The Bride Wore Black: Limited Edition – Radiance Films (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: France/Italy, 1968
Director: François Truffaut
Writers: François Truffaut, Jean-Louis Richard
Cast: Jeanne Moreau, Michel Bouquet, Jean-Claude Brialy, Charles Denner, Claude Rich, Michael Lonsdale, Daniel Boulanger, Alexandra Stewart

Release Date: May 15th, 2023 (UK)
Approximate Running Time: 107 Minutes 36 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: 15 (UK)
Sound: LPCM Mono French
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region B
Retail Price: £16.99 (UK)

"Jeanne Moreau (Jules et Jim) stars as the titular bride, who after marrying her love sees him murdered on the steps outside the church. From here she enacts her ruthless revenge on the group of men responsible." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5

Here’s the information provided about the transfer, "The Bride Wore Black was transferred from 35mm negative interpositive at Teletota in Paris. The transfer was supplied to Radiance by MGM via Park Circus as a High Definition digital file."

The Bride Wore Black comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 40 GB

Feature: 29.2 GB

The source used for this transfer is in great shape; any print debris or other imperfections have been cleaned up. Flesh tones look correct, color saturation, image clarity, and compression are solid, and black levels are strong. There are many areas where this transfer is similar to Twilight Time’s Blu-ray. And yet the result is a noticeably stronger transfer that benefits from an excellent encode.

Audio: 4.5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a LPCM mono mix in French with removable English subtitles. The audio is in excellent shape; there are no sibilance issues; dialog comes through clearly; everything sounds balanced; ambient sounds and Bernard Herrmann are well represented.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a theatrical trailer (1 minute 51 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a short written by François Truffaut titled Les surmenés (24 minutes 37 seconds, LPCM mono French with removable English subtitles), an archival interview with director François Truffaut (11 minutes 37 seconds, Dolby Digital mono French with removable English subtitles), an archival interview with actress Jeanne Moreau (4 minutes 41 seconds, Dolby Digital mono French with removable English subtitles), an appreciation by filmmaker Kent Jones (15 minutes 31 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with Barry Forshaw who discusses Cornell Woolrich and the adaptation (8 minutes 51 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), reversible cover art, removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings and a 32-page booklet (limited to 3000 copies) with cast & crew information, an essay titled Hitchcockery written by Penelope Houston, Letters (1964-1968) written by François Truffaut, excerpt from The Whirlwind of Life written by Jeanne Moreau, and information about the transfer.

Summary:

The Bride Who Wore Black would mark the first of François Truffaut’s homages to the cinema of Alfred Hitchcock. It was also only the second time that Truffaut had worked with color. The first film he shot in color was his first English-language film, Fahrenheit 451.

The narrative revolves around Julie Kohler, who goes from the happiest moment of her life when she marries her childhood sweetheart to the darkest moment when he is gunned down on the steps of the church after their wedding ceremony. Julie, now in a deep depression, now lives with her mother, and after a failed suicide attempt, she finds strength in her hatred for the men who killed the man she loved. Her quest for revenge soon becomes an obsession as she tracks each man down. She seduces each man before she disposes of them in clever and unique ways. Will she be able to eliminate all the names in her little black book before the police find out about her diabolic scheme?

Frequent Alfred Hitchcock collaborator and composer Bernard Herrmann composes a score that is reminiscent of the work he did for Hitchcock. There is a scene that takes place early on in which the lead character, Julie, is walking on the platform at a train station that is a clear nod to Alfred Hitchcock’s Marnie.

When we are next introduced to Julie, she is dressed in a beautiful evening dress, and Roul Coutard’s soft lighting makes her look angelic and not of this earth. This moment bears a strong resemblance to a scene in Vertigo when Scottie witnesses Judy’s transformation into the beautiful Madeleine Elster. The way the camera moves and the shots are set up throughout is shot in a more subjective way that involves the viewer more.

Jeanne Moreau is one of France’s greatest actresses, and she gives the performance of a lifetime as an icy-cold scorned woman who is never impulsive as she meticulously completes her cycle of revenge. The choice of using Jeanne Moreau is an interesting one since it goes against the grain since Alfred Hitchcock frequently casts blondes in the lead. François Truffaut could have hired someone like Catherine Deneuve, who perfectly fits the Hitchcock prototype, but instead he makes an inspired choice with Jeanne Moreau, who delivers an extraordinary performance.

The structure of the narrative is told in a non-linear way through a series of flashbacks. And by telling the story this way, François Truffaut gives the viewer just enough information to get them by until the next reveal. François Truffaut always had "MacGuffins’ plot devices that drove the plot. The ‘MacGuffin’ in François Truffaut’s The Bride Who Wore Black is even more shocking as we finally learn the truth behind the groom’s death. The Bride Who Wore Black ends with a twist ending that would put a smile on the face of the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. François Truffaut rarely made pictures that would fall into a specific genre, and with The Bride Who Wore Black, he directs one of the best homages in the history of cinema.

Radiance Films gives The Bride Wore Black its best home video release to date, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer