NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (July 2021): Kino have transferred Andrzej Zulawski's L’Amour Braque to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "4K Restoration from the Original Camera Negative". It is on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate and look very impressive in this 1080P transfer. Contrast is sublime, detail remains tight and there is fine film grain texture. It looked magnificent on my system with fine detail, in the many close-ups, and depth throughout.

NOTE: We have added 36 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel track (24-bit) in the original English language. L’Amour Braque has many aggressive, guns, car chases and plenty of violence that come through with impacting depth. There is a score by Stanislas Syrewicz (The Holcroft Covenant) supporting the varied moods - sounding clean with consistent dialogue in the lossless transfer. Kino offer optional English subtitles, supervised by Zulawski himself, on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers a two commentaries. The first is by Kat Ellinger who talks about Dostoyevsky's The Idiot, her own, future, book "Mad Love the Cinema of Andrzej Zulawski", L’Amour Braque's mixed reception, appreciate the director's work by "just letting go", comparisons of the opening crime scene to Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (Droogs), Zulawski-isms about violent 'love at first sight', obsession, 'food' and the unconventional use of restaurant settings, the director's anger against the establishment etc.. She talks about Sophie Marceau - being her first Zulawski films, her character of Mary, as well as her personal relationship with the director. It's revealing discussing plenty of the director's other work. The second commentary is very revealing with director Andrzej Zulawski and writer Daniel Bird. Zulawski does not make it easy responding with statements like; "How do you expect me to remember that?", "Please don't ask me such questions", "The question is far too complicated for me" and correcting Bird's interpretation of the plot details. He relates not liking Sophie Marceau forehead and the hair bob she still has today, the cinematographer Jean-François Robin (Betty Blue), finding Besson a sell-out, being bored by Bergman but willing to explore in the future and much more very honest opinions including crying in front of art like Jackson Pollock ("It's so fucking beautiful".) It's a must-listen. There is also an older interview with Sophie Marceau for 25-minutes entitled Becoming Marie where she shares some highly interesting views. There is also a 24-minute interview with DoP J.F. Robin, a 1/4 hour of archival 'Behind-the-Scenes Footage' including interviews with director Zulawski, stars Marceau and Francis Huster. Lastly, is a theatrical trailer.     

Andrzej Zulawski's L’Amour Braque is a bizarre ride of unbridled cinematic freedom. It's a strange, unconventional film of love with a possible homage to Dostoyevsky. It is steeped in artistic expression, honest manifestations, kinetic style and is very hard to look away once you start. Certainly not to everyone's taste but it is brilliant in it's own, unique manner of Zulawski's vision of filmmaking.  The complete Kino Blu-ray package has so much value from the stunning 4K-restored transfer to the two excellent commentaries and the supplement interviews. For the adventurous cinephile, or those who have already embraced the director's work, this is strongly recommended! 

Gary Tooze