Blu-ray Review: POTICHE - French Cinema At It's Best

By Stuart Cummins / October 10, 2011

Take a trip down nostalgia lane and find yourself transported back to the outlandish comedy and garish colours of 1970s France with today's Blu-ray release of Potiche (Trophy Wife). Read on for our review... When her husband is taken hostage by his striking employees, a trophy wife (Catherine Deneuve) takes the reins of the family business and proves to be a remarkably effective leader. Business and personal complications arrive in the form of her ex-lover (Gerard Depardieu), a former union leader. Foreign comedies are something you either get, or you don't. French comedies - if not simply farcical - often verge on the edge of bizarre. Potiche sits comfortably somewhere in the middle of bizarre and farcical. It certainly has it's stranger moments, as well as it's slapstick qualities, but ultimately it comes across as a fun but very intelligent social commentary. Tackling such subjects as sexism and gender roles within both the workplace and home, politics, economic ressesion, sexuality and class systems, viewers wouldn't be blamed for thinking Potiche was a dull melodrama of grandiose and ostentatious intent. It couldn't, however, be further from that! Despite taking on such deep subjects the film remains funny and engaging, although never simply skims over these topics superficially. Catherine Deneuve has a star turn as Suzanne Pujol, the long suffering trophy wife protagonist in Potiche. Displaying a superb comic timing, Deneuve is brilliant at dishing out dead pan remarks or reacting with stunned expressions to the criticisms of others. The actress instills an intense likeability into Suzanne, highlighting her devotion to not only her husband and children, but also the factory workers. This sense of good within Suzanne that Deneuve wonderfully captures is the crux of Potiche's charm and it is the actresses performance that is at the heart of the film. In comparison, the rest of the cast feel more like supporting players, with Deneuve's central performance stealing every scene! However, the rest of the cast are formidable talents that help bolster this lead performance. Gerard Depardieu is his usual entertaining self and his character of Maurice is both charming and simultaneously a little sleazy. Depardieu plays his scenes with gumption and turns a rather two dimensional character into something more interesting. Fabrice Luchini as Robert Pujol plays the tyrannical factory manager with perfect humour and his tongue well and truly within the proverbial cheek. The role is extremely physical in places and Luchini manages to turn a scene where he suffers a heart attack into one of the funniest moments within the film through his insanely comical, theatrically over the top actions! Karin Viard as Robert's secretary/mistress is hilarious: a seductive vamp one minute and a passionate feminist - much to Robert's disappointment! - the next! Finally, Judith Godreche and Jeremie Renier as Suzanne and Robert's children are completely different characters (she's a ruthless, self centred bitch who takes after her father, he's a selfless, kind hearted and generous young man who takes after his mother) but both actors convince within their roles and help drum home the social messages the film develops over the course of the narrative.

QUALITY

The visual quality if Potiche on Optimum's Blu-ray release is solid, although not entirely flawless. The images are generally sharp and well defined, but the print does suffer from some unsightly grain throughout most of the run time. Although this is not entirely distracting or irritating, the blemishing is undeniably noticeable at points. The gaudy and garish colour schemes are what this transfer shows off the most impressively! The 1970s setting paves the way for clashing colour hues set against ostentatious patterns to make the film a visual treat. Optimum's Blu-ray transfer picks up the smallest of details, meaning things such as heavily patterned wallpapers in an array of colours have a depth and texture not often found on screen. Overall, the picture quality is definitely proficient enough to please the most pinickety of Blu-ray viewers. The audio quality is slightly higher than the visuals, with the dialogue crisp an clean throughout. There is no distortion to prevent the conversations between characters from becoming anything less than intelligible, although this will only be of a true benefit to those who are fluent in French of course! For those of us who aren't, the subtitles are clear in bold white text and never blur into the background or become illegible. The musical soundtrack is very soft and often rather quiet. It never dominates the proceedings, but it does pleasantly punctuate certain bits of action or during particularly humorous or dramatic moments. Whilst the audio is of a very high quality, there isn't really very much to show of the full capabilities of a Blu-ray release and HD television though unfortunately.

EXTRAS

A few supplementary features accompany the film, but disappointingly there is nothing that goes into any real detail on the production. The following bonus material can be found on the release: € Outtakes - This collection of scenes where things have gone wrong is rather dull, with very little other than the fluffing of lines being the problem. € Test Costumes - A collection of silent footage has been compiled here, showing the lead cast parading around in a variety of the costumes seen on screen (or the occasional one that didn't make it). A documentary/mini featurette on the costuming and creation of an authentic 1970s look would have been far more interesting though. € Teaser Trailer A making of documentary or feature length audio commentary is sorely missed on this release, as none of the above are likely to satisfy viewers' appetites for information on the film. Film: 4.5 out of 5 Potiche is an incredibly enjoyable comedy that has a distinct French charm to it and a hilarious off-beat sense of humour. The tongue in cheek tone of the narrative blends perfectly with the vulgar 70s setting to create a film that is visually striking and narratively engaging. Visuals: 3.5 out 5 The picture quality on Optimum's release is generally very good. Whilst there is a small amount of persistent grain, the colours are bright and lurid, which perfectly compliments the tone of the 1970s setting. Audio: 4 out of 5 Dialogue is clean and clear throughout, although this is only of real benefit to those fluent in French. Ambient sound and the musical soundtrack is sufficient, but there's little here that really puts speakers through their paces. Extras: 1.5 out of 5 The bonus material is really rather disappointing, giving viewers little to no information on the production at all. The outtakes are mildly amusing, but the wardrobe tests are plain dull. Optimum's release is in dire need of something more substantial! Presentation: 3 out of 5 The video menu is simple but effective and easy to navigate through the different options. The front cover image captures the tone of the film and is pleasant enough, if not entirely amazing. Overall: 4 out of 5 A highly amusing, tongue in cheek comedy that looks at sexism, social standing, relationships and politics in 1970s France in a hilarious way, Potiche is an extremely enjoyable film that will have viewers laughing out loud! Optimum's release is a solid - if bare - one and well worth adding to your collection if you're a fan of French cinema. Potiche (Trophy Wife) is available on Blu-ray now.