My Night at Maud’s Blu-ray (DigiPack)

My night at Maud’s

(1969)

Jean-Louis, a thirtysomething Catholic engineer, lives by a strict moral code and immerses himself in mathematics and the philosophy of Blaise Pascal. After spotting the delicate Françoise at mass, he vows to make her his wife, but when he spends an unexpected night in the apartment of the daring divorcee Maud, his rigid standards are challenged.

To learn more about My night at Maud’s and the Blu-ray release of My Night at Maud’s, see the Blu-ray review of My Night at Maud’s published by Jeffrey Kauffman on August 9, 2024 where this Blu-ray release was given a score of 4.5 of 5.

Director: Eric Rohmer

Author: Ric Rohmer

With: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Marie-Christine Barrault, Francoise Fabian, Antoine Vitez, Lonide Kogan, Guy Léger

Producers: Barbet Schroeder, Pierre Cottrell


» See the full cast and crew

My Night at Maud’s Blu-ray Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, August 9, 2024

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Eric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales from Criterion.

One of the most interesting and at the same time most singular points of world cinema is the fertility of the community of French film critics in the production of cinema titans. manufacturing. The iconic French publication Cinema Notebooks The magazine was a veritable hotbed of activity in this regard, and while names like Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut may top a list drawn from those who started out as editors for the magazine and went on to distinguished careers in film, there are many others, including Jacques Rivette, Claude Chabrol, and the man responsible for the six films (some of them shorts) in this collection, Eric Rohmer. Rohmer’s fame may have at least temporarily eclipsed Godard and Truffaut, at least for a time, when the trio of My night at Maud’s, Claire’s knee, And Love in the afternoon Rohmer’s films became international sensations as the 1960s gave way to the 1970s. An obituary of Rohmer in a major newspaper noted his “durability” and suggested that while he lacked the immediate recognition of some of his peers, his work had outlived any fleeting sensibilities that might have accompanied the film releases of other older critics. Really It is fascinating to note that within the category of “trivial pursuits,” the six “tales” collected as examples of “morality” by Rohmer are all based, at least tangentially, on F.W. Murnau’s legendary novel. Sunrise.

My night at Maud’s remains one of Rohmer’s most memorable films, and one of the things that may have piqued the interest of American filmgoers in particular at the time of its original release and long theatrical run was the fact that due to the vagaries of screenings and awards eligibility rules, the film actually earned two Oscar nominations in two years. While its screenplay was praised by the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Society of Film Critics in 1970, its only Oscar nomination that year was for Best Foreign Language Film (where it perhaps understandably lost to Costa-Gravas). Z). It was not until 1971 that the Academy gave the film a second nomination for Best Screenplay (where Patton (I defeated him). Apart from the anecdotes about the rewards,
My night at Maud’s revisits a basic element of Rohmer, that of a somewhat incompetent man (at least romantically) thought he wants one woman, only to potentially fall for another.

What is fascinating about My night at Maud’s It’s the way he openly addresses a religious aspect that is frankly only vaguely mentioned in the film that supposedly inspired this entire series, Sunrise. This 1927 classic was undoubtedly a melodrama, with almost
Grand Guignol aspirations sometimes like It is The incompetent man struggled with conflicting desires, but his “morality” was basically a simple equation between “good girl” and “prostitute.” Here, in My night at Maud’s, which, despite a certain heaviness of tone, is probably not yet as disturbing as
Sunrise, The male lead Jean-Louis (Jean-Louis Trintignant) is a devout Catholic, and in fact spies on his supposed “dream girl” Françoise (Marie-Christine Barrault) while he attends mass. Interestingly enough, at least in a metaphorical sense, the “other woman” Maud in the film is played by an actress who shares the “nice girl” character’s first name, Françoise Fabian.

My Night at Maud’s Blu-ray, video quality

My night at Maud’s is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection with a 1080p transfer encoded in AVC at 1.37:1. Criterion’s insert booklet notes that “the restoration of the six films was undertaken by Les Films du Losange, with the support of the Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée (CNC)”, and further notes that this particular film was transferred to 3K from a 35mm interpositive. After the decidedly “jagged” (in Criterion’s own words) appearance of Suzanne’s careerThis presentation is like a breath of fresh air, with a much more consistent accounting of virtually every aspect we try to mention in reviews. Contrast is generally spot on, navigating slight but noticeable lighting value shifts as things move from indoors to outdoors. Detail levels are generally excellent throughout, though once again Rohmer tends to favor mid-range framing quite often. There is virtually no age-related wear. Grain is well resolved throughout.

My Night at Maud’s Blu-ray, audio quality

My night at Maud’s contains another LPCM Mono track in the original French release, though that track’s fame may have led to better overall selection of elements over the years, as this track is noticeably more full-bodied in overall tone than either of the shorts offered as “warm-up acts” in Criterion’s Rohmer box set. There’s still no very “baroque” approach to the sound design, and things are really quite basic here, with the bulk of the presentation devoted to dialogue, with occasional ambient environmental sounds intruding into the proceedings. Dialogue is rendered clearly and cleanly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

My Night at Maud’s Blu-ray, overall rating and recommendation

Quiz fans may know that My night at Maud’s is not the only foreign film to see its Oscar nominations spread over two years (or more), with
Amarcord And The Battle of Algiers also belonging to this august group. Although obviously tangential, this unusual situation may at least subliminally hint at the film’s “resistance,” and it continues to impress with its typically French take on the vagaries of romance (and, ultimately, marriage), with this all is fair in love and war sensitivity which can be the romantic equivalent of let it be. The technical merits are generally solid and My night at Maud’s come Highly recommended.

Blu-ray boxes with My night at Maud’s (1 box set)

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My Night at Maud’s Blu-ray News and Updates

• Criterion Announces May Titles – February 14, 2020

The Criterion Collection has announced that it will be adding six new titles to its catalog in May. They are: Six Moral Tales (1963-1972), The Great Escape (1963), Wildlife (2018), Dance, Girl, Dance (1940), Husbands (1970), and Scorsese Shorts (1963-1978).

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