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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r |
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Ophélia [Blu-ray]
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Description:
Claude Chabrol (Le Boucher)
directs the inspired-by-Shakespeare cinematic gem Ophélia,
starring Alida Valli (The Third Man).
Ivan (André Jocelyn,
Les Cousins), a high-strung and intense
young man of means, suspecting that his mother, Claudia (Valli),
and Uncle Adrian (Claude Cerval,
Belle de Jour) are
responsible for the death of his father, sets out to reveal
their foul deed.
Imagining himself a modern day Hamlet, Ivan goes about
wooing Lucy (Juliette Mayniel,
Eyes Without a Face), the
beautiful daughter of his parents’ groundskeeper, convincing
her to become the de facto Ophelia of the piece. Concocting
a clever ruse to unmask the accused, Ivan’s fever dream of
revenge takes an unexpected turn in Ophélia, Claude
Chabrol’s witty and darkly comic reinterpretation of
Shakespeare’s classic tragedy, Hamlet.
Ophélia, directed by Claude Chabrol from a screenplay by
Chabrol, Paul Gégauff and Martial Matthieu, features stark
black & white cinematography courtesy of Jean Rabier (Chabrol’s
Le Boucher and
Madame Bovary, Jacques Demy’s
The Umbrellas
of Cherbourg, Agnès Varda’s
Cleo from 5 to 7) and a haunting
score by Pierre Jansen (The Lacemaker).
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The Film:
In this curious and inventive drama, director and co-writer Claude Chabrol purloins the Hamlet story from a certain Elizabethan bard, and has his characters move along the same plot outlines. Yvan (Andre Jocelyn) is overcome by grief when his father, a noted businessman, dies and is buried in their small town. Yvan's anger boils up as he watches his mother flirt with his father's brother, and he only feels worse when the two get married. The small-minded, gossiping townspeople carry on behind his back and one day, when Yvan sees a theater marquee advertising "Hamlet" he decides to set out proving that his mother and his father's brother connived to poison his father.
Excerpt from B+N located HEREImage : NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.
Ophélia arrives on Blu-ray from Olive Films. This is only single-layered but the black and white film looks very strong in the original 1.66:1 aspect ratio with solid, layered, contrast and decent detail. The Blu-ray is exceptionally clean and I saw no noise or artifacts. It was a very pleasing presentation.
CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Olive use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel at 1941 kbps (24-bit) in the original French language. Not much in the way of effects and the transfer handles it all without issue. The mysterious score is by Pierre Jansen who has worked on a number of Chabrol films including The Third Lover, Ten Days Wonder, Le Boucher, La femme infidèle and Les Biches to name a few. There are no optional, English, yellow subtitles (see sample above) and m
y Oppo has identified it as being a region 'A'-locked.
Extras :
Only one
supplement - a trailer.
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BOTTOM LINE:
Gary Tooze
April 20th, 2017
About the Reviewer: Hello, fellow Beavers! I have been interested in film since I viewed a Chaplin festival on PBS when I was around 9 years old. I credit DVD with expanding my horizons to fill an almost ravenous desire to seek out new film experiences. I currently own approximately 9500 DVDs and have reviewed over 5000 myself. I appreciate my discussion Listserv for furthering my film education and inspiring me to continue running DVDBeaver. Plus a healthy thanks to those who donate and use our Amazon links.
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