Love Rites – Kino Lorber (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: France, 1987
Director: Walerian Borowczyk
Writers: Walerian Borowczyk, André Pieyre de Mandiargues
Cast: Marina Pierro, Mathieu Carrière, Josy Bernard, Isabelle Tinard

Release Date: August 31st, 2021
Approximate Running Times: 101 Minutes (Theatrical Version), 87 Minutes 21 Seconds (Director's Cut)
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (Both Versions)
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono French (Both Versions)
Subtitles: English (Both Versions)
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $29.95

"Vain clothing buyer Hugo (Mathieu Carrière) meets beautiful Myriam (Marina Pierro) on the subway and pursues her, discovering to his delight that she’s a prostitute. The crafty Myriam, of course, has more in mind for their encounter than smug Hugo bargained for." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5

Love Rites comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 44.6 GB

Feature: 20.5 GB (Theatrical Version), 17.4 GB (Director's Cut)

The sources used for both versions are in very good shape. Colors and flesh tones look correct, image clarity and black levels look strong, and grain looks organic. When compared to the earlier home video release of Love Rites, this new release from Kino Lorber is a massive upgrade.

Audio: 4.5/5

Each version comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in English, and both versions come with removable English subtitles. Both the audio mixes are in great shape; the dialog always comes through clearly and everything sounds balanced.

Extras:

Extras for this release include an interview with actor Mathieu Carriere (8 minutes 8 seconds, DTS-HD stereo English, no subtitles), a short film directed by Walerian Borowczyk titled Brief von Paris (40 minutes 30 seconds, DTS-HD mono), an audio commentary with film historian Daniel Bird for the theatrical version, and a director’s cut version of Love Rites.

Brief von Paris is essentially a travelogue of Paris as the camera follows random people, goes to well-known locations, and the soundtrack is mostly composed of natural noises of people experiencing Paris.

Summary:

Though Walerian Borowczyk’s theatrical sawn-song Love Rites has many of the elements that are synonymous with his films, most notably striking imagery and adult themes. The result is arguably one of his weaker films.

While watching Love Rites, the thing that’s most glaring is how most of what unfolds feels forced; it lacks the spontaneity that Walerian Borowczyk’s most celebrated films have. Also, though Love Rites is most definitely an erotic film, it spends nearly an hour getting to know its two leads before it dives head-on into erotica for the remainder of the film.

That said, Love Rites' greatest assets are its two leads, Mathieu Carrière (Born for Hell) in the role of Hugo, a vain man who becomes entrapped in a web of deceit, and Marina Pierro (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne) in the role of Myriam, a mysterious woman who seduces Hugo. Marina Pierro looks stunning, and she perfectly fulfills the role of an object of desire. Ultimately, despite its flaws, Love Rites is a worthwhile cinema experience from one of cinema’s most unique filmmakers.

Love Rites makes its way to Blu-ray via an excellent release from Kino Lorber that comes with a solid audio/video presentation, an interesting short film directed by Walerian Borowczyk, and a pair of insightful extras, recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer