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Pity that I'm abroad when my cinema is showing this...

I am catching Cul-de-sac tomorrow with a lecture beforehand though.

Yeah okay, on second inspection the hints of grain structure are there. They must've shot on a very slow film stock, BD insufficient to do it justice.

The Digital Fix.

MichaelB wrote:

bdlover wrote:Woah... a bit soft and no film grain suggests some heavy DNR!

I'm playing a final production version right now, and it looks magnificent - I can't see the slightest sign of DNR smoothing. The slight softness to the image looks like a deliberate artistic choice, an impression that has been supported by the Beaver, Mondo Digital and Blu-ray.com verdicts (the last concerning the French BD, but it's the same transfer - and the idea that the BFI would have applied "heavy DNR" to what Pathé did is too ludicrous to be worth discussing).

Blu-ray.com confirms that the BFI and Pathé releases share a common source, and that aside from the BFI picture being marginally brighter there's no essential difference - both transfers get a perfect 5/5 score for both picture and sound.

Yep, have seen this now and it's as a good a BD as one could ask for. 5 out of 5 seems fair.

Yet I disagree with one line of the Digital Fix review:

The Digital Fix wrote:These days, a new 35mm print (let alone a 70mm one) would be too much to ask for, though this is a film that should be seen on a big screen.

A proper print may be too much to expect, but it is not too much to ask for. Imho, the BFI's current predilection for DCP revivals of celluloid classics amounts to cultural vandalism.

I'll be getting this. I'm not convinced the transfer is great although the caps on Blu-ray.com look a lot better than Tooze's. A contributer to the Tess Blu-Ray package also did some good work on the Arrow Ashes and Diamonds, and that has persuaded me to support this release.

If anyone could provide me with one or two uncompressed screenshots of the BFI disc I could do a comparison with the german Blu-ray. I have the feeling that the encoding is a bit better with the latter...

I watched the BFI BD this week and the picture quality is absolutely gorgeous. The film's terrific too, of course. Have no hesitation in buying this.

RossyG wrote:I watched the BFI BD this week and the picture quality is absolutely gorgeous. The film's terrific too, of course. Have no hesitation in buying this.

It took me a year and a half to get round to buying it, but you're right, the restoration is superb, as is the film. Am I right in saying the film is underrated, even by Polanski followers?

j99 wrote:

RossyG wrote:I watched the BFI BD this week and the picture quality is absolutely gorgeous. The film's terrific too, of course. Have no hesitation in buying this.

It took me a year and a half to get round to buying it, but you're right, the restoration is superb, as is the film. Am I right in saying the film is underrated, even by Polanski followers?

For me Tess is where artistically it all started to go a bit wrong for Polanski. I find the acclaim the film gets slightly bewildering. Then again, my problems with it may be personal as I love the novel and this strikes me as flawed adaptation. The film is too pretty looking, considering how much of the book deals with the harsh cruelty of 19th century agricultural work. Kinski may be gorgeous, but she is miscast as a "Wessex" peasant lass. She is like an exquisite, innocent lamb to the slaughter, while part of the tragedy in the novel was Tess's inadvertent complicity in her own downfall. For a Polanski film, this lacks bite. I think there is a picturesque blandness to the film which became a feature of Polanski films to follow and I'm saying that as someone who is a huge fan of the man's better films.

Lost Highway wrote: Wed Mar 04, 2015 2:38 pmMy problems with it may be personal as I love the novel and this strikes me as flawed adaptation. The film is too pretty looking, considering how much of the book deals with the harsh cruelty of 19th century agricultural work. {Kinski} is like an exquisite, innocent lamb to the slaughter, while part of the tragedy in the novel was Tess's inadvertent complicity in her own downfall.

In that case I would recommend the BBC 2010 adaptation with Gemma Arterton as Tess. It is less romantic and more mundane, compared to Polanski's version (which I love too). I also think that for a television miniseries, it combines gorgeous cinematography with renowned BBC class acting performances.