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

ADDITION: Arrow Blu-ray (January 2022): Arrow have transferred 5 Clause Chabrol films - Poulet au vinaigre (1985), Inspecteur Lavardin (1986), Madame Bovary (1991), Betty (1992) and L'enfer (1994) - to Blu-ray (one film per disc) in a package entitled s Lies and Deceit - Five Films by Claude Chabrol. It is cited as being High definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentations of all five films with new 4K restorations of Madame Bovary, Betty, and Torment (L’enfer). Cohen Media had released Blu-rays of Poulet au vinaigre, Inspecteur Lavardin, Betty (1992) and L'Enfer (1994) in the past 10 years (our reviews linked.) We have compared captures below and they are shockingly different.

The Cohen media images, generally speaking, were fairly pale, devoid of strong color depth, with Betty looking the best of the four and Inspecteur Lavardin the 'lightest' or most faded. The Arrow HD presentations with three being 4K restorations have gone in the opposite direction with a decidedly green bias plus fully saturated golden/yellow hues that result in warm skin tones and occasional blue/teal leanings. Primaries are remarkably deeper and richer but the overall, darker, cast tint is very noticeable and some willl find it unappealing. The captures below should give you an idea of the disparity of the 1080P images. The differences are strident - perhaps most in L'enfer - my favorite of this grouping of Chabrol films - and I found the intensity took some getting used to. The new Arrow's do seem to have greatly improved outside of the color issue in terms of detail. There are also some framing anomalies (see Madame Bovary and L'enfer) that may support the idea that these transfers were from alternate sources. They seem to exclusively start with an MK2 logo with the latter 3 films having a restoration by the CNC (National Centre for Cinema and the Moving Image - an agency of the French Ministry of Culture.)

Scott tells us in email "Re the Chabrol box set, I have seen each of these films projected around the world (some more than once) and all the other Chabrol classics since Les Biches (including a private screening with Chabrol in Paris of Alice ou la Dernière Fugue), and the Cohen Blu-rays are absolutely spot on in terms of colour tone. DOP Jean Rabier had a tonal style he didn't vary from, except from some brighter colours in La Rupture.". (Thanks Scott!)   

NOTE: We have added 140 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Arrow use lossless French mono audio on Cop Au Vin (Poulet au vinaigre), Inspector Lavardin, Madame Bovary, and Betty and lossless French stereo audio on Torment (L’enfer) all in the original French language. Lies and Deceit - Five Films by Claude Chabrol have few aggressive moments that come through with modest bass response. These are generally authentically flat with Torment (L’enfer) showing some minor buoyancy. All scores of this boxset have been composed by, the director's son, Matthieu Chabrol (Merci pour le Chocolat, The Color of Lies, The Swindle, La Cérémonie, L'Enfer, Betty, Madame Bovary, The Cry of the Owl, Inspector Lavardin.) He composed the music for twenty films and five television films for his father, taking over from Pierre Jansen, of whom he was a pupil. These particular scores augment moods well via the lossless establishing the period well for Madame Bovary which is also credited to Jean-Michel Bernard and Maurice Coignard. Arrow offer optional English subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-rays.

The Arrow Blu-ray offers a new commentaries by critic Ben Sachs on Cop Au Vin and Inspector Lavardin discussing the director's comeback and work with producer Marin Karmitz among other topics relating to these two films with Jean Poiret playing Inspecteur Jean Lavardin. There are also two commentaries by Kat Ellinger on Madame Bovary and the psychological drama Betty. She discusses the series of films that Chabrol did on the lives of women. As usual, she provides useful insight while probing the finer points of the director's films looking at the career of the remarkably fearless Isabelle Huppert. She discusses Marie Trintignant, Stéphane Audran (Chabrol's wife from 1964 - 1980,) the authors Georges Simenon and Gustave Flaubert plus much more. Both are at Kat's impressive level of astute analysis. For L'enfer there is a commentary by Australians Alexandra Heller-Nicholas (author of Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical Study) and Joshua Nelson academic and film critic based in New York. Josh mentions the 'trash city' description of the film; "The psychiatrists episode of Fawlty Towers as directed by Alfred Hitchcock". They discuss the original Henri-Georges Clouzot screenplay - themes of jealousy, paranoia, obsession, infidelity - the performance of Béart, Cluzet and much more with a lot of focus on Chabrol redefining his own filmography. There is so much more in terms of supplements including a new dozen-minute interview with film historian Ian Christie, a wonderful 1 1/4 hour of Claude Chabrol at the BFI with the prolific director on stage with Christie in 1994. Each film has an MK2 introduction by film scholar Joel Magny as well as a select scene commentary by Claude Chabrol usually running close to 1/2 hour discussing his intentions in making the specific film and details on specific scenes. Included is a 1/2 hour Swiss TV episode with Claude Chabrol, Jean Poiret and Stephane Audran discussing Cop Au Vin. Why Chabrol? is a new 1/4 hour interview with film critic Sam Wigley on why Chabrol remains essential viewing. Imagining Emma: Madame Bovary on screen is a new 16-minute visual essay by film historian Pamela Hutchinson. I really enjoyed 'Betty, from Simenon to Chabrol' another new visual essay by French Cinema historian Ginette Vincendeau and there is a new interview with Ros Schwartz, the English translator of the Georges Simenon novel on which the film, Betty, is based. "On Henri Georges Clouzot" is an archival interview with Chabrol about Clouzot’s abandoned attempt to make L’enfer running shy of 12-minutes. There is also a 1/2 hour with Marin Karmitz in the form of an archival interview with Chabrol’s most frequent producer from 1985 onward. Each film has a trailer and poster and stills gallery and the package has an 80-page collector’s booklet of new writing by film critics Martyn Conterio, Kat Ellinger, Philip Kemp and Sam Wigley, and archive material with limited edition packaging with newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella.

Arrow's Lies and Deceit - Five Films by Claude Chabrol is going to get some criticism for the 1080P image appearance(s). I was surprised at the high level of color difference between the recent Cohen renderings. The films themselves remain impacting and brilliant in the director's keen understanding of screen adaptations occasionally varying from his trademark thriller signature. His films have been popular for his entire 1/2 century career. L'Enfer (1994), Betty (1992), and Madame Bovary (1991) standout here as exceptional cinema. The first two films, with Jean Poiret playing Inspecteur Jean Lavardin, are both above-average police mystery dramas. The most prominent attribute of this Lies and Deceit - Five Films by Claude Chabrol Blu-ray boxset are the extensive extras; a new commentary for each film, plus visual essays, Chabrol input, interviews and the 80-page collector’s booklet. Fans of the director shouldn't hesitate even with reservations on the image as the extras make this a must-own. Certainly still recommended!

Gary Tooze

NOTE: For some strange reason, the Cohen Blu-rays for Betty and L'Enfer (Torment) have altered title fonts from the all other digital editions - Betty is smoothed out and, as informed on Twitter by @MovieTitles, the new Arrow Blu-ray (typeface: Friz Quadrata) has the correct theatrical font for L'enfer vs. Cohen Blu-rays (typeface: Minion.) Perhaps this was done in the Cohen restorations?!? We don't know why. There are examples below: