Coup de torchon
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Synopsis
An inspired rendering of Jim Thompson’s pulp novel Pop. 1280, Bertrand Tavernier’s Coup de torchon (Clean Slate) deftly transplants the story of an inept police chief turned heartless killer and his scrappy mistress from the American South to French West Africa. Featuring pitch-perfect performances by Philippe Noiret and Isabelle Huppert, this striking neonoir straddles the line between violence and lyricism with dark humor and visual elegance.
Picture 7/10
The Criterion Collection’s original 2001 (and long out-of-print) DVD edition of Bertrand Tavernier’s Coup de torchon presents the film in standard definition on a dual-layer disc, sourced from a high-definition restoration scanned from a 35mm interpositive. Though listed as being presented in the film’s original aspect ratio of 1.66:1, the image comes closer to 1.75:1. Either way, it has been enhanced for widescreen televisions.
Though it still delivers the expected dated qualities most will come to expect from the format (especially from a disc released in 2001) Criterion’s presentation of Tavernier’s “African noir” holds up surprisingly well, even when upscaled. The image is fairly sharp with a surprising level of detail, while the digital encode is pretty clean, with no severe anomalies popping up.
The restoration itself also holds up well. There are a handful of minor marks throughout, but the image is otherwise fairly clean. The film’s pastel color scheme comes through decently, though the magenta push common to a lot of masters from the period is more obvious now. Black levels are reasonably deep, though shadow detail is limited, and some of the day-for-night shots look a bit too bright.
Criterion recently released a Blu-ray edition of the film that looks better on the whole, but this old DVD ends up being more than serviceable, especially considering its age.
Coup de torchon - Screen Captures
Audio 6/10
The Dolby Digital soundtrack sounds fine. It can get a little edgy at times, but dialogue is clear and the range is decent. The restoration has also cleaned up any heavy damage or distortion.
Extras 6/10
The release was a cheaper, lower-tier offering, but it still featured some good material, most notably an exhaustive 47-minute interview with Tavernier. He spends a good chunk of the interview talking about adapting Jim Thompson’s original American novel and the thought process behind translating its distinctly American elements to French-occupied Africa, such as the main character being a sheriff. He also discusses adapting the novel’s class and racial divisions without losing its strengths, turning it into an anti-colonialist film in the meantime. He then talks about the casting process, the film’s look and costumes, the more technical aspects around shooting it, and then its eventual release. It’s an incredibly dense discussion and well worth viewing if you’re interested in the adaptation process and the actual production.
Also here is the film’s alternate ending, which does feature some footage from the (rather bizarre) alternative footage but its 3 minutes consists primarily of Tavernier explaining it. The disc then closes with the American trailer, while the included insert features a short essay by Michael Dare.
It looks slim on paper, but Tavernier’s interview is incredibly in-depth and makes for a substantial lone supplement.
Closing
Criterion's original DVD still holds up surprisingly well, delivering an above average standard-definition presentation.
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