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.

Anatomy of Hell (2004)

Anatomy of Hell (Anatomie de l'enfer) took a little while to hit DVD... it first came out on a nice, widescreen and uncut DVD from Russia (CP Digital), but unfortunately it only featured French and Russian language options. I've seen a bunch of US dealers sell it - so I guess there was a market for people who were keen enough to see the controversial bits that they'd watch it without being able to speak the language, but the rest of us would have to wait.

Eventually, Tartan picked it up and put it out in both the US (NTSC R1) and UK (PAL R2) markets. It was a top quality release: an excellent, anamorphic widescreen transfer, and it's uncut (unlike Tartan's release of Fat Girl). They also included a terrific 65 minute(!) interview with Breillat on the film (included on both editions).

The Canadian release from Mongrel Media is a heavily cut, R-rated edition, though, so avoid that (it does still include the Breillat interview, however).

The French disc from Aventi actually has it a little over on the Tartan discs... they have the same, long interview with Breillat, but they've also included a short making-of featurette. As usual, though, there are no English language options on that disc, so we miss out. And by the way, compare the French cover image to the others: exactly the same photo, but they apparently photoshopped a shirt onto Amira Casar in the American, UK, and Canadian markets!

There's also an Australian DVD, by the way, with an uncut, widescreen print (as well as an uncut cover), but it's missing both the Breillat interview and the making-of. So, unless you speak French, take your pick (PAL or NTSC) between the Tartans.