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S E A R C H    D V D B e a v e r

Directed by Adrian Lyne
USA
2002

 

Martel is your average Calvin Klein model as a bibliophile. He has the Spanish looks, the French accent, the permanent three-day beard, and the strength to suspend a woman indefinitely in any position while making love. He is also cool in his seduction methods. Instead of making a crude pass, he asks her to accept a book as a gift from him, and directs her down an aisle to the last book on the end of the second shelf from the top, where he tells her what page to turn to, and then joins her in reciting the words there: Be happy for this moment, for this moment is your life.

Does it occur to Connie that Martel planted that book for just such an occasion as this? No, because she likes to be treated in such a way, and soon she's on the phone with a transparent ruse to get up to his apartment again, where Martel overcomes her temporary stall in bed by commanding her: Hit me! That breaks the logjam, and soon they're involved in a passionate affair that involves arduous sex in his apartment and quick sex in restrooms, movie theaters and corridors. (The movie they go to see is Tati's "Monsieur Hulot's Holiday,'' which, despite its stature on my list of The Great Movies, fails to compete with furtive experiments that would no doubt have Hulot puffing furiously at his pipe.) Edward senses that something is wrong. There are clues, but mostly he picks up on her mood, and eventually hires a man to shadow her...

Except from Roger Ebert and the Chicago Sun-Times located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: May 10th, 2002

Reviews                                                                  More Reviews                                                                   DVD Reviews

 

 Comparison:

20th Century Fox - Region 1 - NTSC vs. 20th Century Fox - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

20th Century Fox - Region 1 - NTSC LEFT vs. 20th Century Fox - Region 'A' - Blu-ray RIGHT

 Box Covers

 

Distribution 20th Century Fox - Region 1 - NTSC 20th Century Fox - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime 2:03:28  2:03:38.661
Video 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: 5.36 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s

Disc Size: 47,914,727,823 bytes

Feature Size: 37,587,253,248 bytes

Average Bitrate: 40.53 Mbps

Dual-layered Blu-ray MPEG-4 AVC

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

Bitrate:

 DVD

Bitrate:

 Blu-ray

Audio English (Dolby Digital 5.1), DUB: French, Spanish (DD 2.0) DTS-HD Master Audio English 3083 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3083 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 24-bit)
DUBs: Dolby Digital Audio French 448 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 448 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 448 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 448 kbps
Commentaries: Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps
Subtitles English, Spanish, None English, Chinese (traditional and simplified,) French, Spanish, Thai, None
Features

Release Information:
Studio: 20th Century Fox

Aspect Ratio:
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1

Edition Details:

• Commentary with director Adrian Lyne
• Scene-specific Commentary with Diane Lane and Olivier Martinez (1:02:09)
• 10 deleted scenes/ 1 Alternate Ending (16X9 - 16:22) with director introductions (audio only) - Play all function
• An Affair to Remember: On the Set of Unfaithful (15:48)
• Anne Coates on Editing (8:51)
• The Charlie Rose Show (18:43)
• Interviews (20:00)
• Director's Script Notes
• Promotional spots (trailers etc.)

DVD Release Date: December 17th, 2002

Keep Case

Chapters: 24

Release Information:
Studio: 20th Century Fox

Aspect Ratio:
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1

Disc Size: 47,914,727,823 bytes

Feature Size: 37,587,253,248 bytes

Average Bitrate: 40.53 Mbps

Dual-layered Blu-ray MPEG-4 AVC

Edition Details:

• Commentary with director Adrian Lyne
• Scene-specific Commentary with Diane Lane and Olivier Martinez (1:02:09)
• 10 deleted scenes/ 1 Alternate Ending in HD! (16:22) with director introductions (audio only) - Play all function
• An Affair to Remember: On the Set of Unfaithful (15:48)
• Anne Coates on Editing (8:51)
• The Charlie Rose Show (18:45)
• Interviews (20:00)
• Director's Script Notes
• Promotional spots (trailers etc.)


Blu-ray  Release Date: January 20th, 2009
Standard
Blu-ray  Case
Chapters: 24

 

Comments:

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

Image-wise there is a huge difference between the two format releases as the screen captures below will indicate. The DVD seems beset with poor compression and haziness - regardless of it being on a dual-layered disc. I suspect the extensive extras should have been moved to a 2nd disc. The Blu-ray has almost 8 times the bitrate of the DVD and is improved in every visual area with detail being the standout superiority. Colors appear warmer on the Blu-ray while the DVD shows probable boosting in some segments. In this case, comparatively, the DVD is quite a mess in terms of image quality and the disparity shows one of the highest upgrades for such a relatively modern film.

NOTE: the Blu-ray tends to show a shade more information in the frame - mostly on the edges.

Audio-wise the DVD's 5.1 track is eclipsed by the more robust DTS HD-Master on the Blu-ray. The film is fairly passive with no gunplay and only some moans of ecstasy, wind and rain being about the only extravagance to the mix. While not a demonstrative improvement - I noticed the cleaner sound in the music track - suffice to say it's comforting to know 20th Century Fox has made it better even if we don't hear dramatic examples throughout the film. I'm a firm believer that the more pure the audio - the better the mood can be instilled - creating the intended aura. Both editions have English subtitles but the Blu-ray offers more options.

Both discs offer the same extras - really quite stacked. The film's commentaries (especially Lynes') tend to push Unfaithful to a bit higher artistic level than it probably deserves. He has a Brit accent but it is easy to discern. It is fairly professional and interesting. I never really felt it was much of an homage to Charbol's 69' film La Femme Infidele but rather its own Hollywood-esque approach - which is fine. But if you did like this - you should see the original one day. The alt-ending on Blu-ray this is in HD. I think the extras and trailer spoil the film giving away far too much information - but that is marketing these days. The featurettes and interviews (Charlie Rose etc.) are pretty standard stuff, but it was nice to see Diane Lane and Gere talk about the experience of making the film with Lyne.

The film doesn't have as much of Lyne's (who, by the way, started his career doing commercials) usual kind-of 'subversive MTV' feel - Fatal Attraction (1987), Nine 1/2 Weeks (1986), Flashdance (1983) etc. - and leads are played very well.  So the Blu-ray is definitely the best way to go for home viewing and makes the DVD a perfect give-away to my sister. One can't ignore Diane Lane's abundant sexuality in Unfaithful - or, I suppose, Olivier Martinez for that matter - which is appropriately matched by her strong performance. She seems to be literally 'glowing' throughout the entire 2 hours. The film has more depth than you might initially expect but is still bogged down with some superficiality - but as basic entertainment goes - it is fairly engaging... and the Blu-ray is, obviously, the best to view it.    

Gary W. Tooze

 



DVD Menus/ Extras


 


CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

20th Century Fox - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. 20th Century Fox - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 


 

20th Century Fox - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. 20th Century Fox - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 


20th Century Fox - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. 20th Century Fox - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 


20th Century Fox - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. 20th Century Fox - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 


20th Century Fox - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. 20th Century Fox - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
 

 


20th Century Fox - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. 20th Century Fox - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
 

 


20th Century Fox - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. 20th Century Fox - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 


20th Century Fox - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. 20th Century Fox - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 


20th Century Fox - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. 20th Century Fox - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
 

 


DVD Box Cover

 

Distribution 20th Century Fox - Region 1 - NTSC 20th Century Fox - Region 'A' - Blu-ray




 

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