This is a fine, non-anamorphic 1.66:1 transfer, with optional English subtitles *on everything*, supervised by the director Henning Carlsen. Made in 2003 - in co-operation with New Carlsberg Glyptotek (the art museum which owns the biggest Gauguin collection in the world) - this DVD was released on the occasion of the centenary of the death of Gauguin.

OVIRI (Tahitian for "the savage one") is a curious biopic, a rare international combination of talent which doesn't always gel. Donald Sutherland is interesting to watch (and who can resist seeing Max von Sydow as August Strindberg?) but apparently, Buñuel collaborator Jean-Claude Carrière's original script was abandoned and rewritten at short notice by Christopher Hampton. This was because Donald Sutherland balked at the amount of sex in the Carrière version just a few weeks before filming was to begin. I can't help wondering that Carrière's script might have had better dialogue, and Carlsen mentions in his interview on the disc that he envisioned it being slightly more earthier than how it turned out.

The extras are absolutely superb. The manager of The Glyptotek, Flemming Friborg, walks among the oeuvres, talking about them as he goes. Danish writer and art historian, Hans Edvard Nørregård-Nielsen, who also is the director of New Carlsberg Foundation, talks about Gauguin and Copenhagen; and the director Henning Carlsen is interviewed about the creation of the film, as he is in the recent SULT DVD which was also released recently and reviewed here.

Finally there is a complete demonstration of the Danish Gauguin collection - available as a selection of stills of ceramics, reliefs, paintings, etc - and also as a moving gallery with Bach aural accompaniment.

This disc is not available in other territories, and the English subtitles *on everything* make it a very satisfying disc for English speakers. Clearly a labour of love for the director, this disc is highly recommended for anyone remotely interested in Gauguin.