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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r |
(aka "Humanité" or "Humanity")
directed by Bruno Dumont
France 1999
Thirty-year-old Pharaoh is an unsophisticated and humble man. He is simple but not a simpleton. He has a crush on his sexy neighbor, factory worker Domino (Severine Caneele), a gentle soul in love with a brute named Joseph (Philippe Tullier). Pharaoh's daily life is quite dull; he is a police lieutenant, a job that does not agree with his mild temperament. He has to investigate the rape and murder of a little girl. What makes Pharaoh different from others is the suffering he goes through due to his uncontrollable empathy for other human beings. He is an emotional sponge condemned to carry the burden of all our wrongdoings. He is hungry for human feelings to the point that he would smell the face of the suspect he interrogates. In the final analysis, he also is a Jesus figure, like the hero of the first film. The message is there is no place for such figures in our cruel world. Bruno Dumont has a lot of compassion for his characters, which is evident in the way that he observes their daily lives and the conflicts that they are faced with. Explicit sexual scenes may offend some viewers. L'humanité won the Grand Prize of the 52nd Cannes Film Festival, 1999. Actress Severine Caneele shared the Best Actress award with Emilie Dequenne of Rosetta and Emmanuel Schotte won the Best Actor award. *** The transcendent second feature by Bruno Dumont probes the wonder and horror of the human condition through the story of a profoundly alienated police detective (the indelibly sad-eyed Emmanuel Schotté, winner of an upset best actor prize at Cannes for his first film performance) who, while investigating the murder of a young girl, experiences jolting, epiphanous moments of emotional and physical connection. Demonstrating Dumont’s deftness with nonactors and relentlessly frank depiction of bodies and sexuality, L’humanité is at once an idiosyncratic police procedural and a provocative exploration of the tension between humankind’s capacity for compassion and our base, sometimes barbarous animal instincts. ***
I think Dumont’s film is unfinished in
the sense that some paintings are; that is, some parts of the “canvas”
are only sketched in while other parts are fully realized. As a
mannerist portrait of a few individuals, it’s often amazing; as a
spiritual statement about suffering in the contemporary world, it almost
lives up to its title; for its blunt depictions of sex, it’s about as
carnal in an unvarnished way as filmmaking can get; and as a visual
rendering of an area of northern France (Dumont’s hometown, also the
setting of his first feature, The Life of Jesus), it’s pretty
impressive. But as a police procedural, it’s unsatisfying, far from
being worked out in all its details. Excerpt from Jonathan Rosenbaum's review at the Chicago Reader located HERE. |
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Theatrical Release: France 17 May 1999 (Cannes Film Festival)
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
Comparison:
Artificial Eye - Region 2 - PAL vs. Fox Lorber - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Big thanks to Per-Olof Strandberg for the DVD Screen Caps!
1) Artificial Eye - Region 2 - PAL - LEFT 2) Fox Lorber - Region 0 - NTSC - MIDDLE 3) Criterion Spine #981 - Region 'A' - Blu-ray RIGHT
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Distribution |
Artificial Eye Region 2 - PAL |
Fox Lorber Region 0 - NTSC |
Criterion Spine #981 - Region 'A' - Blu-ray |
Runtime | 2:21:35 (4% PAL speedup) | 2:21:30 | 2:28:16.095 |
Video |
2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio
16X9 enhanced |
2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio
16X9 enhanced |
2.35:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 48,792,414,944 bytes Feature: 39,686,313,984 bytes Video Bitrate: 31.04 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video |
NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Bitrate:
Artificial Eye
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Bitrate:
Fox Lorber
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NOT AVAILABLE |
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Bitrate:
Criterion Blu-ray
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Audio | French (Dolby Digital 2.0) |
French (Dolby Digital 2.0) |
DTS-HD Master Audio French 2840 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 2840 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) |
Subtitles | English, None | English, None | English, None |
Features |
Release Information: Studio: Artificial Eye Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details: Chapters 16 |
Release Information: Studio: Fox Lorber Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details:
DVD Release Date: February
13, 2001 Chapters |
Release Information: Studio: Criterion
2.35:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 48,792,414,944 bytes Feature: 39,686,313,984 bytes Video Bitrate: 31.04 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Edition Details:
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New interview with Dumont (14:59)
Chapters 26 |
Comments |
NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc. ADDITION: Criterion Blu-ray (May 2019): Criterion have transferred Bruno Dumont's first film La vie de Jésus and second film L'Humanite to Blu-ray. These are both cited s being "New 4K digital restoration, approved by director Bruno Dumont". So how does the latter compare to the DVDs? Quite favorably. In 10 the color have a richness and tightness looking far more realistic Criterion transfer the audio via a DTS-HD Master 5.1 surround at 24-bit on their Blu-ray. It is in the original French language and has few effects or separations. There is a sparse score credited to Richard Cuvillier. Some may also recognize Pancrace Royer's Le Vertigo, Rondeau. Modérément from "Pièce de Clavecin" performed by William Christie. There are optional English subtitles on this Region 'A'-locked Blu-ray. Supplements contain a new 1/4 hour interview shot by the Criterion Collection in 2019, director Bruno Dumont discusses his second film, L'humanite. There is also an interview from 2014, with director Bruno Dumont who discusses L'humanite with film critic Philippe Rouyer for over 1/2 hour. Included is a short segment from an episode of the French television program Tendances, hosted by Helene Chauwin, focusing on actor Severine Caneele, who plays Domino in L'humanite. It was broadcast on February 5, 2000. There is also a brief regional news broadcast with journalist Gerard Dupagny who conducts an interview with Bruno Dumont, discussing his film L'humanite and its setting, Dumont's hometown of Bailleul, France. It was broadcast on October 24,1999. Lastly, is a trailer and the package has a liner notes booklet with an essay by critic Nicholas Elliott. L'humanite is a draining and powerful film and the improvement of the Criterion Blu-ray in terms of a/v and extras is obvious. It's appreciated that Criterion are transferring films like this to 1080P. Strongly recommended! ***
ON THE DVD:
It seems that both have used the same source material. The
benefit goes to the Artificial-Eye DVD. It's sharper, the picture is a little bit brighter
(more details), and maybe the color
timing has more blue in it. The Fox Lorber DVD is also slightly
cropped on both sides, and
Even tough the DD 2.0 sound is quite equal, in my system the AE
disc had more detail
and was more dynamic. The difference is about the same as in the
picture. |
DVD Menus
(Artificial Eye - Region 2 - PAL - LEFT vs. Fox Lorber - Region 0 - NTSC - RIGHT)
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Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
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CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Subtitle Sample - Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
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Example of 'Combing' and
'Ghosting' artifacts on the NTSC (FoxLorber) DVD
1) Fox Lorber - Region 0 - NTSC TOP 2) Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM |
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1) Artificial Eye - Region 2 - PAL - TOP 2) Fox Lorber - Region 0 - NTSC MIDDLE 3) Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM |
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1) Artificial Eye - Region 2 - PAL - TOP 2) Fox Lorber - Region 0 - NTSC MIDDLE 3) Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM |
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1) Artificial Eye - Region 2 - PAL - TOP 2) Fox Lorber - Region 0 - NTSC MIDDLE 3) Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM |
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Report Card:
Image: |
Blu-ray |
Sound: |
Blu-ray |
Extras: | Blu-ray |
DVD Box Covers |
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Distribution |
Artificial Eye Region 2 - PAL |
Fox Lorber Region 0 - NTSC |