Solo
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Synopsis
A womanising violinist and jewel thief (Jean-Pierre Mocky, Litan) must abandon his carefree lifestyle when he learns that his younger brother is part of the leftist revolutionary group responsible for the brutal murders of powerful men. Determined to save the life of his idealistic sibling, the cynical drifter becomes embroiled in a struggle that is not his to fight. A decade after appearing in La tête contre les murs, Jean-Pierre Mocky returned to acting with this profoundly satirical crime drama. Unflinching and heavily influenced by American cinema, Solo captures the visceral feeling of disillusionment of a post-1968 French society brimming with rage at the sinister powers that be.
Picture 8/10
Jean-Pierre Mocky’s Solo comes to Blu-ray through Radiance, who presents the film in its original aspect ratio 1.66:1 on a dual-layer disc. The 1080p/24hz high-definition presentation is sourced from a new 4K restoration performed by Éclair Classics with support from the CNC.
The presentation ultimately proves to be a frustrating one because, at its base, it looks fantastic. The restoration work is excellent, with no significant damage standing out, and outside of one major issue, the digital presentation is superb. Fine detail is consistently impressive, with textures popping gorgeously throughout. Film grain is rendered cleanly and naturally, never appearing noising or exhibiting any other obvious digital artifacts. That film texture I love to see is there, and it really does look fantastic.
Where things get irritating is in the color grading, which results in the sort of yellow-green tint that many collectors have come to associate with some restorations from Éclair and L'Immagine Ritrovata, that piss-filter. It's not the most severe example, but the image consistently leans toward that yellow-green tone, leaving whites looking yellowed and skin tones jaundiced. It resembles the sort of grading achieved by digitally dialing down blues and boosting greens rather than something that would have emerged naturally through a photochemical process, which many of the better restorations of late have been able to imitate more successfully.
Worst of all is the effect this grading has on the black levels. Blacks end up often skewing toward muddy dark grays, rarely looking deep and inky, crushing shadow detail in the process. Darker exterior scenes in particular can look milky leading to a lack of depth.
Ultimately, this is the master Radiance was provided, and I suspect there was little they could do about it. That makes the whole thing all the more frustrating because, aside from the grading choices, this is a remarkably strong presentation supported by an excellent encode (leading to the slightly higher grade than what I was tempted to give it). In the end, it's a bit of a shame.
Solo - Screen Captures
Audio 6/10
The film comes with a lossless PCM monaural soundtrack. It sounds fine for the era, with dialogue sounding clean and dynamic enough and the film’s music delivering a slight level of range. Some effects, particularly gunshots, can sound hollow, but this appears to be inherent to the source. On the whole, the track suits the film and shows no major problems.
Extras 4/10
The disc features a handful of interviews, starting with a 13-minute one featuring director and star Jean-Pierre Mocky, filmed in 2018. Here he explains how the idea for the film came to him after eavesdropping on a conversation between students lamenting how an actual revolution is needed for things to change, before then moving on to discuss the casting and the film’s successful release.
Actor Anne Deleuze then contributes a 17-minute interview, recalling how she was cast because, according to Mocky, she reminded him of a young Sophia Loren. She also talks about working on the film’s modest budget, and the many limitations that came with that. In fact, the production was so cash-strapped that the red jacket her character wears was actually her own, while also having to borrow a blouse from Mocky’s wife.
Eric Le Roy, head of collections at the CNC, follows with a discussion of the film and its place within Mocky’s career. He notes that Solo marked Mocky’s return to acting, something Mocky himself attributes to the unavailability of the actors he originally wanted (though I suspect a lack of interest may have played a role as well). Le Roy also explores the film’s subject matter, arguing that it reflects the disillusionment many felt after the events of May '68 failed to bring about the changes they had hoped for, while noting the film's satirical approach in terms of telling the story. Le Roy also points out other films in which Mocky would reprise what was essentially the same character, if not exactly the same. I found this interview the most rewarding of the three, largely because of the way it places the film within the social and political climate of the period.
The disc closes with a small gallery of posters and lobby cards, while the included booklet, available exclusively with this limited edition, features two reprinted interviews with Mocky conducted by Daniel Geldreich and Max Tessler in 1970. In them, Mocky discusses the film, his career, and his path into directing. La tête contre les murs—which Radiance has also released alongside this title—comes up as well. Mocky notes that he originally intended to direct that film himself but was forced to bring in Georges Franju, lamenting that the final result differed from his vision, with Franju favoring a more poetic approach where Mocky would have preferred something faster paced.
Admittedly, Mocky can come across as feeding his own ego a little in these interviews, both here and on Radiance’s La tête contre les murs release, though only mildly so. At one point he remarks—objectively—that Solo feels like it was made by a young man rather than someone in his forties, which, despite a hint of self-awareness running through the film, is a statement that didn't gel with me at all. That could just be just me, of course. Regardless, the booklet makes for an interesting read.
Overall, the supplements are worthwhile, though I found them somewhat less compelling than the material included on Radiance’s release of La Tête contre les murs.
Closing
The supplements are worthwhile, if not especially revealing, but the presentation ultimately proves disappointing. It looks striking in most respects, with a strong restoration and excellent encode, but that color grading doesn't to the end product any favors.
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