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

ADDITION: Janus Contemporaries Blu-ray (February 2025): Janus Contemporaries have transferred Catherine Breillat's Last Summer to Blu-ray. It is on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate. It looks as flawless as one might expect a modern film, shot on digital, in this Blu-ray format to look. It's clean, crisp, and bright with many outdoor sequences.

"Janus Contemporaries releases Blu-ray and DVD editions of first-run films, fresh from theaters, in association with Criterion." The first slate offered Jafar Panahi's No Bears, Jerzy Skolimowski's EO and Louis Garrel's The Innocent. The second wave of Janus Contemporaries Blu-rays included the Darndenne's Tori and Lokita, Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch's brilliant The Eight Mountains and Hlynur Pálmason's Dreyer-like Godland - next Christian Petzold's brilliant Afire, Wim Wenders' Anselm, and Alexandre O. Philippe's Lynch / Oz. There are also Nuri Bilge Ceylan's About Dry Grasses, Ryusuke Hamaguchi's Evil Does Not Exist and Bertrand Bonello's The Beast. A wonderful series so far.

NOTE: We have added 58 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Janus Contemporaries use a fairly robust DTS-HD Master 5.1 surround track (24-bit) in the original French language. Last Summer has no aggression and only a few separations. There is music featuring Léo Ferré's Vingt Ans and Sonic Youth's Dirty Boots. Audio is, likewise, flawless. Janus Contemporaries offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Janus Contemporaries Blu-ray offers an 18-minute 'Meet the Filmmakers' interview with director Catherine Breillat who talks about her career - she talks about Last Summer being her 16th film - and hopefully not her last - the absence from filmmaking - she "left but then did nothing" and much more. There is also a trailer for the film and the package has liner notes with an essay by Michael Joshua Rowin.

Catherine Breillat's Last Summer is a feminine twist on Bertrand Blier' 1981 Beau Pere where a 30-year-old male has an affair with his stepdaughter. It's more accurately a remake of the 2019 Danish film Queen of Hearts exploring the erotic taboos of a stepmother–stepson relationship. It looks at delusion of a mature woman desiring lust exploring the nature of love, infatuation, and morality. The topic has become less controversial but the performances are impacting. Last Summer remains fascinating cinema. Janus Contemporaries have chosen another highly interesting film to bring to Blu-ray. I don't know where I'd rank Last Summer in Breillat's filmography but I do know that Intend to watch it again. Yes, I would recommend this title.

Gary Tooze