reloaded short, which looks great here, and you've got the trailer for this film as well as Sleeping Beauty, Bluebeard and four other Strand releases.

Finally, the most compelling extra, the new interview with Breillat. This was apparently recorded at the Melbourne International Film festival and is a good 18 minutes long. It's a very good interview, covering the essential point of how this film mirrors her own real life incident, as well as how this film fits in with the rest of her body of work, working with Isabelle Huppert and Kool Shen, differences between her book and the film, and it even addresses her unmade film Bad Love, which I posted about back in 2008. She is a bit hard to understand here, to the point where I was wishing for subtitle options despite the fact that she's speaking English; but if you're patient and willing to concentrate enough to make it out, it's absolutely worthwhile.

And the film itself is quite compelling... even compared to her other films, I'd say it's not her best, but pleasingly near the top. A large portion of this has to be credited to a command performance by Isabelle Huppert. She and Breillat feel like ideal collaborators, and I'd love to see her continue to become the Mastroianni to Catherine's Fellini, or the Keener to Catherine's Holofcener. And if you had any misgivings about the male lead being given to a rapper, I have to say Kool Shen was actually quite convincing and natural as Huppert's foil.

So, I'm pleased to report this is a pretty ideal DVD release. And that's good, because there's still no signs of one in France, the UK or other markets, so they'll have to import our US disc, too. The release date is Nov. 11 - strongly recommended.

Abuse of Weakness Special Features

Checking up on Amazon's listing for the upcoming Abuse of Weakness DVD from Strand this morning and I see there's an update - special features have been announced!  First and foremost is an interview with Catherine Breillat. This seems like the kind of film that could benefit the most from a little back story, as it's based on some shocking real life events; so that's great to see.  Next up is "The Future of Cinema... (A Short Film by Catherine Breillat)." I presume this was her short film for Venice 70 Future Reloaded, which will be nice to have properly in our collections. Then there's the theatrical trailer, and trailers for other Breillat films (presumably the other ones Strand sells on DVD) and Strand releases.

So there ya go. Not a huge, super-mega-special edition, but definitely something more than just another bare-bones release. Of course, it remains to be seen how substantial the interview is, but I'm optimistic the features will be a solid enhancement. Can't wait for November 11!