Review by Gary Tooze

 

Production:

Theatrical: Les Films Pelléas

Video: Artificial Eye

 

Disc:

Region: 'B' (as verified by the Momitsu region FREE Blu-ray player)

Runtime: 1:50:14.399

Disc Size: 31,960,997,936 bytes

Feature Size: 30,895,515,648 bytes

Video Bitrate: 29.99 Mbps

Chapters: 12

Case: Standard Blu-ray case

Release date: September 10th, 2012

 

Video:

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps

Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Audio:

DTS-HD Master Audio French 3222 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3222 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit)
LPCM Audio French 2304 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit

 

Subtitles:

English (SDH), English, none

 

Extras:

• Trailer (1:51)

 

Bitrate:

 

 

Description: Following the critically acclaimed Father of my Children, Mia Hansen-Løvereturns with the equally impressive Goodbye First Love. Loosely auto-biographical in style, the film deals with what Hansen-Løve has described as the defining and central part of her adolescence. The blooming of first love, subsequent heartbreak and renewal are portrayed with a simple directness of style which nevertheless allow the complexity of emotions to be given full range. Lola Créton (Bluebeard), playing the central character of Camille, creates an incredibly subtle performance allowing the audience to embrace our protagonists growth into maturity and personal liberation.

 

 

The Film:

No symbolism, no foreshadowing, no filmic tricks to manipulate the audience into believing sentimental rewriting of personal histories in Goodbye First Love. Mia Hansen-Løve paints a picture of time and adolescent longings in as real a film about first love as it gets.

Paris, February 1999. Sullivan (Sebastian Urzendowsky) rides his bike to visit his girlfriend. He wears a scarf and has it pushed up over his mouth and nose, not because this is a metaphor for something (silence, gangster, etc) but because it is winter and we are in Paris, where it is cold and smoggy on a bike and you want to protect yourself.

Excerpt from Eye For Film located HERE

Hansen-Løve has described Goodbye First Love (the French title is the less valedictory Un Amour de jeunesse) as the third and final entry in an autobiographical trilogy. Tout est pardonné (2007) followed the break-up of a couple caused by his drinking and drug addiction, observed chiefly through the eyes of their daughter. Her international breakthrough Father of My Children (Le Père des mes enfants, 2009) was inspired by the 2005 suicide of the independent producer Humbert Balsan (who initially planned to produce Tout est pardonné); here too the focus of the narrative finally settles on the producer’s eldest daughter. Hansen-Løve’s latest film borrows elements of her adolescent experiences, while the relationship between protagonist Camille and older professor Lorenz could be taken as reflecting that between Hansen-Løve and her partner and mentor, the director Olivier Assayas, 26 years her senior.

Excerpt from BFI located HERE

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

Goodbye First Love (Un Amour de jeunesse) gets an impressive transfer to Blu-ray from Artificial Eye.  It's dual-layered territory and has a strong bitrate for the 1-hour 50-minute feature. Colors are brighter and truer than SD could relate and there is no noise. The 1080P supports solid contrast exhibiting healthy, rich black levels and some minor depth in the 1.85:1 frame.  It's pristinely clean showcasing some hi-def detail and there are really no flaws with the rendering. This Blu-ray probably looks like exactly the theatrical version of the film Goodbye First Love. The disc produced a highly impressive presentation.

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audio :

The AE Blu-ray of Goodbye First Love offers a DTS-HD Master 5.1 at 3222 kbps as well as a linear PCM stereo track option. Nothing but positives here for the crisp audio transfer as well although the film has but a few deft separations and is mostly dialogue driven. There are optional English subtitles supporting the French language and my Momitsu has identified it as being a region 'B'-locked.

 

Extras :

Nothing but a theatrical trailer.

 

 

BOTTOM LINE:
We are treated to a very deliberately-paced (almost Romer-seque) examination of adolescent love - very introspective, very French - extremely well done.  The bare-bones Artificial Eye Blu-ray provides and excellent a/v presentation. Perhaps too passive for all tastes - I thoroughly enjoyed my viewing. Recommended! 

Gary Tooze

September 12th, 2012