7.5/10
The majestic visuals found in much of French director Jean-Jacques Annaud's work makes them ideal for a reappraisal in 4K UHD, yet none of Annaud's films have seen a release in the format – until now. THE LOVER (115 mins., 1992, R; Capelight/MPI), Annaud's controversial 1992 film, marks the first of his pictures to receive a 4K restoration presented on UHD with Dolby Vision HDR, and the combination of Robert Fraisse's cinematography and Annaud's attentive eye make for a sumptuous visual feast enhanced by warmly saturated colors and details – making it even easier to appreciate Annaud's trademark capture of specific historical settings, which often have a transportive, “you are there” effect on the viewer.
The setting in “The Lover” is French Indochina circa the late 1920s, where a French teenager (Jane March) from a rural, poverty-stricken family – a widowed schoolteacher mother, an opium-addicted older brother and developmentally troubled younger brother – meets a wealthy Chinese man (Tony Leung Ka-Fai) en route back to her school in Saigon. The two engage in an affair that was taboo both for her age and its interracial components, with Annaud and writer Gerard Brach adapting Marguerite Duras' autobiographical writings for a film that superbly captures time and place, anchored by a “forbidden” love affair that one character seems much easier to ultimately break free from than the other.
“The Lover” generated some publicity when it premiered in the fall of 1992 due to the subject matter and its steamy love scenes. MGM released the film in the U.S. and cut some 13 minutes from the picture, with the movie losing much of its cumulative power in the process. Annaud's original version was eventually released – with an R rating – on home video by MGM, though the studio's distribution of the picture has since lapsed back to Renn Productions, resulting in this new Special Edition.
The UHD restoration of “The Lover” offers a beautiful Dolby Vision/HDR10+ grading that plays to the strengths of Annaud's film, heightening the look, mood and feel of a film that's locked in the memory of its young protagonist, almost like a cinematic daydream. The sound design (presented in a 5.1 DTS MA track) is likewise integral to the presentation, overflowing with directional activity and atmosphere, not to mention an alternately uneasy/ethereal Gabriel Yared score. This restoration, released by Capelight overseas and here distributed by MPI in an identical Digibook package, also includes a Blu-Ray of the restored transfer, which should make it additionally appealing to viewers seeing as the movie never generated a home video release beyond MGM's initial home video and later DVD editions. Extra features include an English-subtitled, hour long archival look at the production; a conversation prior to the film's shoot featuring Annaud and Dumas herself; picture galleries; a 24-page booklet; and roughly 10 minutes of deleted scenes, albeit without any audio.
Watching “The Lover” here makes one hope some of Annaud's other works which capture a variety of historical settings – be it the Russian battlefields of “Enemy at the Gates,” the medieval mystery of “The Name of the Rose,” and prehistoric adventure found in “Quest For Fire” – receive a similar treatment in 4K UHD soon.
