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(aka 'The Woman Next Door')
Bernard Coudray has a beautiful family and is happy with his life. That is untill Phillipe and Mathilde Bauchard move in to the house next door. Bernard and Mathilde know each other, they were once passionately in love but went their separate ways. Once reunited, the pair start a fervent but turbulant affair. Torn between their unyielding lust for each other and the comfort and stability that is their marriages, this really is a case of can't live with and can't live without. The ghost of a tempestuous affair is reawakened when the two lovers, estranged for 10 years and now both newly married, coincidentally move next door to each other. François Truffaut wrote the leading roles especially for his two stars, Gerard Depardieu and Fanny Ardant. *** Although an air of artificiality in it, I really enjoyed this 2nd last film by master Truffaut. An exploration of the disastrous effects of uncontrollable desire and passion which actually sprung from Truffaut's obsession to work with actress Fanny Ardent (with whom he had a child). Depardieu and Ardant, are both married, yet decide to rekindle their past affair, with devastating consequences. The late climax of the film is very reminiscent of Chabrol with its unlikely and heavy-handed finale. But then again sometimes life is very much like that. This is a very memorable, if uncomfortable, film. |
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Theatrical Release: September 30th, 1981
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Comparison:
Fox Lorber - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Artificial Eye - Region 'B' - Blu-ray
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Fox Lorber - Region 0 - NTSC
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or in the Truffaut Blu-ray Collection: |
Distribution | Fox Lorber - Region 0 - NTSC | Artificial Eye - Region 'B' - Blu-ray |
Runtime | 1:46:00 | 1:45:10.375 |
Video |
1.56:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 7.93 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s |
1.66:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-rayDisc Size: 27,565,470,254 bytesFeature: 25,232,928,192 bytesVideo Bitrate: 26.97 MbpsCodec: MPEG-4 AVC Video |
NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Bitrate: Blu-ray |
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Audio | French (Dolby Digital 2.0) |
LPCM Audio French 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit Commentary: LPCM Audio French 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit |
Subtitles | English (burned-in) | English and none |
Features |
Release Information: Edition Details: • Production
Credits (text screens) |
Release Information: Studio: Artificial Eye 1.66:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-rayDisc Size: 27,565,470,254 bytesFeature: 25,232,928,192 bytesVideo Bitrate: 26.97 MbpsCodec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Edition Details:
• Presentation with Serge Toubiana (3:49)
• Fanny Ardent and Gérard Depardieu comment on a few
scenes (26:03) |
Comments: |
NOTE: These Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.
ADDITION: Artificial Eye - Region 'B' - Blu-ray (November 14'): Perhaps one of our more lop-sided comparisons. The 2002 DVD is greenish, out of ratio and severely cropped - this is glaringly evident when compared to still captures of the Artificial Eye Blu-ray below. Not surprisingly, colors and detail are far more better and consistent on the HD video.
P.S. I don't know why the BD is 50 seconds shorter than the SD. Possibly beginning logos?...
Audio comes via a linear PCM 2.0 channel stereo track at 1536 kbps in the original French. It is predictably flat but has some tightness not present on the SDs. Georges Delerue (Shoot the Piano Player, Jules et Jim, The Last Metro, Day For Night) did the score and it also benefits from the uncompressed rendering. There are optional English subtitles (they are optional!) on the Region 'B'-locked Blu-ray disc.
Supplements replicate some of what was on the mk2 DVD with the Toubiana intro, a commentary by Veronique Silver - French with optional English subtitles, 25-minutes of Fanny Ardent and Gérard Depardieu commenting on a few scenes from The Woman Next Door and a trailer.
One of the upper-tier Truffauts in my opinion. This is very much worth getting or the entire AE Truffaut Blu-ray set.
*** ON THE DVD: My only real positive about these early Fox/Lorber DVDs are that they gave me an outlet to see some outstanding films prior to going "region-free". But as far as DVDs go they are bordering on criminally poor. Analog transfer, most likely from an unconverted PAL source, non-progressive, incorrect aspect ratio, non-removable subtitles, No worthy extras... We strongly suggest avoiding this release, buying a region-free DVD player (if you require one) and purchasing the 12-DVD Truffaut boxset HERE. (I know... we are great at spending other people's money - but trust me - you won't ever regret it) |
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Screen Captures
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Fox Lorber - Region 0 - NTSC
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Combing evident On interlaced DVD...
Recommended Reading on Truffaut / French Cinema (CLICK COVERS or TITLES for more information)
The Films in My Life |
François Truffaut by Annette Insdorf |
HITCHCOCK (REVISED EDITION)
by Helen G. Scott, Francois Truffaut |
The French New Wave: An Artistic School by Michel Marie, Richard John Neupert, Richard Neupert |
A History of the French New Wave Cinema by Richard Neupert |
French New Wave
by Jean Douchet, Robert Bonnono, Cedric Anger, Robert Bononno |
French Cinema: From Its Beginnings to the Present by Remi Fournier Lanzoni |
Truffaut: A Biography by Antoine do Baecque and Serge Toubiana |
Check out more in "The Library"