Divorce, Le (2003)

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General		Extras
Category	Romantic Comedy	None
Rating
Year Of Production	2003
Running Time	112:26
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (53:56)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4,5	Directed By	James Ivory
Studio Distributor	Twentieth Century Fox	Starring	Kate Hudson Naomi Watts Jean-Marc Barr Leslie Caron Stockard Channing Glenn Close Romain Duris Stephen Fry Samuel Labarthe Thomas Lennon Thierry Lhermitte Daniel Mesguich Matthew Modine
Case	?
RPI	$36.95	Music	Richard Robbins

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Russian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Polish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired English Titling Arabic Croatian Czech Danish Finnish Greek Hebrew Hungarian Norwegian Portuguese Russian Slovenian Swedish Turkish Russian Titling	Smoking	Yes, Bien Sur
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     All sorts of visual meals get served in the cinematic restaurant, from light and crisp confectionary through to hefty, substantial dishes that require plenty of mental digestion. It would appear that Ismail Merchant and James Ivory were attempting to serve that most complicated of dishes, the soufflé, in their offering Le Divorce. Light and delicate, complex and textured, piquant and savoury, let us analyse the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

2 Film makers with experience in producing quality
1 screenwriter capable of subtle and naturalistic writing
2 lead actors able to work well together in a credible style
A generous splash of competent support actors
A handful of exotic locations, and
A pinch of whimsy.

METHOD:

Separate producers and writer, and whisk with interesting storyline until plot is airy and voluble.

Gently stir in actors and locations until just blended, being careful to not overwork the mixture.

Cook in an edit suite, ensuring to not overheat the material, until light, crisp and delicate.

Serve to a warm audience's delight.

     Hmmmm, the ingredients are all there, but there's something wrong with the method.....

     Of all the production teams in the world, one would have thought that Merchant Ivory were the consummate chefs of this kind of fare. But something has gone awry in the cinematic kitchen here, and the result is disappointingly flat, damp and rather unpalatable.

     Looking at the dream cast, including Naomi Watts, Kate Hudson, Glenn Close, Leslie Caron, Stockard Channing, Matthew Modine et al, and the rather delightful Parisian locations, it would appear to have been a perfect M/I launch pad for an examination of the difference between American and French culture.

      Isabel Walker (Hudson) is an ingenuous new American in Paris. She's not in Santa Barbara anymore, Toto; coming to the city of "l'amour" to attend to her pregnant poet sister, Roxeanne (Watts), who is domiciled in a Parisian apartment with her young daughter, Gennie (Esmée Buchet-Deàk) and her artist husband, Charles-Henri de Persand (Melvil Poupaud).

      Or rather, she was.

      Isabel arrives just as Charles-Henri abandons Roxeanne, having declared his undying love for Magda (Rona Hartner) - an incomprehensible, roller-blading piece of Euro trash. In spite of his taste for those brushed with the (very) common touch, Charles-Henri's pedigree is somewhat more refined, and his mother, Suzanne (Caron), takes her role of matriarch very seriously! Mme de Persand determines to keep a firm hold on Roxeanne, and, by extension, Isabel, until she can resolve the distribution of ex-marital assets in the family's favour (aided and abetted by the French legal system) - with particular attention to a particular painting of Roxeanne's which may or may not be, a La Tour. (Sub note for the interested, Georges de La Tour was a noted French painter who lived between 1593-1652, noted for his candlelit pictures.)

      Meanwhile, Isabel is immersing herself in Gallic glory, taking a job with American scholar, Olivia Pace (Close) and francofying her persona even up to the point of engaging in a mistress-ship with the older and oh-so debonair Edgar Cosset (Thierry Lhermitte), who just happens to be Charles-Henri's uncle. Sacré bleu, mon ami - le plot becomes, how you say? Thick?

      Well, there's more. While Roxeanne refuses to grant Charles-Henri "le divorce" on moral and ethical grounds, she is accosted by one Tellman (Modine), Magda's cuckolded husband, ranting, raving and decidedly unhinged. His proposed solution to the Magda misadventure is that he and Roxeanne sleep together - oh yeah - that's gonna work every time!!

      So, we have (in rough order of appearance) (SPOILER ALERT: highlight with mouse to read) a marital separation, a possibly priceless art treasure, an affair, another affair, a major family transaction, a proposed affair, a family reunion, a suicide attempt, a murder and an attempted murder.

      The plot lurches from farce to comedy to drama and melodrama, with attempts at pathos and whimsy along the way. This mélange of styles results in a story that's confused, incoherent and cluttered, with no real sense of development and which provides precious little sympathy for any of the characters. We are ultimately isolated from the players by an overall sense of ennui - qui s'inquiète - who cares?

      This is elegantly filmed and set, and mostly well acted, but its lack of real direction makes it a horrible waste of good actors and locations. What could have been a delectable entrée into the world of Franco-Amero relations fails to rise to expectations.

      Le soufflé is, regrettably, le flop.

Video

     The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, 16x9 enhanced.

     This is a delightfully crisp and sharp transfer that is well modulated and shows no ugly hallmarks of murky luminance. There is no low level noise and grain levels are excellent. Shadow and highlight details are very reliable over the entire presentation. Whites are white and blacks are black, and you've got to be happy with that.

     The palette is consistently rich and warm throughout, with faithful rendering of skin tones and a lush tone evident at all times.

     There was evidence of the old moiré effect playing hell with Naomi's Parisian tee-shirt, and a few other offenders. Aliasing was also present, but not horrifically so. For the most part, the print was a good, clean and faithful transfer that did not distract one away from the feature.

     Subtitles were vaguely problematic on this disc because you had to choose precisely what you needed to interpret the French/English text. This felt like a less than easy task the way it has been set up. I tried the English subtitles first, but apparently, that brought up only the English speaking parts with subtitles. Then I tried the English for the Hard of Hearing titles - which I couldn't access from my remote, but had to go back to the menu for. In the attempts to alternate between them, I've actually lost track of which was optimal. I know this is an unforgivable sin for a reviewer, but if you can work out the optimal way of viewing this with an English subtitle, please email me at mirella@thefunnyfarm.com.au - 'cause I'm now in the category of the permanently bewildered. Further to my problems was the fact that the subs were often rather truncated, so they lost a great deal in the translation.

     This disc is an RSDL disc, with the layer change placed at 53:36 in Chapter 13. It is a subtle and non intrusive change.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

     There are three audio tracks on this DVD. The default is an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. The others are a Russian Dolby Digital 2.0 and a Polish Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. Forgive me Father, for I have created the deepest sin of not listening to the Russian or Polish soundtracks. If anyone specifically wants me to review these tracks, please email me, again, at mirella@thefunnyfarm.com.au , and I shall be delighted to comply.

     The dialogue was clear and easy to understand at all times. There was no hiss apparent during the entire track. Audio sync was not a problem at all with this transfer, and was completely spot on.

    The musical score was, in the best sense of the word, invisible. This was not a piece that required any great, majestic soundscape. What it needed, and what it got, was a score that firmly placed the film. It was apposite to the work, and never opposed it.

     The surround channels were mostly latent in this piece. Occasionally, there was an intermittent surround burst, but most of the action, from a sound perspective, occurred up front and central. Subwoofer activity was barely perceptible.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

     Because this is a rental release, we can only hope that the sell-through will offer more.

Menu

     The menu design is silent, static and at best, functional.

     There are no further extras for this particular release.

     Misses out on:

• Theatrical trailer(s)

      Watch this space for updates on the sell-through release.

     Without a skerrick of an extra to mitigate the concerns about the feature, this is either a film you've already seen and want to see again, or it's a trial version. Technically, it's quite well presented - the content is a personal call.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall