Eden and After – Redemption Films/Kino Lorber (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: France/Czechoslovakia, 1970
Director: Alain Robbe-Grillet
Writer: Alain Robbe-Grillet
Cast: Catherine Jourdan, Lorraine Rainer, Richard Leduc, Sylvain Corthay, Pierre Zimmer, Ludovít Króner, Jarmila Kolenicová, Juraj Kukura

Release Date: May 27th, 2014
Approximate Running Times: 98 Minutes 37 Seconds (Eden and After), 79 Minutes 7 Seconds (N. Took the Dice)
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (Both Versions)
Rating: NR
Sound: LPCM Mono French (Both Versions)
Subtitles: English (Both Versions)
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $34.95

"From the darkly erotic imagination of Alain Robbe-Grillet (Trans-Europe-Express) comes Eden and After, a dreamlike fable in which a group of decadent French students are drawn into the psychological and sexual games of a mysterious Dutchman (Pierre Zimmer). Once they imbibe his "fear powder," the students experience a series of hallucinatory episodes: reminations on death, explorations of sexual curiosity, and striking tableaux of sadomasochistic fantasy." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4/5 (Eden and After, N. Took the Dice)

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "Newly mastered in HD from 35mm elements."

Eden and After comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 45 GB

Feature: 22.2 GB (Eden and After), 16 GB (N. Took the Dice)

The sources used for these two versions are comparable, and both versions are in great shape. Flesh tones look healthy, colors look vibrant, image clarity is strong, compression is very good, and though grain remains intact, it does look noisier in some moments than others. Also, there are some issues related to Black Crush. That said, despite these shortcomings, the image does retain an organic look.

Audio: 4.25/5 (LPCM Mono French - Eden and After, LPCM Mono French - N. Took the Dice)

Both versions come with one audio option, a LPCM mono mix in French with removable English subtitles. Both audio tracks are in great shape. Dialog always comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced, and ambient sounds are well represented.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 41 seconds, LPCM mono French with non-removable English subtitles), a theatrical trailer for Trans-Europ-Express (3 minutes 21 seconds, LPCM mono French with non-removable English subtitles), a theatrical trailer for The Man Who Lies (3 minutes 22 seconds, LPCM mono French with non-removable English subtitles), a 2014 promo reel for the six Alain Robbe-Grillet films released by Redemption Films and Kino Lorber (2 minutes 9 seconds, LPCM mono with text in English), and an interview with director Alain Robbe-Grillet (30 minutes 56 seconds, LPCM stereo French with non-removable English subtitles).

Summary:

A group of college students have their lives turned upside down after a chance meeting with a mysterious man named Dutchman, whom he introduces as a hallucinatory, inducing white substance that he calls ‘fear powder’.

Where the overwhelming majority of his contemporaries have had their work reappraised, the same could not be said for the films of Alain Robbe-Grillet. That was until recently, as his films have become more widely available. And now that the bulk of his oeuvre has been given quality releases, the films of Alain Robbe-Grillet are ripe for their own reappraisal.

Though he was approached with the idea of shooting in color for the film The Man Who Lies, Alain Robbe-Grillet would hold out for one more film and not make his debut in color until his next film, Eden and After.

The transition from black and white to color is effortless, as Alain Robbe-Grillet immediately takes full advantage of his new palette of colors. Eden and After opens in grand style with a scene where a young woman is pursued through a maze-like structure that is bursting with vibrant colors. And though colors play an integral role in the story at hand, he makes an interesting visual choice halfway through when the action shifts away from robust, colorful locations to more subdued locations that are drenched in white. A few other striking moments visually include a woman watching broken glass and a nude woman descending down a staircase.

Narrative wise Alain Robbe-Grillet continues to experiment as he creates twelve loosely connected scenarios that, for the most part, are improvised. Whereas the first half focuses on a group of friends who hang out at a café called Eden, the second half shifts its focus more towards the protagonist's mind-altering trip after taking a mysterious substance referred to as ‘fear powder’. And to further support the idea that the second half is from the protagonist's point of view, for no reason at all, Eden and After shift locations to Tunisia while the protagonist and her friends are watching a documentary about Tunisia. To further drive home the protagonists’ trip down the rabbit hole, everyone in the documentary they are watching is their doppelganger.

From a performance standpoint, everyone is more than adequate in their respective roles, with Catherine Jourdan (Le Samouraï) in the role of the protagonist, a young woman named Violette, leaving the strongest lasting impression with her short, cropped Mia Farrow-like haircut and well above her knees very short mini dress. And though Eden and After would thematically continue along the same avenues that his previous three films had traversed, in terms of eroticism, Eden and After is the film where Alain Robbe-Grillet finally hits his stride.

Eden and After gets a solid release from Redemption Films that comes with a strong audio/video presentation, two versions of the film, and an informative interview, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer