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Les Cousins [Blu-ray]
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Review by Gary Tooze
Production:
Theatrical: Gaumont
Video: Criterion Collection - Spine # 581
Disc:
Region: 'A'-locked (as verified by the Momitsu region FREE Blu-ray player)
Runtime: 1:49:46.997
Disc Size: 34,509,436,196 bytes
Feature Size: 32,380,606,464 bytes
Video Bitrate: 34.99 Mbps
Chapters: 20
Case: Standard Blu-ray case
Release date: September 20th, 2011
Video:
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1 matted to 1.78
Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Audio:
LPCM Audio French 1152 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1152 kbps / 24-bit
Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles:
English (SDH), none
Extras:
• Audio commentary featuring film scholar Adrian Martin
• Theatrical trailer
• Liner notes booklet featuring an essay by film critic
Terrence Rafferty and excerpts from actor Jean-Claude
Brialy’s memoir, about costar Gérard Blain
Bitrate:
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Description: In Les cousins, Claude Chabrol crafts a sly moral fable about a provincial boy who comes to live with his sophisticated bohemian cousin in Paris. Through these seeming opposites, Chabrol conjures a darkly comic character study that questions notions of good and evil, love and jealousy, and success in the modern world. A mirror image of Le Beau Serge, Chabrol’s debut, Les cousins recasts that film’s stars, Jean-Claude Brialy and Gérard Blain, in startlingly reversed roles. This dagger-sharp drama won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival and was an important early entry in the French New Wave.
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The Film:
The town mouse and his country cousin. Or, the story of two students, one who was very, very good, and one who was very, very bad; but the bad one passed his exams, got the girl (when he wanted her), and survived to live profitably ever after. A fine, richly detailed tableau of student life in Paris, and Chabrol's first statement (in his second film) of his sardonic view of life as a matter of the survival of the fittest. The centrepiece, as so often in the early days of the nouvelle vague, is an orgiastic party climaxed, as the guest sleeps it off next morning, by a sublimely cruel and characteristic 'joke' by the bad cousin (Brialy) when he performs an eerie Wagnerian charade with candelabra and Gestapo cap to wake a Jewish student into nightmare.
Excerpt from TimeOut Film Guide located HERECharles (Gerard Blain) comes to live with his cousin Paul (Jean-Claude Brialy), falls in love with a fellow student (Juliette Mayniel), but sees her become Paul's mistress in Claude Chabrol's 1958 study of the ill effects of urban sophistication on an uncorrupted country youth. This is Chabrol's second film, and its subtle development of character points toward the dense structures of his later films with their reluctance either to condemn or extol without reservation.
Excerpt from The Chicago Reader located HERE
Image : NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.
Les Cousins appears surprisingly strong on Blu-ray from Criterion. The 1080P image has excellent textured grain visible and is very pleasing with Criterion's, hallmark, deft contrast. This is dual-layered with a high bitrate. Visually, this is impeccably clean from an obvious strong source (Gaumont, I believe) and actually was released in Australia in an English-friendly DVD edition. The, over 50-year old, piece of important cinema shows some healthy detail and the only blackmark being some minor noise in the darkest of scenes. Otherwise this is typically adept transfer providing a near-flawless film-like presentation.
CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
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Audio :
Criterion are again faithful with a mono track rendered in a linear PCM in original French at 1152 kbps
. There is the perception of some depth but the film is essentially dialogue-driven without much to spark anything dynamic in the soundstage via uncompressed. There are optional English subtitles and my Momitsu has identified it as being a region 'A'-locked like all Criterions to date.
Extras :
Included is an audio commentary featuring film scholar Adrian Martin who meanders a bit before settling into a more specific discussion covering Rohmer, Truffaut, Godard - Chabrol's new wave colleagues including tidbits about Les Cousins. Martin discusses the ups and downs of Chabrol's career - references to Hitchcock and Strangers on a Train and some of the similarities - even Fritz Lang is broached. It's, predictably, good and I enjoyed and learned a lot from it. Aside from that is a HD theatrical trailer and a liner notes booklet featuring an essay by film critic Terrence Rafferty and excerpts from actor Jean-Claude Brialy’s memoir, about costar Gérard Blain.
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BOTTOM LINE:
I, appropriately, watched
Le Beau Serge first and followed with
Chabrol's second feature, Les Cousins - but decided
to review this one first as I felt more of a leaning
to the film.
Les Cousins is a shade more polished but these two features work well as
juxtaposing each other in many ways. Being a big fan of
the director I was always keen to add these initial efforts
to my long list of his other films (I think we've reviewed
more Chabrol films than any other director on DVDBeaver). I
can't imagine too many world cinema fans wanting to miss-out
on this and the Criterion
Blu-ray package is a fabulous way to enjoy and own it.
Gary Tooze
August 25th, 2011
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About the Reviewer: Hello, fellow Beavers! I have been interested in film since I viewed a Chaplin festival on PBS when I was around 9 years old. I credit DVD with expanding my horizons to fill an almost ravenous desire to seek out new film experiences. I currently own approximately 9500 DVDs and have reviewed over 3500 myself. I appreciate my discussion Listserv for furthering my film education and inspiring me to continue running DVDBeaver. Plus a healthy thanks to those who donate and use our Amazon links.
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