The Sunday Woman: Limited Edition – Radiance Films (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1975
Director: Luigi Comencini
Writers: Carlo Fruttero, Franco Lucentini, Agenore Incrocci, Furio Scarpelli
Cast: Marcello Mastroianni, Jacqueline Bisset, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Aldo Reggiani, Maria Teresa Albani, Omero Antonutti

Release Date: April 17th, 2023 (UK), April 18th, 2023 (USA)
Approximate running time: 109 Minutes 18 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC & 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: 15 (UK), NR (USA)
Sound: DTS-HD Mono Italian
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region A,B
Retail Price: £16.99 (UK), $34.95 (USA)

"An odious architect is beaten to death and a high society wife (Jacqueline Bisset, Day for Night) and her gay friend (Jean-Louis Trintignant, The Conformist) are the key suspects with a discarded letter implicating them in the crime. Commissioner Santamaria (Marcello Mastroianni, Fellini’s 8 ½) is assigned to the case and tries to uncover the murder suspect in upper-class Turin." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5 (1.85:1 Aspect Ratio, 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio)

Here’s the information provided about the transfer, “The Sunday Woman was scanned in 2K from the original negative and restored by Studio Cine, Rome. Additional color grading and correction was performed by Radiance.”

The Sunday Woman comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 45.5 GB

Feature: 21.6 GB (1.85:1 Aspect Ratio), 18.5 GB (1.33:1 Aspect Ratio)

The sources used for both aspect ratios look excellent. Though the 1.33:1 aspect ratio offers more headroom, there are some moments where the 1.33:1 aspect ratio has too much headroom. Flesh tones look correct; color saturation, image clarity, black levels, and compression are solid. Also, the image retains an organic look.

Audio: 4.25/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in Italian, and removable English subtitles. The audio is in great shape; dialog always comes through clearly; everything sounds balanced; and Ennio Morricone’s score sounds appropriately robust.

Extras:

Extras for this release a theatrical trailer (3 minutes 38 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with academic and Italian cinema expert Richard Dyer (18 minutes 15 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival interview with cinematographer Luciano Tovoli (22 minutes 11 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with academic and screenwriter Giacomo Scarpelli (36 minutes 1 second, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an archival French TV interview with Jean-Louis Trintignant (4 minutes 28 seconds, Dolby Digital mono French with removable English subtitles), reversible cover art, removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings and a 24-page booklet (limited to 2000 copies) cast & crew information, an essay titled The Sunday Woman written by Mariangela Sansone, a reprint of an archival piece on the film titled A Fable Without Morality written by Gerard Legrand and information about the transfer. 

Summary:

The Sunday Woman was directed by Luigi Comencini, a filmmaker best remembered for his work in commedia all'italiana. Notable films he directed include Bread, Love and Dreams, The Window to Luna Park, and Unknown Woman. The Sunday Woman was adapted from Franco Lucentini and Carlo Fruttero’s novel titled La donna della domenica, Mondadori.

The narrative revolves around a detective and a group of suspects who all have a reason for wanting the murdered man dead. The murder weapon is a large phallus. And with each new revelation, the detective is one step closer to the truth.

Though The Sunday Woman is a thriller, it is a different type of thriller than the black-gloved thrillers that dominated 1970s Italian cinema. In fact, The Sunday Woman is just as much of a thriller as it is a comedy. That said, most of the humor is on the subversive side.

The Sunday Woman features a solid cast who are amazing in their roles, especially the three leads, Marcello Mastroianni (8 1/2) in the role of a detective named Salvatore Santamaria, Jacqueline Bisset (The Mephisto Waltz) in the role of a high society wife named Anna Carla Dosio, and Jean-Louis Trintignant (So Sweet... So Perverse) in the role of Anna’s gay friend Massimo Campi. All three actors deliver pitch-perfect performances that superbly play off of each other.

Despite a deliberately paced narrative that takes its time to establish who all the main players are, The Sunday Woman’s narrative always manages to remain engaging. With the last forty minutes being pure perfection where everything falls into place. Other strengths include Ennio Morricone’s (Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion) exceptional score, and cinematographer Luciano Tovoli’s (Suspiria) striking visuals do a superb job reinforcing the mood. 

If you go into The Sunday Woman expecting a straight-forward thriller, then you might be disappointed, while those who go into The Sunday Woman with an open mind will find a highly entertaining slice of subversive humor that could have only come from Italy.

The Sunday Woman gets an excellent release from Radiance Films that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and insightful extras, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer