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

ADDITION: Cohen Blu-ray (August 2022): Cohen have transferred Jean Chapot's The Burned Barns (aka "Les granges brûlées") to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "new 4K restoration". It is in the 1.66:1 aspect ratio on a single-layered disc with a supportive bitrate. It looks quite pleasing with a couple of instances of inconsistency - in terms of contrast. Nothing reaching the heights of the format but acceptable. Mostly it's a reasonably adept image via the 1080P presentation. 

NOTE: We have added 60 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Cohen use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel (16-bit) in the original French language. The Burned Barns is majority very passive in terms of aggression - the murder is never shown. The score is by electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre (his first feature film) and it's occasional quirky-ness with moody synthesizers works well in the film. It sounds quite decent in the lossless. The Cohen Region 'A' Blu-ray has burned-in English subtitles - as they had with their recent Nathalie 1080P transfer. We hope this practice doesn't continue but it may be a function of their licensing of the title / source. 

The Cohen Blu-ray extras have a 27-minute piece of interviews with Florence Moncorgé-Gabin (uncredited as Larcher's wife in the film), Philippe Monnier - the first assistant director (also an assistant director on Mr. Klein), and Jean-François Delon (half sibling of Alain) - a trainee assistant director on Les granges brûlées and assistant on The Widow Couderc that also had the pairing of Delon and Simone Signoret. This is in French with English subtitles and details some of this troubled production. There is also a trailer for The Burned Barns.

Jean Chapot's The Burned Barns has the appeal of a classic detective story and 'who done it' with a murdered young girl found in the snow. Her family and the community act... suspiciously. There is a subtext of the abandonment of the French countryside for a more Urban life and it plays into the characterizations. This was director Jean Chapot's last theatrical feature before settling into TV work. He had issues on "Les granges brûlées" and Alain Delon took over, directing a few important scenes with assistant director Philippe Monnier. There is an awkwardness that actually adds to the flavor. The performances carry The Burned Barns and the Cohen Blu-ray presentation and interview supplement will appeal to fans of French crime dramas with a moody psychological edge - and the wonderful interplay of Alain Delon and Simone Signoret. I would say nab this one if you can get it at a reasonable price.

Gary Tooze