Photo: Roger Arpajou/Mediapro, Versátil Cinema & Gravier Productions, courtesy Sony Pictures Classics
In this tale of the seductive pull of nostalgia, a screenwriter (Owen Wilson) visits the City of Light with his fiancée (Rachel McAdams) and falls for Paris of the past. Having trouble with his Hollywood-hack life, his in-the-works novel, and his shallow wife-to-be, our hero is astounded and delighted when, at the stroke of midnight, he’s whisked away in a vintage car to revel with Pablo Picasso, Gertrude Stein, Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, and other artists of the 1920s. Writer/director Woody Allen, in witty form, creates a delicious entertainment, with Marion Cotillard charming as Picasso’s mistress, Adrien Brody perfectly nailing Salvador Dalí, and Corey Stoll hilariously stealing his scenes as a stalwart and serious Ernest Hemingway whose pithy, muscular speech resembles his prose. On Blu-ray, there’s good depth to exteriors (such as the lily ponds at Giverny), but romantically lit interiors and figures therein are flat. There’s detail enough to read road signs and small print on background Cassis advertisements, while flea markets are visibly full of bric-a-brac. Whites are fairly bright but generally overcast, with warm yellow or rose-colored tints to everything. In the sound mix (across the 3 front channels only), voices are full, clear, and well placed, and the music of Sidney Bechet, Cole Porter, and Josephine Baker is big and beautiful, if mildly hissy. And in a first for Allen on disc, you get a few extras, even if they’re short.
Video: 1080p, 1.85:1. Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 3.0. Extras: “Midnight in Cannes,” from the film-festival press conference; galleries.
