Review by Gary Tooze

 

Production:

Theatrical: Schramm Film Koerner & Weber

Video: Kino Lorber

 

Disc:

Region: 'A' (as verified by the Oppo Blu-ray player)

Runtime: 1:45:10.512

Disc Size: 24,928,847,887 bytes

Feature Size: 24,679,759,872 bytes

Video Bitrate: 29.62 Mbps

Chapters: 10

Case: Standard Blu-ray case

Release date: November 12th, 2013

 

Video:

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps

Video codec: MPEG-2 Video

 

Audio:

Dolby Digital Audio German 256 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 256 kbps

 

Subtitles:

• English (non-removable)

 

Extras:

• None

 

Bitrate:

 

 

Description: East Germany, 1980. Barbara Wolff is a young doctor who has applied for an exit visa from the GDR and, as punishment, has been transferred from her prestigious post in Berlin to a small pediatric hospital in the country. She must weigh her absolute dedication to her patients against a potential escape to the West, and her newfound attraction to a doctor in whom she sees a kindred spirit.

 

 

The Film:

A story of love and subterfuge in 1980 East Germany that never quite accelerates into an outright thriller, "Barbara" reps another assured collaboration between director Christian Petzold and his main muse, actress Nina Hoss. Credibly capturing the bleakness of life in the German Democratic Republic without indulging in miserablist excess, this wise and incisively crafted drama brings simmering intelligence and a dry, sardonic compassion to bear on its tale of two doctors slowly worming their way into each other's hearts and minds.

Excerpt from MRQE located HERE

Christian Petzold (‘Yella’) won the Best Director prize at this year’s Berlin Film Festival for this subdued mystery about Barbara (Nina Hoss), a woman in 1980s rural East Germany who arrives from the city to work as a doctor, and lives a double life as a political operative. The film’s thriller tendencies are buried beneath a more low-key study of love and loyalties as Barbara is pulled between a chance to escape and her concern for her patients. This is coupled with the allure of a new friendship with André (Ronald Zehrfeld), a fellow doctor who also buries his secrets deeply. Petzold’s portrait of Germany in this period is subtle, and Hoss gives a discreet, thought-provoking performance.

Excerpt from TimeOut located HERE

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

Barbara does not seem to advance to the heights of Blu-ray in Kino Lorber new transfer. This is particularly disturbing as it is such a good film. It's possible that I may be blaming Kino-Lorber improperly as I'll assume they were given this D1 MPEG-2, Dolby transfer and had no option to produce the Blu-ray in a proper HD format. Now, it is single-layered but has a strong bitrate and looks 'okay'. But the SD-common MPEG-2 encode doesn't take advantage of the stellar visuals in the film to the same degree that AVC would have. It's not fatal, its just the image is more lifeless when it could have been significantly more impressive with a more robust and dynamic transfer. The Blu-ray is certainly watchable but a film of this caliber deserves more than a bare-bones SD-limited presentation, IMO.

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audio :

As Kino Lorber underwhelm with their video encode - they audio too - is from SD - we get a standard Dolby Digital 2.0 channel in original German. The film has plenty of extended pauses but Stefan Will's score (he also composed for Petzold's Yella and Jerichow) would have been better supported with a lossless track. Not using the potential of the format (again).  There are non-removable subtitles and my Oppo has identified it as being a region 'A'-locked.

 

Extras :

No supplements - not even a trailer or even beyond one, lone, menu screen.

 

 

BOTTOM LINE:
What a shame - but I do admit to liking this film - A LOT! I suppose we'll seek out a properly transferred Blu-ray - perhaps in Europe (THIS UK offering is pricey - same as THIS German edition that supposedly has English subtitles!). This is definitely a film worthy of the best possibilities of the new format. A shame Criterion didn't obtain this title in their catalogue... see this film from the frequently impressive Christian Petzold! 

Gary Tooze

November 5th, 2013