Bon Voyage (2003) (NTSC)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Audio Commentary-Director Theatrical Trailer Trailer-The Triplets Of Belleville, Zhou Yu's Train Web Links
Rating
Year Of Production	2003
Running Time	115:07
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,4	Directed By	Jean-Paul Rappeneau
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Isabelle Adjani Gérard Depardieu Virginie Ledoyen Yvan Attal Grégori Derangère Peter Coyote Jean-Marc Stehlé Aurore Clément Xavier De Guillebon Edith Scob Michel Vuillermoz Nicolas Pignon Nicolas Vaude
Case	?
RPI	$39.95	Music	Gabriel Yared

Video (NTSC)		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	French Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) French Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	480i (NTSC)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	Yes
Subtitles	English Portuguese Spanish English Audio Commentary	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    The first film since 1995's Horseman on the Roof by Jean-Paul Rappeneau is set during the dying days of the Third Republic. The film opens with the premiere of a film starring Viviane Denvert (Isabelle Adjani), an ageing movie star. A man follows her home, and then her childhood friend Frédéric (Grégori Derangère) receives a phone call to come to her house. There he finds a dead man lying on the floor. Viviane says he fells from the balcony, and in order to prevent a scandal, asks Frédéric to dispose of the body. He puts it in the trunk of the man's car and drives it off, but has an accident in the rain and is arrested and charged with murder. It seems the body has a bullet in it.

    A few months later, before Frédéric can come to trial, the Germans have invaded and are a day from Paris. The prison population is to be evacuated to the south of France, but Frédéric finds himself handcuffed to Raoul (Yvan Attal) who is determined to escape in the confusion. They find themselves on board a train to Bordeaux, where they meet Camille (Virginie Ledoyen), an assistant to Professor Kopolski (Jean-Marc Stehlé), an atomic scientist trying to get some secrets out of the clutches of the Germans. Meanwhile Viviane is living with Beaufort (Gérard Depardieu), a minister in the Government, also en route to Bordeaux. There their lives will cross paths.

    This film actually starts out as a farce, though towards the end it becomes more like a light adventure story in the style of Hollywood films of the early '40s that dealt with the European conflict (prior to America's involvement). Some critics have suggested that it is in the style of Casablanca, but that is neither a fair nor an accurate comparison. Rappeneau's film is certainly inspired by such films, as he himself admits in the accompanying audio commentary, but it has as much in common with French light comedy. It would be churlish to describe this film as "fluff", but it never really rises above the level of light entertainment, even when depicting serious issues such as the swift capitulation of the French government to the invading Germans in 1940.

    The performances are mostly good though Isabelle Adjani seems out of place here. For a start she is too old for the part she plays, and she also looks as though she has recently had a facelift. More seriously for the film's narrative, her character is not sympathetic at all, which makes Frédéric's infatuation with her hard to believe. Depardieu has his hair slicked back in imitation of Jacques Chirac and contributes some fine work as a politician lacking principles. The real lead of the film is Grégori Derangère, and in only his second major film role seems destined for stardom. I was surprised to learn that Stehlé is not a professional actor, as he acts like he has been doing it all his life. French-speaking American actor Peter Coyote appears as the reporter Winckler, who is not what he seems. Veteran actress Edith Scob, star of several Georges Franju films four decades earlier, is Madame Arbesault.

    The direction is fine and the film is well constructed. Rappeneau has captured the look of 1930s French cinema well, and this is an enjoyable film, if nothing special.

Video

    The film is presented in the theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. Unfortunately, we get an NTSC format disc instead of PAL.

    The transfer is reasonably sharp, though the level of detail is compromised by the amount of compression that has been done to fit the film onto a single layer. The video is transferred at a quite low bitrate. Close-ups and objects in the foreground fare reasonably well, but in the background there is not much in the way of fine detail.

    Contrast levels are good as is shadow detail, which would not be much of an issue anyway given that even some of the night scenes were shot in daylight. Colour looks a little washed out and drab, but I suspect that this was done deliberately to suggest the era. Black levels are reasonable.

    The film looks quite compressed and flat-looking, and there seems to be some pixelization, with frequent examples of Gibb Effect. There is some moire effect at 18:36. Edge enhancement is visible, but the effect is minor. There is also some minor aliasing at times. Telecine wobble is noticeable several times throughout the film.

    I did not notice anything significant in the way of film artefacts.

    Subtitles are provided in English as well as some other languages. The subtitles are in yellow and are quite readable. Spelling and grammar are correct, though based on the spelling of "theater" I expect that these were done for the US release.

    This is a single-layer disc, so there is no layer change to contend with.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The default audio track is French Dolby Digital 5.1. There is also a French stereo track for the audio commentary.

    Dialogue is quite clear and distinct, and though I only understand occasional words in French it seems to be quite well transferred.

    The audio generally is very good, with a well-judged surround track providing directional cues using all of the surround speakers. Sound effects and music are sent to the rear channels, for example overflying planes or motorcycles. The sound mix does not draw much attention to itself, which allows the viewer to experience the film as it would have been intended. I did not notice any subwoofer output, although there are some low-frequency effects.

    The musique is by Gabriel Yared, and it varies in quality. It is mainly soaring strings and wistful piano music, and sometimes it suits the mood of the film very well. Sometimes, though, it seems entirely out of place. It is well recorded.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Audio Commentary

    The audio commentary is with the director Jean-Paul Rappeneau, and is quite interesting. Apart from a few words at the start in English, it is entirely in French, and comes with subtitles. There are only a handful of quiet spots, but even in the briefer pauses the subtitles for the on-screen dialogue resume, which is quite confusing at times.

    Rappeneau talks about the choice of actors, locations (most of which are authentic), the use of digital effects, and the effect that his own childhood experiences in 1940 had on the film. It is surprising how much of the general story of the film is based on real events.

Theatrical Trailer (2:10)

    The US trailer for the film, in 2.35:1 and 16x9 enhanced. A pretty good trailer that does not give too much away.

Previews (8:10)

    Trailers for The Triplets of Belleville and Zhou Yu's Train, each 16x9 enhanced. Note that on start-up, the second of these trailers is played automatically, but thankfully can be skipped. There are also trailers for The Company and The Cuckoo. These appear on the list on the previews menu on my reference Pioneer player, but in a Sony player and on my Sony DVD-ROM drive they are not listed on this menu. Very strange.

DVD-ROM content

    When inserted in a computer DVD drive, a Flash menu screen is displayed with the Columbia logo and options to play the film, subscribe to a newsletter or visit the websites of Columbia Tristar and Sony Pictures. One of these links is to a list of other DVD releases.

    It seems that the release we have in Region 4, coded for both Regions 1 and 4,  is identical to the Region 1, even to having the FBI warnings. The copyright notices refer to Latin American countries, so presumably this is the same release in that part of Region 4.

    There are two Region 2 French releases, one being a single disc edition and the other a 2-disc Collector's Edition. The first just features the film, the second has the film and audio commentary on disc one with several extras on disc two. These include cast interviews, a "making of" documentary, a special effects featurette and a director filmography. Reviews suggest that the transfer quality is superior to the Region 1 and Region 4, and the Collector's Edition also includes a DTS soundtrack. Unfortunately, this release does not have English subtitles, so it can only be recommended to Francophones.

    An enjoyable if minor French comedy.

    The video quality suffers from overcompression.

    The audio quality is good.

    The only extra of note is an interesting commentary by the director.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall