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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Saint Amour (2016)

Saint Amour (2016)

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Released 5-Jul-2017

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Comedy Theatrical Trailer
Trailer-Madman Propaganda x 4
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 2016
Running Time 97:13
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 1,2,3,4,5,6 Directed By Benoît Delépine
Gustave Kervern
Studio
Distributor

Madman Entertainment
Starring Gerard Depardieu
Benoit Poelvoorde
Vincent Lacoste
Celine Sallette



Case Amaray-Transparent
RPI ? Music Sebastien Tellier


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None French Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
French Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

     Jean (Gerard Depardieu) and his grown up son Bruno (Benoit Poelvoorde) are dairy farmers from the sticks. Each year they come to Paris to attend the Agricultural Show; Jean wants to win with his prized bull while Bruno, disenchanted with farming, only wants to tour the wine stalls of the various French winegrowing regions at the fair and get drunk. In a moment of agreement, father and son decide to tour the actual wine regions; they hire the Parisian taxi of Mike (Vincent Lacoste) and this unlikely trio set off on their road trip through France.

     Saint Amour, named after a wine they try, is a succession of adventures with the various people the trio meet including the owner of a B&B, a waitress, a real estate agent, an older woman in a hotel and the owner of a roadside food stall. All three men have relationship issues with women; Jean’s wife, Bruno’s mother, died some years ago but Jean still calls up her mobile so he can hear her voice and talk to her, Bruno is an uncouth hick who is disastrous with woman while Mike, although outwardly cool and a womaniser, has an important secret. Jean and Bruno also have issues with each other but the hang-ups of everyone is resolved when they meet Venus (Celine Sallette), a redhead who has her own issues but is women enough for all of them.

     Saint Amour is written and directed by Benoit Delepine and Gustave Kervern, who also co-wrote and directed Le grand soir, another film about a mismatched family relationship that won the Un Certain Regard - Special Jury Prize at Cannes in 2012. Saint Amour is a gentle film which is amusing in places and a bit laboured in others. It is also filmed with constantly swaying hand-held cameras which is a bit vertigo inducing but the leads are fun to watch while the French countryside of fields, small villages and acres of grape vines looks beautiful.

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Transfer Quality

Video

     Saint Amour is in the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio and is 16x9 enhanced.

     The print is clear and detailed. Colours are natural although with that digital flatness. Blacks and shadow detail are good, skin tones natural, contrast and brightness consistent. I noticed some minor aliasing but otherwise marks and artefacts were absent.

    The layer change at 60:44 caused a slight pause at a cut during a scene.

    The white American English subtitles are easy to read and error free.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The two audio choices are French Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 Kbps and French Dolby Digital 2.0 at 224 Kbps.

     Saint Amour is a comedy with no action which means the audio track is low key but fine. Dialogue was clear and the surrounds and rears featured some music, voices at the fair and engines. I really did not notice the subwoofer except occasionally during the music, but nor was it needed. The score by Sebastien Tellier ranged from operatic to wistful, thus suiting the film.

     Lip synchronisation was fine.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Theatrical Trailer (1:50)

Madman Propaganda

     Trailers for Toni Erdmann (2:01), A Perfect Day (1:55), One Wild Moment (2:15), and 3 Hearts (1:38).

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

     Only a German Region 2 DVD is listed on Amazon, although there does appear to be a French release that includes over 70 minutes of extras, but without English subtitles.

Summary

     Saint Amour is a gentle, low key comedy about relationships and sexual hang-ups. Gerard Depardieu is fun to watch as usual, there is a bit of nudity, some humour and the French countryside looks beautiful. The film is pleasant, but hardly memorable.

     The video and audio are fine, a film trailer and trailers for other films are the only extras.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ray Nyland (the bio is the thing)
Friday, August 11, 2017
Review Equipment
DVDSony BDP-S580, using HDMI output
DisplayLG 55inch HD LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderNAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated.
AmplificationNAD T737
SpeakersStudio Acoustics 5.1

Other Reviews NONE