(aka "The Hairdresser's Husband" )
directed by Patrice Leconte
France 1990
Jean
Rochefort plays Antoine, an older man with a fetish for
getting his hair cut due to a pubescent crush he had on
a hairdresser as a child. As an adult, he becomes
infatuated with gorgeous hairdresser Mathilde (Anna
Galiena). Although Antoine’s father has drilled into him
that “women are like crosswords; the harder to get, the
sweeter they are,” Mathilde does not require much
pursuing to get her to wed Antoine. They marry in the
salon (Mathilde even gives a customer a shave during the
festivities). Antoine spends his days ogling his wife
while she works in the salon and Mathilde seems to get
as much pleasure out of being intensely watched while
serving a handful of quirky customers; Antoine even
pleasures Mathilde while she is shampooing a customer.
Things go swimmingly until Mathilde – who has been
visiting the retired hairdresser Isadore (Maurice Chevit)
who gave her his shop in a rest home – starts to realize
that her clients are getting older and she grows fearful
of the time when Antoine will stop loving her whereupon
things take a tragic turn. Excerpt of review from Eric Cotenas at Lovelockandload located HERE |
Posters
Theatrical Release: 3 October 1990
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
DVD Comparison:
Severin - Region 1 - NTSC vs. DVDY Films - Region 2 - PAL
Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for all the Screen Caps!
(Severin - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT vs. DVDY Films - Region 2 - PAL - RIGHT)
DVD Box Covers |
|
|
Distribution |
Severin Region 1 - NTSC |
DVDY Films Region 2 - PAL |
Runtime | 1:21:21 | 1:18:03 (4% PAL speedup) |
Video |
2.36:1 Original Aspect Ratio
16X9 enhanced |
2.38:1 Original Aspect Ratio
16X9 enhanced |
NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
||
Bitrate:
Severin
|
|
|
Bitrate:
DVDY Films
|
|
|
Audio | French (Dolby Digital 2.0 mono) |
French (Dolby Digital 2.0 mono) |
Subtitles | English, none | English, Alsatian, Basque, Breton, Corse, none |
Features |
Release Information: Studio: Severin Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details: Chapters 15 |
Release Information: Studio: DVDY Films Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details:
DVD Release Date: January
1, 2001 Chapters 19 |
Comments |
Severin's disc transfers
the film at the correct frame-rate and is progressive and
anamorphic. The French disc has PAL speedup but the audio
has been thankfully pitch-corrected. The French transfer
looks slightly brighter than the Severin transfer. While
both are pleasing, I find myself preferring the Severin
transfer's colors. Although both discs are dual-layer,
neither gives the film the full bitrate treatment (at the
current bitrates, this 82 minute feature - 78 minutes in PAL
- itself would fit on a single layer disc). Still, the
bitrate is more than sufficient for cinematographer Serra's
sumptuous yet naturalistic visuals (although the Severin
disc has a slightly higher bitrate, the bitrate graphs look
similar enough). The DVDY disc is an exact reissue of the
out of print Gaumont disc (you can find it on eBay usually
paired with DVDY's reissue of the English friendly Gaumont
disc of Andrzej Zulawski's
LA FIDELITE).
The Severin DVD is mislabeled as being in stereo with a
Dolby Surround logo on the back cover. The track does indeed
have the Pro Logic flag enabled but the mono sound is
comparable to the pitch-corrected PAL disc (both sound the
same in stereo playback and spread out the same in virtual
surround).
|
DVD Menus
(Severin - Region 1 - NTSC -
LEFT vs. DVDY Films - Region 2 - PAL - RIGHT)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Screen Captures
(Severin
- Region 1 - NTSC - TOP vs. DVDY Films - Region 2 - PAL -
BOTTOM)
Subtitle Sample
|
|
(Severin - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP vs. DVDY Films - Region 2 - PAL - BOTTOM)
|
|
(Severin - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP vs. DVDY Films - Region 2 - PAL - BOTTOM)
|
|
(Severin - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP vs. DVDY Films - Region 2 - PAL - BOTTOM)
|
|
(Severin - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP vs. DVDY Films - Region 2 - PAL - BOTTOM)
|
|
(Severin - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP vs. DVDY Films - Region 2 - PAL - BOTTOM)
|
|