Un Coeur en Hiver Blu-ray - Emmanuelle Béart

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

(aka "A Heart in Winter" or "A Heart of Stone")

directed by Claude Sautet
France 1992

Daniel Auteuil (Caché), Emmanuelle Béart (L'Enfer) and André Fusilier (Amelie) star in this sublimely sensual, provocative and critically-acclaimed film from director Claude Sautee (Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud). Camille (Béart), a concert violinist, becomes intrigued by her lover’s business partner Stephane (Auteuil), an aloof restorer of musical instruments. She interprets his distance as a kind of flirtation, but Stephane is more of a voyeur, preferring to watch than engage in romance. A bizarre love triangle forms in which each member slowly unveils their imperfections and insecurities. Un Coeur end Hiver (A Heart in Winter) is a sexy and enthralling film that unearths the origins of desire.

***

Daniel Auteuil and Emmanuelle Béart from Manon of the Spring (1986) co-star once again in Un Coeur en Hiver, playing characters whose distance from each others' lives belies the enormous emotional impact they have on one another. Directed by Claude Sautet, whose 40-year career included the Oscar-winning César et Rosalie (1972), Un Coeur en Hiver is a remarkably restrained film with torrents of feeling just under the surface. Auteuil plays Stephane, partner in an exclusive violin brokerage. His older business partner Maxime (Andre Dussolier) has a lovely new violinist girlfriend, Camille (Béart), who stirs Stephane but is ultimately rejected by him, sending all three characters into a spin that destroys their delicate, symbiotic balance. Hovering over this story is an unusual musical motif that is key to the characters' inner motivations. Violins play, and play on camera, all through the film, but the nature of Stephane's craft, Camille's career, and Maxime's profits is that the music can always be refined, tinkered with, changed with a twist of this or a bit of that. That's precisely how they conduct their relationships and lives -- with a fragile sense of security and no idea when to stop manipulating life for effect.

Excerpt from B+N located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: September 2nd, 1992 - France

Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews

Comparison:

Second Sight - Region 2 - PAL vs. Koch Lorber - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Box Cover
Distribution	Second Sight - Region 2 - PAL	Koch Lorber Films - Region 1 - NTSC	Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:40:15 (4% PAL speedup)	1:44:12	1:44:48.782
Video	1.63:1.00 Letterboxed WideScreen / 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 5.83 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	1.66:1 Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 6.38 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.66:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 31,107,067,200 bytes Feature: 29,914,460,160 bytes Video Bitrate: 27.99 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:
Bitrate Blu-ray:
Audio	French (Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0)	French (Dolby Digital Stereo 5.1), French (mono)	DTS-HD Master Audio French 3612 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3612 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) DTS-HD Master Audio French 1979 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1979 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) DTS-HD Master Audio English 1846 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1846 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -4dB
Subtitles	English, None	English, None	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Second Sight Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 1.63:1 Edition Details: • Robert Osborne Introduction (1:59) DVD Release Date: April 22nd, 2008 Double-lock Keep Case Chapters: 17	Release Information: Studio: Koch Lorber Films Aspect Ratio: Anamorphic widescreen- 1.66:1 Edition Details: • Newly restored HD transfer supervised by the film's director of photography, Yves Angelo • Four page booklet with essay by film critic Michel Boujut • Interview with the director • French TV appearances by director Claude Sautet and Andre Dussolier • Excerpt from the documentary Claude Sautet ou la Magie Invisible • Original French theatrical trailer DVD Release Date: November 7th, 2006 Keep Case Chapters: 12	Release Information: Studio: Kino 1.66:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 31,107,067,200 bytes Feature: 29,914,460,160 bytes Video Bitrate: 27.99 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • Audio commentary by historian Kat Ellinger Trailer (1:08) Blu-ray Release Date: September 24th, 2019 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters 11

Comments:

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

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (September 2019): Kino have transferred Claude Sautet's Un Coeur en Hiver to 1080P Blu-ray. It appears to be from the same master approved by director of photography Yves Angelo, although now it is in the higher resolution for home viewing. Detail advances, colors become richer, there is slightly more information in the 1.66:1 frame and contrast improves. There is not an abundance of grain textures. It looks pretty sweet in-motion. Emmanuelle Béart is hypnotic in 1080P.

On their Blu-ray, Kino offer the options of DTS-HD Master 5.1 surround, 2.0 channel (both in the original French language) or an English DUB (all 24-bit.) I sampled the DUB and would suggest avoiding it. I didn't notice much separation and the film is devoid of aggressive effects. It's all about the music. The film has no credited score but often we hear beautiful Maurice Ravel (Musique extraite des Sonates et Trio) and Franz Joseph Haydn (Serenade, Op 3 No 5) that sound exemplary in the lossless. Kino offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

Aside from a trailer the Kino Blu-ray has includes an audio commentary by historian Kat Ellinger. She explores a lot about the underrated director Claude Sautet. She details some keen analysis about the pairings of male-male and female-female characters, is impressed with the meticulousness of the style and explores some subtle misogyny present in the narrative and how the director likes to show his characters evolve from it. Kat's French pronunciations leave a bit to be desired but this is at her usual excellent level - interesting and insightful. Please keep her commentaries coming.

Un Coeur en Hiver is a beautiful film and I wish we had more of Sautet's sensitive cinema in HD. It's a film that I strongly recommended and the Kino Blu-ray with commentary is essential for French and world cinema fans. Buy with confidence.

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ADDITION - Koch Lorber - Nov 2006 - Quite a spectacular difference in brightness/color between the two releases. The Koch Lorber states - 'restored HD transfer supervised by the film's director of photography, Yves Angelo', so we believe that the NTSC edition is most accurate in representing the color scheme of the film. Aside from that the Second Sight, although also being progressively transferred, shows more digital noise and some minor speckles that are not apparent on the Region 1 release. Part of this could be compression as the PAL is on a single-layered DVD where the Koch Lorber is on a dual layered disc. The audio is also improved from the initial release with a 5.1 track as well as the optional mono. Koch have stacked the supplements with some interviews and an excerpt from Claude Sautet ou la Magie.

Really an easy choice. I am encouraged by Koch Lorber's DVD production on this beautiful, prosaic and touching film.

***

On the Second Sight: Decent image quality from Second Sight Films. Very bright although it may be artificially induced. The sound is quite buoyant from a 2.0 channel - the classical music sounds excellent. It has removable English subs (white and clear - see below) and no Extras at all. A very good film and a solid, if simple DVD.

Gary Tooze