La Cérémonie – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: France/Germany, 1995
Director: Claude Chabrol
Writers: Claude Chabrol, Caroline Eliacheff
Cast: Isabelle Huppert, Sandrine Bonnaire, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Jacqueline Bisset, Virginie Ledoyen, Valentin Merlet, Julien Rochefort

Release Date: November 21st, 2023
Approximate Running Time: 112 Minutes 11 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVCC
Rating: NR
Sound: LPCM Stereo French
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $39.95

"a small-town postal worker and a maid to a wealthy family, a pair of outsiders who form a mysterious alliance that gradually, almost imperceptibly, goes haywire." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.25/5

Here’s the information provided about the transfer, “This new digital master was created from the 35mm original camera negative, which was scanned in 4K resolution by MK2 at Eclair Classics.”

La Cérémonie comes on a 50 GBdual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 42.6 GB

Feature: 28.7 GB

Though the colors look different when compared to this film’s previous home media releases, it is not as off-putting as some on the internet have suggested. That said, I prefer how they look on this release. Flesh tones look healthy, imager clarity and black levels are strong, compression is very good, and grain remains intact.

Audio: 5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a LPCM stereo mix in French with removable English subtitles. The audio sounds excellent; dialog is clear, everything sounds balanced, and, range-wise, ambient sounds are well represented.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a theatrical trailer (1 minute 1 second, Dolby Digital mono French with non-removable English subtitles), an episode of the Criterion Channel series Observations on Film Art about the use of offscreen sound that focuses on La Cérémonie (9 minutes 24 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English with non-removable English subtitles for French film clips), an archival interview with screenwriter Caroline Eliacheff (9 minutes 24 seconds, Dolby Digital mono French with non-removable English subtitles), an archival extra titled Isabelle Huppert and Claude Chabrol: Crossed Portraits featuring actress Isabelle Huppert and director Claude Chabrol who discuss their collaborative process (22 minutes 5 seconds, Dolby Digital mono French with non-removable English subtitles), an archival featurette titled The Making of “La Cérémonie” featuring Claude Chabrol, Isabelle Huppert, and Sandrine Bonaire (18 minutes 35 seconds, Dolby Digital mono French with non-removable English subtitles), an interview with actress Sandrine Bonnaire (12 minutes 33 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo French with removable English subtitles), an archival selected-scene audio commentary with Claude Chabrol (29 minutes 3 seconds, Dolby Digital mono French with non-removable English subtitles), an interview with filmmaker Bong Jong Ho who discusses the cinema of Claude Chabrol (12 minutes 59 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Korean with removable English subtitles), and a leaflet with an essay titled Domestic Disturbances written by Sarah Weinman and information about the restoration.

Summary:

Claude Chabrol, like Alfred Hitchcock, is one of the few filmmakers who truly mastered suspense films. When it came to the way they crafted a narrative, they were both meticulous. They knew how to create peaks and valleys that never disrupted momentum. And their ability to guide the viewer to what they wanted them to pay attention to is second to none. That said, nothing in a Claude Chabrol or Alfred Hitchcock film ever feels forced.

An affluent family who lives in an isolated mansion in the countryside hires a new maid. Despite fitting in with the family, things start to unravel as she tries to conceal a dark secret from her past. Everything comes to a head when she forms a strong bond with a troublemaker postal clerk who encourages her to rebel against her employers.

The art of deception is an integral part of the cinema of Claude Chabrol, and La Cérémonie is a film overflowing with it. Though most of the characters are well-defined and it's clear where they stand, when it comes to the protagonist Sophie, the new maid, she is an enigma. The uncertainty about who Sophie really is does not come about because of the secrets she hides; she's a chameleon who effortlessly shifts her persona to fit the situation.

Performance-wise, the entire cast is excellent, especially Sandrine Bonnaire (Vagabond) in the role of Sophie and Isabelle Huppert (Story of Women) in the role of the troublemaking postal worker. They have a tremendous amount of chemistry, and the scenes they share are the most riveting. Another performance of note is Virginie Ledoyen’s (The Beach) portrayal of Melinda, the daughter with her own secret that she’s trying to conceal.

Most of Claude Chabrol’s films are in the suspense genre, and yet these films were often more than just standard fare mysteries. He was a filmmaker who often interjected social commentary in the story that was unfolding. La Cérémonie explores themes like family, good vs. evil, loneliness, and classism. In the case of the latter, classism is a theme that Claude Chabrol would often return to throughout his career.

From a production standpoint, La Cérémonie is a film where everything falls into place. The perfectly constructed narrative moves at a deliberate pace, and a double twist finale provides an exemplary coda to the events that have unfolded. Though there are a few striking moments visually, Claude Chabrol’s direction lets the characters take center stage. Ultimately, La Cérémonie is an extraordinary film that slowly draws you in, makes you think it's going one way, only to climax with a moment of truth that hits you like a sledgehammer.

La Cérémonie gets a solid release from The Criterion Collection that comes with a strong audio/video presentation and informative extras, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer