![Le Beau Serge (Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] (1958)](/wp_content/uploads/2011/09/5144PoDJClL._SL500_AA300__150x150.jpg "Le Beau Serge (Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] (1958)")
LE BEAU SERGE (1958, Blu-ray released September 20, 2011 – MSRP $39.95)
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Claude Chabrol‘s Le Beau Serge is most well known for being the first film of the French New Wave movement. It can also now gain renown as a remarkable Blu-ray release from The Criterion Collection.
- “Of the hallowed group of Cahiers du cinéma critics turned filmmakers who transformed French film history, Claude Chabrol was the first to direct his own feature. His absorbing landmark debut, Le beau Serge, follows a successful yet sickly young man (Jean‑Claude Brialy) who returns home to the small village where he grew up. There, he finds himself at odds with his former close friend (Gérard Blain)—now unhappily married and a wretched alcoholic—and the provincial life he represents. The remarkable and stark Le beau Serge heralded the arrival of a cinematic titan who would go on to craft provocative, entertaining films for five more decades.“
I’ll admit it. I wasn’t really moved by Le Beau Serge. I can see that it’s a great film – intelligently written and stylishly shot, breaking ground and establishing some of the rules for what would become a popular movement in filmmaking – but in a lot of ways it remains an observational exercise that keeps me at arms length. Though Chabrol’s character study of the dueling personalities of Francois (Brialy) and former pal, now belligerent town drunk, Serge (Blain) is studied and very particular, I failed to connect to the emotion at the core of all the action. I have a feeling it’s because Francois, though involved directly in the movement of the narrative, spends a great deal of time observing, sitting in judgement and attempting to advise his former friends and townsfolk, which makes him a bit of a cold jerk – qualities difficult to sympathize with in a protagonist. Chabrol performs a flip-flop though, as the film draws nearer to its conclusion, proving that it’s really angry, brutal Serge who is the heart of the film. If the camera remained on him throughout the narrative, perhaps I would’ve found it a more moving experience.
Speaking of the camera, this is one well shot small-budget film. This shouldn’t come as any surprise to those who know the name of Henri Decaë, the man who lensed Le Beau Serge, more popularly know for his work on most all of Melville‘s movies as well as classics such as The 400 Blows and The Boys from Brazil. Every shot of provincial Sardent, the town Chabrol grew up in and the location of the film, is a perfectly composed cinematic gem. Watch for the sequences shot at night during a snowfall, with only a flashlight as a light source. Brilliant!
With such a great looking film you’d expect a great looking Blu-ray disc, right? Well, Criterion have gone above and beyond and delivered a phenomenal looking transfer of this 53-year old film. Sure, it’s not completely perfect, but what is? Contrast appears a tad boosted with whites that can be blown out and blacks crushed but overall, this is one amazing looking disc, exhibiting tons of detail and a nice patina of grain that keeps the whole shebang looking perfectly film-like.
From the booklet:
- “This new digital transfer was created in 2K resolution on a ARRISCAN film scanner from the original camera negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, and flicker were manually removed using Revival, Flame, and Smoke, while Digital Vision’s DVNR was used for small dirt, grain, and noise reduction.“
The lossless audio track is less impressive, showing its age in its lack of dynamic range. But it’s clean and clear and I’m not really sure what else one could ask of it? I should also mention, on the subject of the audio, that I find Émile Delpierre‘s score to be distracting and rarely complimentary to the action on screen. It’s heavy handed in the style of some early Italian neo-realist scores but just really doesn’t work here, in my opinion. It sounds fairy thin, relative to modern recordings, but is well enough represented in the Blu-ray discs lossless audio track.
From the booklet:
- “The original monaural soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from a 35mm soundtrack print. Clicks, thumps, hiss, and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube’s integrated workstation.“
Le Beau Serge arrives on Blu-ray with a modest but very fine collection of supplemental material. The feature length commentary track by author Guy Austin is jam packed with facts but delivered in a relatively dry fashion. A good listen if you’re well caffeinated. Providing some of the same info but in a far more dynamic way is the exceptional 50-minute documentary by filmmaker Pierre-Henri Gibert, Claude Chabrol: Mon premier film. Filmed in 2003 with Chabrol and actors Jean-Claude Brialy and Bernadette Lafont, the doc features some great interviews and a charming return to Sardent to chat to some of the locals who appeared in the film. The 10-minute segment of the 1969 TV show L’invité du dimanche also features a return to the town but is a failry brief, grimy looking affair. The Blu-ray disc is rounded out by the theatrical trailer and a 15-page booklet.
Special Features:
- New digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- New audio commentary featuring Guy Austin, author of Claude Chabrol
- Segment from a 1969 episode of the French television series L’invité du dimanche in which Chabrol revisits Sardent, the town he grew up in and the film’s location
- A 2011 documentary by filmmaker Pierre-Henri Gibert on the making of Le beau Serge
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- Theatrical trailer
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Terrence Rafferty
- More!
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