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directed by Chris Newby
Belgium/UK 1993
Withdrawing from the medieval world to devote herself to the Virgin Mary, a young woman named Christine happily chooses to be forever walled into a tiny room adjoining the church. As the last stone is put in place, "Anchoress" creates a chilling sense of entrapment while making the young woman's sense of relief and escape clear. Now she won't have to marry the reeve, the belligerent overseer of the manor where Christine, her sister and their parents sleep in a single bed in their thatched cottage. At times "Anchoress," an eccentric, beautifully photographed black-and-white film, offers an eerie immersion in a distant world. |
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Theatrical Release: September 10th, 1993
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DVD Review: BFI - Region 2 - PAL
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Distribution |
BFI Region 2 - PAL |
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Runtime | 1:44:08 | |
Video |
1.66:1 Original Aspect Ratio
16X9 enhanced |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Audio | English (LPCM 2.0) | |
Subtitles | English, None | |
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Release Information: Studio: BFI Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details: Chapters 11 |
Comments |
Chris Newby's "The Anchoress" may
just be the most hauntingly beautiful film that I have ever
seen. Nearly every frame from this black and white masterpiece
could be taken and hung in a museum. Such is the visual mastery
that he and his cinematographer, Michel Baudour, possess. The
film tells the true life story of Christine Carpenter (or as
faithfully as the story could be reproduced given the incomplete
historical records surrounding her life), a 14th century
peasant, who at at the age of 14 began experiencing visions of
Mary. Rather than live the life that her mother had chosen for
her, Christine agrees to become her church's anchoress, a
chasten woman who lives the rest of her life entombed in a wall
of the church, with a window being her only contact to the
outside world. What follows is a lesson on the role of faith,
bureaucracy, greed, and women in the church and has more to say
on any of those subjects than most that would focus on a single
one.
As per usual with their 2009
releases, this film sports a LPCM 2.0 audio transfer and as
usual, this has proven to be a relatively strong choice. The
soundtrack is clear with the dialogue easily discerned. A few
extended periods without dialogue where we look at the wheat or
fibers of the women at work come across as a near silent
meditation and contain no distracting background noises to take
us out of the world that we're being shown. The subtitles were
very welcome and as usual were placed in a way that is
unobtrusive to the image. |
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DVD Box Cover |
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CLICK to order from: |
Distribution |
BFI Region 2 - PAL |
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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r |