Three Films by Leos Carax – Criterion Collection (4K UHD/Blu-ray Combo)

Theatrical Release Dates: France, 1984 (Boy Meets Girl), France, 1986 (Mauvais Sang), France, 1991 (The Lovers on the Bridge)
Director: Leos Carax (All Films)
Writer: Leos Carax (All Films)
Cast: Denis Lavant, Mireille Perrier, Carroll Brooks, Maïté Nahyr, Elie Poicard, Christian Cloarec (Boy Meets Girl), Michel Piccoli, Juliette Binoche, Denis Lavant, Hans Meyer, Julie Delpy, Carroll Brooks, Hugo Pratt, Mireille Perrier, Serge Reggiani, Jérôme Zucca (Mauvais Sang), Juliette Binoche, Denis Lavant, Daniel Buain, Klaus-Michael Grüber, Marion Stalens (The Lovers on the Bridge)

Release Date: December 15th, 2025
Approximate Running Times: 104 Minutes 57 Seconds (Boy Meets Girl), 120 Minutes 4 Seconds (Mauvais Sang), 126 Minutes 46 Seconds (The Lovers on the Bridge)
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 (Boy Meets Girl, Mauvais Sang), 1.66:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / HDR10 Dolby Vision (The Lovers on the Bridge)
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono French (Boy Meets Girl, Mauvais Sang), DTS-HD 5.1 French (The Lovers on the Bridge)
Subtitles: English (All Films)
Region Coding: Region Free (4K UHD), Region A (Blu-ray)
Retail Price: $124.95

Boy Meets Girl: "Made when he was just twenty-three years old, Leos Carax’s rapturous debut feature returns French cinema to the unfettered experimentation of the New Wave while updating it for the punk 1980s. In velvety black and white, Boy Meets Girl evokes a surreal nocturnal Paris populated by lost souls and wandering misfits, including Alex (Denis Lavant), a disaffected would-be filmmaker whose girlfriend has just left him for his best friend, and Mireille (Mireille Perrier), an aspiring actress nursing her own heartbreak. Drawn together by fate, they share a moment of intense, fleeting connection as bright-burning and ephemeral as youth itself." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Mauvais Sang: "With his exhilarating second feature, Leos Carax infuses a neonoir scenario with a delirious strain of doomed romanticism for a tour de force of avant-pop invention. Amid the spread of STBO—a sexually transmitted disease acquired by having sex without emotion—a young ex-con (Denis Lavant) is recruited by a veteran criminal (Michel Piccoli) to steal the antidote, only to find himself entangled in a dangerous affair with his new associate’s lover (Juliette Binoche). Constructed with the kinetic verve of a musical, Mauvais sang explodes in moments of pure cinematic adrenaline, from a dizzying skydive to Lavant’s heart-pounding nighttime sprint set to David Bowie’s “Modern Love.” - synopsis provided by the distributor

The Lovers on the Bridge: "With this feverish saga of amour fou, Leos Carax pushed his ambitions to glorious new heights. Michèle (Juliette Binoche), an artist who is losing her sight, meets Alex (Denis Lavant), a homeless street performer, while sleeping rough on Paris’s centuries-old Pont-Neuf, beginning an obsessive affair that soon collides with crushing reality. The result of an infamously lengthy, arduous production, The Lovers on the Bridge is a bracing plunge into life on the city’s turbulent margins—a visually arresting, musically intoxicating film that is never more dazzling than when the lovers water-ski madly across the Seine amid a shower of fireworks." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5 (4K UHD - All Films, 5/5 - Blu-ray)

Here’s the information provided about the transfers, "Boy Meets Girl, Mauvais sang, and The Lovers on the Bridge are presented in the aspect ratio of 1.66:1. These new 4K restorations were supervised by cinematographer Caroline Champetier and created from the 35mm original camera negatives.

Boy Meets Girl and Mauvais sang are presented in SDR (standard dynamic range). The Lovers on the Bridge is presented in Dolby Vision HDR (high dynamic range) on the 4K Ultra HD disc and high-definition SDR on the Blu-ray."

Boy Meets Girl comes on a 66 GB dual layer 4K UHD.

Disc Size: 60.6 GB

Feature: 58.4 GB

The source looks excellent, and in many ways it looks similar to the Carlotta Films 2014 Blu-ray release. Flesh tones look healthy, contrast, black levels, image clarity, and compression are solid, and the image retains an organic appearance.

Boy Meets Girl comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 46.1 GB

Feature: 29.3 GB

This Blu-ray uses the same master that is used for the 4K UHD disc.

Mauvais Sang comes on a 100 GB triple layer 4K UHD.

Disc Size: 86.4 GB

Feature: 84.3 GB

When compared to the Carlotta Films 2014 Blu-ray release, the most noticeable difference is the color palette. I had no issues with either Carlotta's or Criterion's color palettes, even though many will choose one over the other. That said, the source looks excellent; flesh tones look healthy, image clarity, black levels, and compression are solid, and the image retains an organic appearance.

Mauvais Sang comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 44.9 GB

Feature: 33.4 GB

This Blu-ray uses the same master that is used for the 4K UHD disc.

The Lovers on the Bridge comes on a 100 GB triple layer 4K UHD.

Disc Size: 90.1 GB

Feature: 88 GB

When compared to Kino Lorber’s 2017 Blu-ray release, the new transfer improves upon it. That said, when it comes to these two releases, they offer different color palettes. While I found both Kino's and Criterion's color palettes acceptable, many viewers may prefer one over the other. That said, the source looks excellent; flesh tones look healthy, image clarity, black levels, and compression are solid, and the image retains an organic appearance.

The Lovers on the Bridge comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 44.4 GB

Feature: 36.6 GB

This Blu-ray uses the same master that is used for the 4K UHD disc.

Audio: 5/5 (All Audio Tracks)

Boy Meets Girl and Mauvais Sang come with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in French with removable English subtitles. The Lovers on the Bridge comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in French with removable English subtitles. All tracks sound excellent; dialogue comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced, and ambient sounds are well-represented.

Extras:

There are no extras on the Boy Meets Girl 4K UHD disc.

Extras on the Boy Meets Girl Blu-ray disc include raw footage from the kitchen sequence titled On Set: In the Kitchen (17 minutes 32 seconds, Dolby Digital mono French with removable English subtitles), Denis Lavant screen test (8 minutes 9 seconds, Dolby Digital mono French with removable English subtitles), an interview with actor Denis Lavant (25 minutes 41 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo French with removable English subtitles.), an interview with director Leos Carax (9 minutes 20 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), and a self-portrait film by director Leos Carax titled It’s Not Me (41 minutes 30 seconds, Dolby Digital 5.1 French with removable English subtitles).

There are no extras on the Mauvais Sang Girl 4K UHD disc.

Extras on the Mauvais Sang Blu-ray disc include a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 21 seconds, Dolby Digital mono French with removable English subtitles), a deleted scene (5 minutes 22 seconds, Dolby Digital mono French with removable English subtitles), archival footage/screen tests, outtakes, and behind-the-scenes footage (20 minutes 26 seconds, Dolby Digital mono French with removable English subtitles), an interview with the cinematographer of Jean-Yves Escoffier (18 minutes 49 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo French with removable English subtitles), and a documentary titled Mr. X: A Vision of Leos Carax (70 minutes 13 seconds, Dolby Digital 5.1 English and French with removable English subtitles).

There are no extras on the The Lovers on the Bridge 4K UHD disc.

Extras on the The Lovers on the Bridge Blu-ray disc include a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 16 seconds, Dolby Digital 5.1 French with non-removable English subtitles), a video essay on the cinematography of Jean-Yves Escoffier (31 minutes 32 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), and Le Pont-Neuf des amants—a documentary on the making of the main set for The Lovers on the Bridge (53 minutes 39 seconds, Dolby Digital mono French with non-removable English subtitles).

Other extras include a 42-page booklet with cast & crew information for each film, an essay titled Vital Signs written by Amina Cain, a 1991 piece on The Lovers on the Bridge titled It’s All Just Words written by Leos Carax, and information about the transfers.

Summary:

Boy Meets Girl: An aspiring filmmaker named Alex looks for someone to fill the void created by his girlfriend, who left him for his best friend. After a chance meeting, he meets a woman named Mireille with suicidal tendencies who is going through her own relationship crisis. Will they be able to find in each other the things they need to be happy, or will their time together be short-lived?

Boys Meets Girl was the feature film debut of Leos Carax (Mauvais Sang, The Lovers on the Bridge), who, along with Luc Besson (Subway, Nikita) and Jean-Jacques Beineix (Diva, Betty Blue), were all part of Cinéma du Look, a French film movement of the 1980s. Two key collaborators on Boy Meets Girls include actor Denis Lavant, who has appeared in four of Leo Carax’s five feature films, and cinematographer Jean-Yves Escoffier, who worked with Leo Carax on his first three films. Content-wise, Boy Meets Girl is a film that proudly wears its cinematic influences on its sleeve, most notably silent cinema and Jean-Luc Godard.

A trio of heavy confrontational moments set the narrative in motion, the first involving a woman with her child in their car, and she has just called her significant other to inform him that she is leaving him. The rejection does not end there, as she further informs him that she has taken all of his poems and paintings and is going to throw these items into the river. The other main confrontation involves the protagonist, Alex, who has just learned that his girlfriend has left him for his best friend, and Alex nearly kills said friend during their confrontation. The third confrontation and the most distant of these three involves a woman named Mireille, whom Alex falls in love with later on in the film. Her breakup is coming via an intercom, which she uses to talk to her boyfriend, who is standing outside of where they live. And unknown to him, the man who is going to replace him, Alex, is standing behind him, observing the events as they unfold.

There are a series of sequences where the protagonist, Alex, becomes an observer as he watches how other couples interact and hears the sounds of his neighbors making love. Unfortunately for him, they remind him of the woman he has just lost, and in one last attempt to woo her back, she steals records for her, and he leaves them with a note that he slid under her apartment door. And when this last ditch attempt to regain what he had lost fails, he then continues his search as an observer, which eventually leads him to a party where destiny brings him together with Mireille, the woman whose voice she had heard before but had yet to see face-to-face.

Though the words can often be sparse in Boys Meets Girls, the emotions are always put front and center for the viewer to fully appreciate the state that each character is in at any given moment. In place of words, Boys Meets Girls effortlessly uses body language and facial expressions to convey the message it is trying to get across. And to further enhance this waterfall of emotions that are displayed in every frame of Boys Meets Girl is its exquisite use of black and white cinematography. And nowhere is Boys Meets Girls' use of black and white more potent than in its tragic finale.

When it comes to performances, the weight of Boys Meets Girl sits on the shoulders of its two leads, Denis Lavant in the role of Alex and Mireille Perrier in the role of Mireille. These two actors give emotionally charged performances that are convincing, and they have an undeniable chemistry. The most memorable scene is when they finally have their first face-to-face conversion in the kitchen at a party they both are attending.

Though love is a universal theme that has served as the basis of countless feature films, far too many of these films are bogged down by the obligatory cinematic happy ending. Thankfully, not everyone walks to the beat of that all-too-familiar drummer, and there exist films like Boy Meets Girl that go against the grain with their depiction of the many sides of love. Ultimately, Boy Meets Girl is an exceptional melodrama that lingers on in your mind long after its poignant climax.

Mauvais Sang: After the tragic and unexpected death of his father, a young man named Alex is recruited by his father's former colleges for a heist that involves stealing a culture of the vaccine from a drug manufacturer and selling it to one of their competitors.

Content-wise, though Mauvais Sang has a faint hint of sci-fi and often tips its hat to the Nouvelle Vague crime thrillers from the 1960's, On the sci-fi angle, there is a vaccine that protects people from a mysterious virus that attacks those who participate in loveless intercourse. While the crime thriller angle explores the heist that is required to obtain this vaccine, another clear influence on this Mauvais Sang is Alfred Hitchcock, and its allusive vaccine is nothing more than a MacGuffin. That said, while love remains the central theme in Mauvais Sang, Leos Carax follows up his exuberant debut, Boys Meets Girl.

Narrative wise, once again, things are anemic and feel like a series of loosely connected events. Fortunately, there is a wealth of well-defined characters that ensure that there is never a dull moment. Visually, there is an artificiality to the world that he has created for his characters. And his deliberate use of specific colors and meticulous framing of compositions greatly reinforces the mood he wants the subject matter to evoke.

The most memorable moment involves its protagonist, Alex, who, while listening to the radio, decides to do an impromptu dance down the street to David Bowie’s Modern Love. Other standout moments visually include a bittersweet finale, a fight scene between Alex and Mark, and the use of music from Sergei Prokofiev’s ballet ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Also, when discussing Mauvais Sang’s visuals, one must not overlook how mesmerizing its leading ladies, Julie Delpy and Juliette Binoche, look throughout.

As mentioned before, Mauvais Sang is overflowing with colorful characters that are always interesting to watch. And this, in turn, carries over to the performances of the cast, who are all great in their respective roles. Cast once again in the role of the protagonist named Alex is Denis Lavant, who once again gives a pitch-perfect performance. Other performances of note include Julie Delpy (Killing Zoe) in the role of Lise, the woman who is in love with Alex, and Juliette Binoche (Three Colors) in the role of Anna, the woman that Alex is in love with. Ultimately, Mauvais Sang is a truly unique cinematic experience that is unlike anything that has come before or since.

The Lovers on the Bridge: A homeless addict forms a relationship with a woman who is losing her sight.

Though love stories have been one of the cornerstones of cinema since its inception, it is safe to say that there has not been a love story like the one that unfolds in The Lovers on the Bridge. At the heart of this different kind of love story are two down-on-their-luck characters who are brought together by a chance encounter. And though there are moments that one would usually associate with a love story, there are other themes that play just as large a role in the story at hand, most notably obsession.

The narrative is meticulously contracted, and pacing is never an issue as things move along with deliberate momentum. Key moments are given just the right amount of time to fully sink in. And the well-defined motivations of the main characters are never in doubt.

Performance-wise, as good as the entire cast is in their respective roles, The Lovers on the Bridge’s greatest asset are its two leads, Denis Lavant (Boy Meets Girl) in the role of a homeless addict named Alex and Juliette Binoche (Mauvais Sang) in the role of Michèle Stalens, a young woman whose deteriorating eye sight has contributed greatly to her bleak outlook on the current state of her life. They both deliver multilayered performances that are utterly convincing. Another notable performance is by Daniel Buain in the role of Alex’s vagrant friend. Not to be overlooked is the role that this film’s central location, the Pont-Neuf Bridge in Paris, plays in the story at hand.

The visuals do an extraordinary job of reinforcing the mood. And nowhere is this more evident than how the Lovers on the Bridge take full advantage of their locations, most notably the aforementioned Pont-Neuf Bridge. Standout moments visually include a scene where the two main characters drunkenly waterski down the Seine River as fireworks light up the sky. Another standout moment is a scene where Alex realizes that someone is looking for Michèle and, not wanting to lose her, destroys posters in a subway tunnel by lighting them on fire.

Though The Lovers on the Bridge starts off with its characters on self-destructive paths, the end result is a deeply rewarding experience that proves that love truly conquers all!

Criterion Collection’s Three Films by Leos Carax is an excellent release; each film comes with a solid audio/video presentation, and there is a wealth of insightful extras. Highly recommended.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a MPC-HC player and lossless PNGs.

 

Written by Michael Den Boer