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

ADDITION: Cult Epics Blu-ray (June 2023): Cult Epics have transferred Marleen Gorris' A Question of Silence to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "2K HD Transfer and Restoration". I presume this to be shot in 16mm. The image is rife with heavy grain, some color bleeding and a few speckles. The 1080P image is fairly consistent and I suspect it may be a solid representation of its theatrical roots.

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On their Blu-ray, Cult Epics offer the choice of linear PCM or DTS-HD Master dual-mono tracks (both 16-bit) in the original Dutch language. A Question of Silence has no aggressive sequences although certain acts are usually represented by the music credited to Lodewijk de Boer and Martijn Hasebos (his only film credit). There is some, what appears to be, synthesizer. The dialogue is consistent and clear in the lossless transfer. Cult Epics offer optional English subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Cult Epics Blu-ray offers an English-language commentary by film scholar Patricia Pisters who is a professor of Media Studies (with specialization in Film Studies) at the University of Amsterdam. She shares some background stories on this "controversial feminist masterpiece" describing the 4 female characters in A Question of Silence who represent 4 different classes, as well as the film's use of real locations including a history of the prison used in the film. She has some long pauses as she lets the film's scene run. She discusses a lot on the director Marleen Gorris and reads long sections of Anneke Smelik's article "And the Mirror Cracked: Metaphors of violence in the films of Marleen Gorris" about such topics as combining realism with symbolism. Pisters extensively describes the plots of other Gorris films like Broken Mirrors and Antonia's Line. I thought it was a decent commentary venturing to the Dutch sex-film wave with a lot of extensive gaps. There are also interviews with director Marleen Gorris and actress Cox Habbema from Cinevisie in 1982 running shy of 1/2 hour in total. We also get a short Polygoon Journal Newsreel, a Promotional Gallery and an original theatrical trailer.

A Question of Silence was Marleen Gorris' directorial debut. The fascinating plot involves three strangers - whose only link is their gender - who kill a man that they do not know in a dress shop boutique. A group of other women stand and attentively, but silently, are spectators of the beating death of the man. A female criminal psychiatrist attempts to determine why. Are they sane? The film examines the gender inequalities in subtle ways. I've heard the description of 'feminist-mental-masturbation' but I think the highly interesting and curious concepts of resistance - even with body language - make it worthy of multiple viewings. The provocative ending seems to imbue a solidarity in the murderer's position - that men don't really understand them at all. The Cult Epics Blu-ray offers this unique 1980 film with commentary and interviews.

Gary Tooze