The Color of Lies Blu-ray - Sandrine Bonnaire

Search DVDBeaver

S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka 'At the Heart of the Lie' or 'The Color of Lies')

France 1999

Director Claude Chabrol, one of the most successful members of the French New Wave, is still (after a hugely busy career) able to breathe life into suspense with subtlety, irony, and humor. Considering he returns time and again to the French bourgeoisie, the freshness of his films is all the more striking. Yet it is the middle classes, the gulf between what they say and what they actually think, and the importance of things left unsaid which stoke the drama of so many of his films.

And so it is with "The Colour of Lies", a gentle but powerful psychological thriller, which targets a failing French painter and his increasingly introspective wife, both of whom live in a Brittany fishing village. One of his art students - a young girl - is found raped and murdered, and he - immersed in nervousness and gloom - is placed under the microscope by the police and the gossipy, judgmental community, with even his own expressions suggesting he might well be guilty. His wife's demeanor, meanwhile, hints at a woman who, though clearly very loving, would quite like to withdraw from her marriage and enjoy an affair with the media celebrity next door, a glib, charming egotist played by Antoine de Caunes. It is this ambiguity in both husband and wife which keeps the other - and us - guessing.

Excerpt from a Review by Michael Thomson of the BBC.co.uk website located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: January 13th, 1999

Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews

Comparison:

Kino (Kimstim Collection) - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Cohen Media - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

1) Kino (Kim Stim) - Region 0 - NTSC LEFT

2) Cohen- Region 'A' - Blu-ray RIGHT

Box Covers
Distribution	Kino Video - Region 0 - NTSC	Cohen Media Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:48:00	1:53:08.698
Video	1.62:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 4.29 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 39,962,593,895 bytes Feature: 37,069,501,056 bytes Video Bitrate: 36.99 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Bitrate: Blu-ray
Audio	French (Dolby Digital 2.0)	LPCM Audio French 2304 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit Commentary: LPCM Audio English 2304 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit
Subtitles	English, None	English (non-removable)
Features	Release Information: Studio: Kino Video Aspect Ratio: Original aspect Ratio 1.62:1 Edition Details: • "Moteurs Actions Indiscretions"- A Making Of Documentary on The Color of Lies (28:35) • A Presentation by Film scholar Joel Magny (series of text screen audio narrations) • Original French Trailer (1:14) DVD Release Date: August 2nd, 2005 Keep Case Chapters: 12	Release Information: Studio: Cohen Media Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 39,962,593,895 bytes Feature: 37,069,501,056 bytes Video Bitrate: 36.99 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • Commentary by Wade Major and Andy Klein • 2014 Re-Release Trailer (1:36) • 2013 Restoration trailer (2:09) • Liner notes booklet with photos, credits and chapter stops Blu-ray Release Date: May 27th, 2014 Transparent Blu-ray Case Chapters 12

Comments:

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

ADDITION: Cohen Media - Region 'A' - Blu-ray (May 2014): We've come a long way.... The Kino DVD has multiple issues from the 'ghosting' because it was PAL transferred to NTSC (see the 4% sped-up running time of the DVD) to the oblong, out-of-ratio images, the haziness, muted colors and artifacts... what a disaster. Thankfully Cohen have rectified that producing a stunning transfer, in HD, from a restoration. It looks like night and day compared to the SD. Colors are bright, there is textured grain showing through, detail is significantly superior. It is on a dual-layered Blu-ray with a max'ed out video bitrate (over 8X the DVD) rendering in 1080P. The audio is via a linear PCM in 2.0 channel sounding much richer than the SD - benefitting the score by Matthieu Chabrol (yes, the director's son.) The subtitles are forced but not burned-in. Extras, graciously, include a commentary by Wade Major and Andy Klein (who did the commentaries on the Inspector Lavardin Collection by Cohen), that I will indulge in this evening. Picking up this Blu-ray should be the easiest decision of the week.

***

ON THE DVD: Looking at the last large capture you can see very noticeable 'combing' - this indicates that the image was not transferred each frame individually and hence is not progressive meaning it is no where near what it could potentially be represented as.

As an aside; the reason that we focus so heavily on these imperfections (ie. 'ghosting' and 'combing'), that may not be particularly debilitating on your television tube viewing, is that we remains certain that you will own your DVDs longer than you own your current system. When you do upgrade the deficiencies of DVDs like these will become much more prevalent and hence detract from your viewing experience.

Aside from that problem the image is a bit hazy, but colors look muted and acceptable. It is probably slightly cropped from 1:66 to 1:61. The 2.0 original French audio seems clear and consistent. The extras are good and like the transfer ported right from, and licensed by, MK2. The 1/2 hour 'making of' featurette is very good. Overall another unremarkable Kino transfer. out of

Gary W. Tooze

Menus

1) Kino (Kim Stim) - Region 0 - NTSC LEFT

2) Cohen- Region 'A' - Blu-ray RIGHT

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

Subtitle Sample

1) Kino (Kim Stim) - Region 0 - NTSC TOP