Diva - Jean-Jacques Beineix

directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix
France 1981

Marvellous amalgam of sadistic thriller and fairytale romance, drawing on a wild diversity of genres from film noir to Feuillade serial. The deliriously offhand plot, cheekily parodying Watergates and French Connections, has switched tapes setting a pair of psychopathic hoods on the trail of a young postal messenger, turning his obsessive dream - of romance with a beautiful black opera singer whose performance on stage he has secretly recorded - into a nightmare from which he is rescued by a timely deus-ex-machina (clearly a descendant of the great Judex). The most exciting debut in years, it is unified by the extraordinary decor - colour supplement chic meets pop art surrealism - which creates a world of totally fantastic reality situated four-square in contemporary Paris.

Excerpt from TimeOut Film Guide located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: 11 March 1981 - France

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DVD Comparison:

Lions Gate (Meridian) Region 1 - NTSC vs. Anchor Bay - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Fox Lorber - Region 1 - NTSC

Big thanks to Bill McAlpine for the Anchor Bay Screen Caps!

1) Lions Gate (Meridian) Region 1 - NTSC LEFT
2) Anchor Bay - Region 1 - NTSC MIDDLE
3) Fox Lorber - Region 1 - NTSC RIGHT

DVD Box Covers
Distribution	Lions Gate (Meridian Collection) Region 1 - NTSC	Anchor Bay Region 1 - NTSC	Fox Lorber Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime	1:57:36	1:57:36	1:50:04 (taken from PAL master - 4% speedup)
Video	1.66:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 4.3 mb/s NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s	1.66:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 7.54 mb/s NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s	1.64:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.12 mb/s NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Lions Gate
Bitrate: Anchor Bay
Bitrate: Fox Lorber
Audio	French (Dolby Digital 1.0)	French 5.1 & 2.0. English 5.1 & 2.0	French (Dolby Digital 1.0)
Subtitles	English, None	English or None	English or None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Lions Gate Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.66:1 Edition Details: • Screen specific commentary by director (but all in French) • Featurettes - mostly in French - no subs DVD Release Date: June 3rd, 2008 Keep Case inside cardboard box Chapters 27	Release Information: Studio: Anchor Bay Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.66:1 Edition Details: • Interview with Jean-Jacques Beineix (6 min) • JeanJacques Beineix Bio • Theatrical Trailer DVD Release Date: June 12, 2001 Keep Case Chapters 27	Release Information: Studio: Fox Lorber Aspect Ratio: Widescreen letterboxed - 1.64:1 Edition Details: • Production Notes DVD Release Date: November 10, 1997 Keep Case Chapters 9

Comments

NOTE: My DVD edition differs from other reviewers in the US. MINE CATEGORICALLY HAS FRENCH ONLY MENUS AND NO ENGLISH (SUB or DUB) ON THE EXTRAS. We are investigating if I received some sort of 'Quebecois' edition, but why would they make two versions? Why take the trouble to create an edition by removing the English options?

ADDITION: Lions Gate - Region 1 - NTSC June 08': Come'on Lions Gate! Not only are the menus in French - just like their Angelique boxset - ('Regages' means 'Set-up' in this case) but the screen specific commentary is in French with no subtitle/DUB options as are most of the short featurettes (under the label 'A La Recherche D'un Diva' - 'Researching Diva'?) likewise in French with no sub/DUB options.

NOTE to Lions Gate: Don't you have anyone check these discs before mass producing, marketing and selling them? I ask they recall this disc immediately. I want my money back.

The box states English and Spanish subtitles on the feature - but there is only English.

As for the Lions Gate image - it has obvious manipulation (see zoomed-in edge enhancement capture below) and is cropped with the Anchor Bay having significantly more information on the right edge. The bitrate is appallingly low and it has lost detail in many sequences. The Anchor Bay shows a bit more noise but the colors are more true and overall we can dismiss this Lions Gate disc immediately for its extensive flaws.

The funny thing is they bothered to put English titles on the extra features but neglected to notice the dialogue is predominantly in French (1st 6 minute segment is in English) and added no subtitle or DUB options. More humorous still is that the transfer is stated as being 'approved by director Jean-Jacques Beineix' - which must be total BS unless he likes his films cropped, tiny bitrate transfers, boosted and the colors altered. It is also horizontally stretched!

This is a fabulously clandestine/cultish film and I urge you to voice your displeasure with Lions Gate's Home Entertainment division by emailing them HERE.

***

ON the ANCHOR BAY vs. the Fox/Lorber: This is a pretty easy choice - the newer Anchor Bay is much sharper, anamorphic, has better sound and better Extras. It appears the Fox is taken from a PAL source so will have "ghosting". I see a greenish tinge on the Anchor Bay, but that may be part of the film itself. The Anchor Bay has a little cropping, which I would guess is about 4% in anamorphizing the picture. It is quite negligible. I'll be buying the Anchor Bay myself next order as I quit enjoyed this film.

- Gary W. Tooze

Recommended Reading in French Cinema (CLICK COVERS or TITLES for more information)


The Films in My Life by Francois Truffaut, Leonard Mayhew	French Cinema: A Student's Guide by Philip Powrie, Keith Reader	Agnes Varda by Alison Smith	Godard on Godard : Critical Writings by Jean-Luc Godard	Notes on the Cinematographer by Robert Bresson	French New Wave by Jean Douchet, Robert Bonnono, Cedric Anger, Robert Bononno	French Cinema: From Its Beginnings to the Present by Remi Fournier Lanzoni	Truffaut: A Biography by Antoine do Baecque and Serge Toubiana

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Lions Gate (Meridian) Region 1 - NTSC




An English title with French dialogue and no English subtitles:

(Anchor Bay - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Fox Lorber - Region 1 - NTSC - RIGHT)

The Lions Gate is horizontally stretched!

(Anchor Bay - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Lions Gate (Meridian) - Region 1 - NTSC - RIGHT)

Subtitle Samples