Note: At the time of writing this, all four films are only available in the UK housed in this set, however Artificial Eye does plan to release Cleo from 5 to 7 individually on October 11th, available HERE.

Three of the four discs in this set were released in Criterion's 4 by Agness Varda box set a couple of years ago, while The Gleaners & I also received a region 1 release a few years back. Although the region 1 discs (especially the Criterion) were quite good, the discs in this set stack up quite nicely against their North American counterparts. Specific differences in image will be discussed below. However, before moving on, it is worth noting three things. First, according to Gary's review of the Criterion set, the previous editions all featured Dolby Digital 1.0 (the Zietgeist edition of The Gleaners & I sported a stereo mix). However, all of the films in this set have relatively clean and clear Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks with burned-in English subtitles, so I have to give the audio edge to the Artificial Eye set. Second, like the Criterion, the AE set is packed to the gills with extras, many of which were featured on the previous releases. However, this set features a number of unique extras, mainly in the form of Varda's short films. While I would love to discuss all of these differences, there's just too much to mention for one review. Finally, given the enormity of this review, I'll also forgo analysis of the differences between Criterion's original (OOP) release of "Cleo from 5 to 7" as a space saving measure. For further analysis see HERE and HERE.

La Pointe Courte
The Criterion disc looks like it went through a good deal of cleaning upon it's release, and it does truly look wonderful. The AE disc also looks great but probably has a little bit more damage (in the form of scratches mainly) than the Criterion does. The Criterion also has a softer palette, with more detailed grays, while the AE transfer has a darker overall appearance. It's also worth noting that the Criterion is windowboxed, whereas the AE disc is unaltered full frame.

Cleo from 5 to 7
The images appear to be absolutely identical and were almost certainly taken from the same source. Like Gary said in his review of the Criterion box, it's cleaner than previous releases, but don't expect to be blown away by it. There's still some slight damage and it's not as clear as one might hope. However, since there's really no difference between the two transfers, any choice between the two editions will have to come down to the sound, extras, and region compatibility.

La Bonheur
The original Criterion was probably the weakest in the set, as it was riddled with noise and a soft image. The Artificial Eye has essentially the same clarity and noisiness, but the two are not from the same print unless one of them had their colors altered before release. The former is duller, but may have the more realistic skin tones. The latter release is more vivid, but perhaps over saturated. While I would like to pronounce one of them to be the correct color scheme, I can't do that without word from Ms. Varda. Since she oversaw the transfers for Criterion, I'll have to assume that their's is the superior color scheme.

The Gleaners & I
As Gary noted with the Zeitgeist release, it's not unacceptable quality, but still not as good as one might have hoped. Both editions likely came from an analog source and are both interlaced, but thankfully the Artificial Eye edition doesn't have any of the combing issues that the region 1 does. What's more, the Artificial Eye has more detail (see the relatively smooth face in the region 1 in the first comparison versus the visible wrinkles in the second picture). The AE colors in the image might be slightly saturated, but it's no big deal. Given that both discs come with Varda's feature length follow up, I have to give the edge to AE.

This is a truly wonderful box set filled with content that is more or less on equal to the Criterion box. That being said, it's difficult to compare the two since they only share 3 out of four films, but for those that are locked out of region one, this is the perfect alternative. The extras are tremendous here and the AV ranking amongst the best out there. This set is one of the best out of 2009 and one that I give my highest possible recommendation to. Since the set is only £22.99 on amazon.UK at the time of writing this, fans of the films may find enough new material to justify purchasing this even if they already own the Criterion box.