The
Chambermaid (2015/Film
Movement DVD)/Confession
(1937/Warner Archive DVD)/Gemma
Bovery (2014/Music Box
Blu-ray)/The Lesson
(2014/Film Movement DVD)
Picture:
C/C/B-/C Sound: C+/C/B-/C Extras: C/C-/C+/C Films:
C+/B-/B-/C+
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Confession
DVD is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.
Here
are some dramas with various degrees of comedy that handle the
balances differently...
Ingo
Haeb's The
Chambermaid
(2015) is a title that suggests sex (and in U.S. B-movies,
sexploitation), with this film no exception with its provocative
cover of the title character pulling on her bra strap looking up from
the floor while mostly under bed. Voyeurism does play a role in the
film, but this is basically about Lynn (Vicki Krieps) having the
title occupation, but no life, so she starts to become slowly
involved with clients or their clients. This eventually leads to her
dealing with finding herself, though the results of the 90 minutes
hold few surprises.
At
least this is somewhat consistent and does not hold back much, but I
was not so excited or impressed overall. The curious (or bored)
might want to give it a look.
Extras
include the 13-minute short Worlds
Within
and Original Theatrical Trailers for this and other Film Movement
releases.
Joe
May's Confession
(1937) is a pleasant surprise, telling the
melodramatic-but-darker-than-expected tale (a remake of the 1935
German Pola Negri film Muzurka)
of a woman (here by the then big star Kay Francis, who is really good
here) named Vera, a big opera singer who meets a major concert
pianist (an early bad guy role for the great Basil Rathbone) and they
have a daughter. 15 years pass before they see each other again and
Vera has fallen from grace and success.
Part
of it is likely the daughter being taken away, but the film doesn't
merely blame Rathbone's character or make Vera a weak stereotype of a
woman. It instead becomes an early character study in Hollywood
sound cinema at a time when women's lives and choices were so
limited. Her daughter is convinced another woman is her mother, so
does Vera reveal the truth or stay distant? The film offers no easy
answers and is also very visual in communicating its darkness that
was silent-era-like and very smart for the time. Thus, its 87
minutes are very impactful and show us why Warner knew how to stay a
major studio by taking risks and respecting its audience's
intelligence. This one is definitely worth going out of your way
for.
A
trailer is the only extra.
Anne
Fontaine's Gemma
Bovery
(2014) is a coy, but surprisingly pleasant comedy about a couple
(Gemma Arterton & Jason Flemyng) show up in a French town, more
than a few people note some common denominators with the book Madame
Bovary, so the narrative start to playfully follow some of this
without the pretension we have seen in too many similar works, but
the director of Coco
Before Chanel
is able to juggle this well enough.
Unfortunately,
I thought the ending was weak and not as energetic or creative, so I
was disappointed a bit in the end. However, Arterton is able to
carry things well and supporting actors including Fabrice Luchini,
Niels Schneider and Pip Torrens keep most of the 99 minutes in tune
and that is reason enough to recommend it in a limited way.
Extras
include a Graphic Novel Gallery, three Making Of featurettes (In The
Footsteps Of Emma, Master Class with director Fontaine and From Page
To Screen) and Original Theatrical Trailer.
Kristina
Grozeva & Petar Valchanov's The
Lesson
(2014) is a mixed film where a strict teacher (Margita Gosheva)
starts by asking who is stealing in her classroom amongst her
students, but it is a weird, out of place moments where I thought she
might be lying or she was the thief. She is not there, but her
values are challenged when her private life and finances start to
fall apart. It can get very dark in this respect and you wonder how
she could have allowed things to go so badly, including her inept
husband, but it does.
Unfortunately,
the lack of consistency and inability to suspend disbelief throughout
hurt the film when 105 minutes was plenty of time to think this
through and deal with it better. You can judge for yourself, but I
did not totally buy it as much as I was hoping to.
Extras
include the 6-minute short Crooked
Candy
and Original Theatrical Trailers for this and other Film Movement
releases.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image on Gemma
has some good shots, but has a tendency towards soft edges in more
than a few shots beyond any styling choices, yet it is pretty
watchable throughout and the best transfer here. All
three DVDs are watchable, but have their flaws from the age of the
1.33 X 1 black and white transfer on Confession
(which is still very well shot), the anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1
image on Chambermaid
and anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image on Lesson
are all a bit softer than I would have liked. The latter are digital
shoots, but the issues are in the format as much as anything.
As
for sound, the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Gemma
is well mixed and presented, but is too refined to take total
advantage of the multi-channel possibilities, yet is also the sonic
champ here. The DVDs offer lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on
Confession
sounding its age and needed some restoration of its own, leaving the
other DVDs with lossy Dolby Digital 5.1, yet Lesson
has a real lack of volume and should have been clearer. Thus,
Chambermaid
is the second-best sounding release here.
To
order the Confession
Warner Archive DVD, go to this link for it and many more great
web-exclusive releases at:
https://www.warnerarchive.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo
