Black Swan (2010/Fox Blu-ray) + Hemingway’s Garden Of Eden (2010/Lionsgate DVD) + Mademoiselle Chambon (2009/Kino Blu-ray) + Rabbit Hole (2010/Lionsgate Blu-ray)

 

Picture: B-/C+/B/B     Sound: B-/C+/B/B     Extras: B-/C-/C+/B     Films: B-/C/B-/B-

 

 

And now for four dramas where women are a key focus, even when men are the writers and directors.

 

Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan (2010) is a film that mixes film and High Definition video shooting as much as it does states of mind showing the insecurities, joys and life of young ballerina Nina (a great Natalie Portman performance that won the Best Actress Academy Award) playing in Swan Lake.  However, she can only seem to pull off the “white swan” and not the dark opposite.  When she starts, her world starts to fall apart.  Is she becoming mentally ill or are some people trying to sabotage her success?  Like Polanski’s Repulsion (reviewed on Criterion Blu-ray elsewhere on this site), it is a question whose answer only gives us half of what is really going on.

 

This did not go over with everyone who saw it, but I like the film (even if it is similar to Aronofsky’s The Wrestler) and thought the acting (including Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassell, Barbara Hershey and Winona Ryder in one of the best roles ever.  It is dark, intense and a mature work, so know it earns its R rating.

 

John Irvin’s Garden Of Eden (2010) adapts the Ernest Hemingway tale of ménage-a-trios between an American writer (Jack Huston) and two women (Caterina Murino and a very seductive Mena Suvari) in a romp of sex and games that we have seen many times before.  This is done with maturity, energy and some class, but the lack of originality and chemistry hold this back, though this is at least ambitious.  It is also a period piece and they get that done well, but this needed more all around, though you might want to check this one out to see for yourself.

 

Stéphane Brizé’s Mademoiselle Chambon (2009) has some of the same issues as a married man (Vincent Lindon) starts to fall for title character (Sandrine Kiberland), who happens to be the teacher of his young son.  It is not that his wife (Aure Atika) is bad, unloving or unattractive, but the two slowly start to fall for each other and he is hired by her to do some housework that leads to other things as he is a contractor.

 

I liked the acting and this is smart with some good moments, yet it does not offer much new (though being French, it does not seem as tired as its U.S. equivalent), yet it ultimately dopes not add anything to a very familiar story that leads us to ask if he’ll stay or if he’ll go.

 

That leaves John Cameron Mitchell’s Rabbit Hole (2010), the actor-turned-director making what is easily his best film to date, based on the David Lindsay-Abaire play (he wrote the screenplay adaptation) about a married couple (Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart) dealing with the nightmare aftermath of losing their first born to a terrible accident.  Their baby son ran out into the street chasing his pet dog and is accidentally hit and killed by a car.  The car was driven by a young man (Miles Teller in an easy to underrate performance) going at the legal speed, unable to stop the car.

 

Everyone is great here and this never feels like a stagy work, coming across as very palpable and real, which is something I cannot say about Mitchell’s past work.  Kidman is amazing, even bold, while Eckhart proves once again that he is a better actor than he is getting credit for.  I bought this all the way and it was never phony for a minute, sometimes even funny and definitely painfully honest.  Sandra Oh and Diane Weist also shine in one of the better films of 2010 along with Black Swan.

 

 

The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image on Swan (AVC @ 28.5 MBPS) and Chambon use the scope frame better than most releases of late that abuse it and/or are clueless on what to do with it, yet Swan combo of HD and Super 16mm is no match for the clarity and fidelity of the 35mm on Chambon.  However, the style on Swan is intentional, but the Blu-ray shows up its limits.  The 1.78 X 1 anamorphically enhanced image on Eden has the clarity of old classical cinematography and looks good for a DVD, but is just too soft in too many places, style notwithstanding.  That leaves the 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image on Rabbit as excellent as that of Chambon throughout with only a few shots not up to par.

 

All three Blu-rays offer DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes that are excellent, but Swan has some audio work that is (possibly on purpose) meant to have dropouts or flaws, so expect that and know it is intended.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on Eden has a limited soundfield as it is a quiet film that is dialogue-based, but it is hard to tell from this lossy mix how limited that is.

 

Extras exist on all four releases including trailers save Swan, but all the Blu-rays add more goodies.  Swan offers Digital Copy for PC and PC portable devices, BD Live interactive functions and four featurettes: Metamorphosis, Behind The Curtain, Ten Years In The Making and a Fox Movie Channel Cast Profiles piece.  Chambon adds Stills, Deleted Scenes with introduction by film critic Stéphane Goudet and an on camera interview with Director Brizé.  Rabbit adds Deleted Scenes and a feature length audio commentary by Mitchell, Lindsay-Abaire and Director of Photography Frank G. DeMarco.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo