The Golden Bowl (2000) |
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The Golden Bowl (2000) |
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| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Drama |
Trailer-Pane E Tulipane; Ma Femme Est Une Actrice Main Menu Audio & Animation Theatrical Trailer Interviews-Cast & Crew Notes-About Henry James Notes-About Merchant Ivory Productions Biographies-Crew |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 2000 | ||
| Running Time | 124:42 (Case: 129) | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (70:51) | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Ads Then Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 2,4 | Directed By | James Ivory |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Twentieth Century Fox |
Starring |
Kate Beckinsale James Fox Anjelica Huston Nick Nolte Jeremy Northam Madeleine Potter Uma Thurman |
| Case | ? | ||
| RPI | ? | Music | Richard Robbins |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) | |
| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.55:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
 |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles | English for the Hearing Impaired | Smoking | No |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
The Golden Bowl revolves around the relationship between Maggie (Kate Beckinsale), her husband Amerigo (Jeremy Northam), her best friend Charlotte (Uma Thurman), and her father Adam (Nick Nolte). Amerigo and Charlotte were past lovers, destined to never be together. Through a twist of fate, Charlotte and Adam marry, resulting in her re-introduction into the loving group.
A very complex story unravels between the married couples involving plenty of lies, half-truths, and passion. The centre-piece of the story, a flawed Golden Bowl, is used as a very accurate analogy of the relationship between Maggie and Amerigo. Will the bowl be broken? If so, will Maggie and Amerigo be able to put the pieces back together and carry on with their lives?
This is a fairly involved story that requires a certain amount of thought to follow the plot. If you are wanting a bit of mindless relief then this is most certainly not for you. However, it is a great example of how words can be just as brutal as any weapon. The biting riposte and innuendo are quite fascinating all on their own.
This transfer is presented in a non-16x9 enhanced aspect ratio of 2.55:1. Cinematically the aspect ratio was 2.35:1. I believe that the video has not been cropped, but squashed, resulting in scenes being marginally distorted. If we do a little maths on the (incorrect) ratio of 2.55:1 we can work out that there are only 300 lines, or 216,000 pixels, of resolution available to deliver the image, and it shows. If this were a 16x9 enhanced title there would be 400 lines (288,000 pixels) available. That is a 25% increase in resolution! Why, oh why was this title not enhanced?
Sharpness is relatively poor throughout the feature. Shadow detail is also poor, but not only that, all interior shots are very gloomy (for want of a better word). Interior scenes are very dark, as opposed to outside scenes that have far more reasonable levels of brightness. There was no noticeable low level noise. Grain is well controlled, but this is not really surprising given the overall levels of sharpness.
Colour suffers at the hands of the gloomy transfer. Outdoor scenes are quite well saturated, displaying relatively vivid colours, while indoor scenes fare much worse. I do not believe this is an artistic choice as period pieces of this nature should reflect the rich and sumptuous colours of the time.
I did not notice any MPEG artefacts throughout the course of the feature - they were likely hidden by the softness of the transfer. Film-to-video artefacts, on the other hand, were rampant with aliasing visible in literally every scene. Some of the worst examples can be seen at 6:19 (building), 14:06 & 14:55 (castle walls & doors), and 93:35. The aliasing is far more noticeable on large front projection systems. I had a quick look at the transfer on a Loewe Xelos and the aliasing is far more acceptable. The moral of the story - if you are using a TV then you will not notice the aliasing anywhere near as much! There is a light spattering of film artefacts but nothing to be concerned about.
The English subtitles for the Hearing Impaired are accurate and well timed.
This is an RSDL disc with the layer change occurring at 70:51 between Chapters 17 and 18. It is well placed.
| Sharpness |   |
| Shadow Detail |  |
| Colour | |
| Grain/Pixelization | |
| Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
| Film Artefacts | |
| Overall | |
There is only one English Dolby Digital 5.1 track available on this disc, encoded at the higher bitrate of 448kbps.
Dialogue quality is excellent throughout - very fortunate as this is a purely dialogue-driven film. Audio sync was fine throughout and I did not notice anything untoward.
The musical score by Richard Robbins is very well suited to the period. It blends very well with the movie and does not draw unnecessary attention away from the plot.
Although this is a Dolby Digital 5.1 track, there was minimal use of the surrounds. In fact, I thought this could have been a stereo track until I checked the amp and it assured me it was receiving a 5.1 signal. It would have been nice to hear a little more of the score being directed through the surrounds, creating a somewhat more enveloping soundscape.
The subwoofer does not fare any better than the surrounds - I doubt that it ever had anything to do. However, this is not surprising giving the entirely dialogue-driven nature of the movie.
| Dialogue | |
| Audio Sync | |
| Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
| Surround Channel Use | |
| Subwoofer |  |
| Overall | |
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The video quality is quite poor.
The audio quality is acceptable.
The extras are satisfactory for a rental release.
| Video | |
| Audio | |
| Extras | |
| Plot | |
| Overall | |
| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Pioneer 106S DVD-ROM with PowerDVD 4.0 scaling to 864p, using RGB output |
| Display | Mitsubishi VS-1281E CRT front projector on custom 16x9 screen (270cm). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Amplification | Onkyo TX-DS787, THX Select |
| Speakers | All matching Vifa Drivers: centre 2x6.5" + 1" tweeter (d'appolito); fronts and rears 6.5" + 1" tweeter; centre rear 5" + 1" tweeter; sub 10" (150WRMS) |