Fox Lorber

Region 0 - NTSC

2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: 6,17 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s

2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: mb/s
PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Fox Lorber

Eureka / Masters of Cinema #60

NO AVAILABLE

French (Dolby Digital 2.0)

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen letterboxed - 2.35:1

Edition Details:
• Trailer (1:36)
• Production credits
• DVD-5

DVD Release Date: 27 April 1999
Keep Case

Chapters 8

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 2.35:1

Edition Details:
• Trailer (1:35)
• Booklet (40 pages)
• DVD-5
 

Chapters 17

There are films that I feel far to valuable to view with shabby transfers. Bruno Dumont's La vie de Jésus is one of them. I never managed to watch more than ten minutes, with a projector, from the Fox Lorber transfer of the film. It was that poor. I had always hopped that some cinema fans will give the film a decent transfer. After waiting for eight years I was, today, finally satisfied... and it was worth the wait!

Where the Eureka / Masters of Cinema transfer is 16X9 enhanced and progressive, the old Fox Lorber DVD is non-anamorphic and taken from an unconverted PAL source, bringing visible combing/ghosting. There is very little to compare here, the screen captures tell everything. The new MoC DVD has more information on both sides and the picture and is stable throughout. On a projector (low light) the color timing seems correct, but on a computer display it looks like the image is brightened a bit to fit home viewing. As a result the colors may appear a shade dull. The transfer is excellent, but not without some minor problems. Most of the close-ups of people are sharp and looks generally fine, but there's occasionally visible edge enhancement - especially in some of the images of fields, streets and part of the scene where people are on a parade.

Both transfers are on single layered discs. The MoC has occupied 4.14 Gb, and the Fox Lorber 4.27 Gb of size. The difference between the two images is however readily visible when displayed. The Fox Lorber looks resoundingly poorer in motion.

The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound on the MoC DVD is clear, and sounds most probably as it was originally intended.

Both have as extra material a trailer for the film. The MoC edition has two text interviews and some notes of the film in their included 40-page booklet.

Now all the four feature films from Bruno Dumont (L'Humanité, Twentynine Palms and Flanders) are available on decent DVD transfers. Thank you MoC for La vie de Jésus.

 - Per-Olof Strandberg