Review by Gary Tooze

 

Production:

Theatrical: France 2 Cinéma

Video: Arrow Video

 

Disc:

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

Runtime: 1:46:36.807

Disc Size: 22,872,763,501 bytes

Feature Size: 21,699,022,848 bytes

Video Bitrate: 24.00 Mbps

Chapters: 12

Case: Standard Blu-ray case

Release date: April 22nd, 2013

 

Video:

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps

Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Audio:

DTS-HD Master Audio French 1694 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1694 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)

 

Subtitles:

English, none

 

Extras:

• Trailer (1:33)

 

Bitrate:

 

 

Description: Ruthless executive Christine (Kristen Scott Thomas) takes delight in toying with the innocence of her assistant, Isabelle (Ludivine Sagnier), passing her young protégé's ideas on as her own. Confident of her control over Isabelle, Christine leads her into a confusing, perverse game of seduction and domination but ultimately underestimates Isabelle's ambition and cunning leading to an all-out boardroom battle with deadly consequences.

 

 

The Film:

Anyone who’s ever had a control-freak boss should be able to relate to “Love Crime,” a super-cool thriller in the style of Alfred Hitchcock and Claude Chabrol.

Kristin Scott Thomas plays Christine, a senior executive at a multinational corporation, headquartered in Paris, who shamelessly takes credit for successful ideas thought up by her protégée, the bespectacled Isabelle (Ludivine Sagnier, of “Swimming Pool” renown).

To complicate matters, both women are having an affair with the same fellow exec, Philippe (Patrick Mille).

Excerpt from the NYPost located HERE

At first glance, “Love Crime” — the last film directed by Alain Corneau, who died in 2010 — looks like a corporate “All About Eve” in reverse. An innocent, eager young woman named Isabelle (Ludivine Sagnier) is manipulated and preyed upon by her mentor, Christine (Kristin Scott Thomas), a high-ranking executive whose affection seems to be an especially insidious form of sadism.

[...]

Through it all, Mr. Corneau makes witty use of the contrasting faces and temperaments of the two main actresses. Ms. Thomas, her manner as impeccable and dry as her French, is all angles and edges, most terrifying when she seems most at ease. Ms. Sagnier, soft and skittish and visibly struggling to maintain her composure, turns out to be even scarier.

Excerpt from AO Scott at the NY Times located HERE

 

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

Love Crime, aka "Crime d'amour", gets a modest transfer to Blu-ray from Arrow Films.  It's single-layered with a middling bitrate for the 1 3/4 hour feature. Colors are solid and contrast good. It can tend to look a tiny bit softer than I was anticipating - especially for such a modern film. The 1080P supports minor depth and reasonably rich black levels in the, original, 1.85:1 frame.  It's pristinely clean and there are really no flaws with appearance. This Blu-ray probably looks like a very strong replication of the theatrical version of the film and it gave me a worry-free presentation.

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audio :

Arrow use a DTS-HD Master 5.1 surround track at 1694 kbps. There are some effects but mostly we get a unique-edged score by Pharoah Sanders (often described as "the best jazz tenor saxophonist player in the world."). It sounds tight with a healthy high-end. The dialogue is almost exclusively French with a bit of English and there are optional English subtitles on the region 'B'-locked disc.

 

Extras :

Included is a theatrical trailer. This is a strong film and probably deserves more.

 

 

BOTTOM LINE:
I liked this an awful lot. It is sometimes irrational but has that 'French murder mystery' charisma - defined so well by Chabrol - running to absolute perfection. Sexy, desperate, manipulative, psycho-dominant themes - and well-performed. Brian De Palma did the 'American version' (Passion). The Arrow Blu-ray provides a decent a/v presentation - essentially bare-bones but the price reflects that. At present it is part of the 2 Blu-rays for £10 deal at Amazon.UK. I don't see it available in North America and I give you a high recommendation at the current price. 

Gary Tooze

February 3rd, 2015