151 Une femme douce

[domino harvey]

Une femme douce

From the balcony of her Parisian apartment, a young woman (Dominique Sanda, The Conformist) jumps to her death. Her body is moved to the bed that she shared with her husband Luc (Guy Frangin), a pawnbroker she met at a time of need. Through a series of flashbacks, Luc reflects on their marriage and the events that may have led to her suicide. With his first colour film, director Robert Bresson (Pickpocket) continues his career-long fascination with the work of Fyodor Dostoyevsky in this striking chamber drama about a crumbling marriage. Anchored by a starmaking turn from the then-unknown Dominique Sanda, Une femme douce is a masterful and timeless meditation on male-female relationships.

LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY FEATURES

High-Definition digital transfer
Uncompressed mono PCM audio
New audio commentary by Michael Brooke (2025)
Over Her Dead Body - a visual essay by Cristina Álvarez López and Adrian Martin (2025)
Archival interview with Robert Bresson (1969)
Archival interview with Dominique Sanda (1987)
Image gallery
New English subtitle translation
Reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters by Olga Poláčková-Vyleťalová and Chica
Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Alex Barrett and an archival interview with Robert Bresson
Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

UK December 8

[JSC]

Never thought I'd see this on disc... at last, my VHS tape can be retired! (Also love the artwork).

[brundlefly]

The second adaptation of this story Radiance has released this year, after Piotr Dumała's gorgeous "Łagodna" in the Essential Polish Animation collection.

Though other Mani Kaul works beg priority, Nazar would at least win points for dedication to a source.

[domino harvey]

I liked this less on a recent revisit but this is still a major announcement, maybe the biggest of the year. Now license Deville’s Benjamin, which is excerpted in this film, and really keep the major announcements going

[MichaelB]

The second adaptation of this story Radiance has released this year, after Piotr Dumała's gorgeous "Łagodna" in the Essential Polish Animation collection.

The third if you count Sergei Loznitsa's A Gentle Creature, which Fran released when Arrow Academy was still a going concern.

(One of the things I researched was whether I should refer to the Dostoevsky source as "a short story" or a "novella", and then did a word count and discovered that it's just inside a reasonable definition of "short story". Although with multiple chapters it reads more like a novella.)

[denti alligator]

(One of the things I researched was whether I should refer to the Dostoevsky source as "a short story" or a "novella", and then did a word count and discovered that it's just inside a reasonable definition of "short story". Although with multiple chapters it reads more like a novella.)

Not sure about the Russian context, but in German the distinction actually has little to do with length. A "novella" is a particular kind of narrative that turns on one extraordinary event. A "story" is less specific (in terms of content and structure) and might be shorter or longer (in some cases longer even than a novel). It wouldn't be inaccurate to describe the novella as a form of the "story." The "short story" is mainly a post-WWII genre that emerges as a response to the Anglo-American tradition. I think Dostoevsky referred to "A Gentle Creature" as a "fantastic story," so your decision is the right one.

[MichaelB]

I'm talking purely in terms of word count. Under 20,000 is generally regarded as a short story, under 50,000 is a novella, over that is a novel.

If I remember rightly, we're talking about 17,500 words here.

(Which is roughly the length of a feature-length commentary too, or at least one of mine!)

[Big Ben]

Did Bresson's widow finally relent or something? Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I was under the impression that she'd had a hand in ensuring certain films by her husband were hard to see!

[MichaelB]

I suspect it's got at least as much to do with being owned by Paramount.

[Zot!]

Super news. I'm sorry if I wasn't following along, but is there any indication there are other Bresson films that Radiance would release (Lancelot, Four Nights of a Dream, Devil, Probably?)

[Zot!]

(Also love the artwork).

I thought it was the original Polish poster, but it's actually a Czech collage of sorts with an interesting origin....https://mubi.com/fr/notebook/posts/movi ... vyletalova

[Calvin]

I suspect it's got at least as much to do with being owned by Paramount.

It was blocked due to music clearances when Fran last discussed it in 2022

[rapta]

Super news. I'm sorry if I wasn't following along, but is there any indication there are other Bresson films that Radiance would release (Lancelot, Four Nights of a Dream, Devil, Probably?)

I believe they've said Four Nights of a Dreamer has gone to someone else, and many have pointed to Criterion getting it. But the other two you mention, Lancelot du lac and The Devil, Probably, are both Gaumont and should be available AFAIK (though Eureka recently confirmed some Gaumont titles, so might have also tried to get one or both of these). Either way, I'd be surprised if we didn't see some more Bresson in 2026 from a UK boutique label, and most likely candidate seems to be Radiance.

[Peacock]

Hopefully instead the next Bresson they put out is Angels of Sin with Affairs Publiques as an extra. If Studio Canal release an English friendly Country Priest and CC finally put out 4 Dreamers then that will be all of Bresson’s work available on English friendly Blu.

[Calvin]

Hopefully instead the next Bresson they put out is Angels of Sin with Affairs Publiques as an extra. If Studio Canal release an English friendly Country Priest and CC finally put out 4 Dreamers then that will be all of Bresson’s work available on English friendly Blu.

Angels of Sin often goes under the radar in these discussions but, considering the well-documented rights difficulties with Une femme douce and Four Nights of a Dreamer, it's a little surprising that it looks like both of those will be available on Blu-Ray while no one has released Angels of Sin outside of France even in the DVD era. I wonder if there are rights problems, but seeing as Gaumont released it on DVD as recently as 2020 that would seem unlikely unless it's just an international rights issue.

[JSC]

For what it's worth, the DVD of Les anges du peche does have English subtitles (I was lucky to get a copy many years ago).

[Calvin]

For what it's worth, the DVD of Les anges du peche does have English subtitles (I was lucky to get a copy many years ago).

Yes for the old Gallimard but I don't think the newer, in-print, Gaumont does?

[pistolwink]

As long as Mylène is alive I doubt Affaires publiques will see release.

[Zot!]

Hopefully instead the next Bresson they put out is Angels of Sin with Affairs Publiques as an extra. If Studio Canal release an English friendly Country Priest and CC finally put out 4 Dreamers then that will be all of Bresson’s work available on English friendly Blu.

Oh crap, I didn't see the Gaumonts of the others...ok, we're pretty spoiled. I might just hop on those and not wait.

[Red Screamer]

I’ll add to the chorus of praise for this announcement. At the moment, this is my least favorite of Bresson’s mature works, but I’m looking forward to revisiting it. I find Bresson’s color films to have maybe the most hypnotizing style of any run of films of the era and you can watch him stretch himself here in interesting ways.

[MichaelB]

CineOutsider.

[MichaelB]

Blueprint Review.

[Peacock]

CineOutsider.

Pretty epic feedback for Michael in this review!

[GaryC]

CineOutsider.

Pretty epic feedback for Michael in this review!

Well, he has said most people don't review his commentary tracks...

[MichaelB]

Not just mine, anybody’s!

CineOutsider and Blueprint Review are distinguished exceptions, of course.