My Mother's Castle (Le château de ma mère) (1990)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy Drama	Main Menu Audio Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1990
Running Time	94:34
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Yves Robert
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Philippe Caubère Nathalie Roussel Didier Pain Thérèse Liotard Julien Ciamaca Victorien Delamare Joris Molinas Julie Timmerman Paul Crauchet Philippe Uchan Patrick Préjean Pierre Maguelon Michel Modo
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$24.95	Music	Vladimir Cosma

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	French Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Following on from My Father's Glory or La gloire de mon père which I reviewed recently was this film My Mother's Castle or Le Chateau De Ma Mere. They were seemingly made at the same time as both were originally released theatrically in 1990. The stories follow on immediately from each other with this film starting just after the family have returned from their original summer holiday in the hills of Provence. This time the story covers multiple holidays in the hills as they discover how much they miss it when they are away. They return for Christmas, then Easter and then finally they find themselves going every weekend. There are three main story strands including Marcel meeting a young girl and falling for her, Marcel preparing for scholarship exams for the lycee and the whole families adventures as they sneak through the grounds of grand manors to reduce their weekend trek by many kilometres. This third part of the film is every bit as joyful and humourous as the first film while the story strand with the girl which kicks off the film is not as well handled in my opinion. Unlike the first film, this one also has some bittersweet and melancholic moments towards the end, which may upset the younger end of the audience.

    Once again this is a generally joyful film about childhood, family and the simple pleasures of life. It includes some beautiful cinematography of the magnificent scenery in the hills of Provence and was again it was directed by veteran French film director/actor/writer/producer Yves Robert. The addition of the canal scenes adds another dimension to the scenery on display. Once again the score by Vladimir Cosma adds significantly to the movie. To my mind this film is not as strong as the first one while still being a very worthy partner of the first film.

    If you like your cinema with simple pleasures, humour, fun and adventure this film is highly recommended.

Video

    The video quality is very good but not quite as good as the first film.

    The feature is presented in an approximately 1.78:1 aspect ratio which is most likely close to the original aspect ratio. It is 16x9 enhanced widescreen.Unfortunately, my DVD-ROM drive would not recognise this disc so I am unable to confirm the aspect ratio.

    The picture was quite clear and sharp for a film of this age, although not quite as good as the first film. Some scenes were a little softer such as at 65:20. Shadow detail was decent but never great. There was some occasional  light grain especially early in the running time such as at 7:50. There were also some minor MPEG artefacts to be seen from time to time.

    The colour was well rendered and vibrant representing the the beautiful cinematography well.

    Other artefacts only included some very occasional edge enhancement.

    There are yellow subtitles in English. They were clear and easy to read although a slightly different translation to those on the trailer.

    The layer change was not noticeable.
    

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio is quite good but again not quite as good as the first film.

    This DVD contains a French Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. This soundtrack was quieter and more front and centre focused than the first film.

    Dialogue seemed clear and easy to understand throughout although my French is limited.

    The music consists of a beautiful score by Vladimir Cosma which was Cesar nominated.

    The surround speakers provided a small amount of ambience when played using ProLogic II and the subwoofer added a little bass to the music.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    The menu is still and includes music from the score. Scene selection is available.

Theatrical Trailer (2:00) 

    In French with subtitles.

Madman Propaganda 

    Trailers for other films and an anti-piracy warning.

    The Region 1 release of this movie is very similar to our local release except that it adds an optional English dub. Draw.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio is quite good.

    Only a theatrical trailer in the extras department.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall