Love (Szerelem) Blu-ray - Mari Töröcsik

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka 'Love')

directed by Károly Makk
Hungary 1971

Károly Makk's beloved film, based on the autobiographical writings of Tibor Déry, is a meditation on time, memory, love and loss. Two women await the return of political prisoner Janos. His elderly mother believes him to be working abroad; his devoted wife knows the painful truth of his absence… and fears she may never see him alive again. Beautifully played by two giants of Hungarian cinema, Lili Darvas and Mari Törõcsik, the film is a subtle yet powerful exploration of the consequences of life under totalitarian rule. Perfectly realised, Makk's tender masterpiece is a landmark of international cinema.

***

Luca regularly visits her bedridden mother-in-law. Luca's husband, János, has been arrested on a trumped up political charge, and Luca does not know if he is still alive. Luca hides this from his mother by making up letters purporting to be from János who is directing a big film in New York. Luca discovers that János is alive, and is dismissed from her teaching job because of her husband. The dying mother anxiously awaits the return of her son from New York.

Posters

Theatrical Release: May 16th, 1971 (Cannes Film Festival)

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Comparison:

Second Run - Region 0 - PAL vs. Second Run - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Box Cover
		Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Second Run - Region 0 - PAL	Second Run - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:24:45 (4% PAL Speedup)	1:28:55.583
Video	1.76:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.90 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.85:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 38,748,849,296 bytes Feature: 26,273,335,296 bytes Video Bitrate: 33.88 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate DVD:
Bitrate Blu-ray:
Audio	Hungarian (Dolby Digital 2.0)	LPCM Audio Hungarian 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit Commentary: LPCM Audio Hungarian 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit
Subtitles	English, None	English, English (for commentary), None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Second Run DVD Aspect Ratio: Original aspect Ratio 1.76:1 Edition Details: • Introduction to the film by its director Karoly Makk (20:10) • Theatrical trailer (3:12) DVD Release Date: August 15th, 2005 Transparent Keep Case Chapters: 12	Release Information: Studio: Second Run 1.85:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 38,748,849,296 bytes Feature: 26,273,335,296 bytes Video Bitrate: 33.88 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • Károly Makk on Love (2005): the renowned filmmaker discusses the film. (21:11) • Audio commentary with Károly Makk and professor Gábor Gelencsér. • ‘Love’ returns to Cannes (2016): a film on the history and restoration of Love. (12:27) • Archival newsreel footage of Hungarian film week in Sorrento, 1971. (3:10) • Trailers (1971 - 3:23 / 2016 - 1:00) • 20-page booklet with writing on the film by Graeme Hobbs and Agnes Sajti. Blu-ray Release Date: September 19th, 2022 Transparent Blu-ray Case Chapters 12

Comments:

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

ADDITION: Second Run Blu-ray (September 2022): Second Run have transferred Károly Makk's Love (Szerelem) to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "new 4K restoration created by the National Film Institute - Film Archive, Hungary". The 1080P is a magnificent upgrade over Second Run's own 2005 DVD, which tended to look green-ish. This HD presentation's contrast is a significant improvement in the image. The DVD was 1.78:1 (opened-up) and this Blu-ray is 1.85:1 on a dual-layered disc with a very high bitrate. There are heavy textures that we assume is grain. The 4K restoration is highly remarkable and some of the scenes can look a shade bleached and overly bright with inherent softness. Regardless, we're not complaining at all - this marvelous restoration should be celebrated!

NOTE: We have added 44 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Second Run use a linear PCM dual-mono track (16-bit) in the original Hungarian language. Love (Szerelem) is a passive film audio-wise. There is a score credited to András Mihály, sounding clean. The dialogue can appear like a post DUB but it doesn't impinge the viewing experience. Second Run offer optional English subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Second Run Blu-ray offers an audio commentary by Károly Makk and professor Gábor Gelencsér. It is in Hungarian with optional English translated subtitles. He discusses his experimental storytelling used in Love (Szerelem) and how the quick edits wee representative of time. I found it very revealing. Also included is Károly Makk on Love from 2005 where he discusses the film for 20-minutes - this is repeated from the earlier DVD. ‘Love’ returns to Cannes is from 2016 - a dozen-minute short on the history and restoration of Love. There is brief archival newsreel footage of Hungarian film week in Sorrento, 1971, original + 2016 trailers and the package contains a 20-page liner notes booklet with writing on the film by Graeme Hobbs and Agnes Sajti.

Károly Makk's Love (Szerelem) was based on two short stories Szerelem (1956) and Két asszony (1962) by Tibor Déry. It's a masterpiece of world cinema. A young Hungarian woman, Luca played by Mari Töröcsik, tells her mother-in-law that her son János, Luca's husband, is in New York, although she is unaware if he is still alive - an arrested prisoner of the State. Infused into the narrative are short edits, often stills, that represent flickers of memories of the Mother's past and of her son that she pines for in her dying days. It's brilliant work evoking Aleksandr Sokurov, Tarkovsky and Eisenstein. I am so pleased with the new Second Run Blu-ray for the vastly superior 4K restoration, and supplements including a revealing director commentary. This is very strongly recommended! It may garner some votes in our year-end poll.

Gary Tooze