Three Films by Leos Carax
Boy Meets Girl
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Synopsis
Burning with stylistic freedom, the first three features by Leos Carax are cinema at its most ecstatically sensorial and deliriously romantic. Built around virtuosic, intensely physical performances from Denis Lavant as three different characters named Alex, these tales of outsiders, criminals, and doomed lovers living on the edge blaze with the whirlwind abandon of youth and the thrilling highs and torturous lows of all-consuming passion. Love letters to the city of Paris, with its streets transformed by cinematographer Jean-Yves Escoffier into expressive dreamscapes, these three films erupt in moments of anarchic euphoria that fuse sound and image to heart-stopping effect.
Picture 9/10
The Criterion Collection presents Leos Carax’s Boy Meets Girl on 4K UHD, delivering the film on a dual-layer BD-66 disc in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1. The 2160p/24hz ultra high-definition SDR presentation comes from a new 4K restoration created from a new scan of the 35mm original camera negative. It is available exclusively in Criterion’s new six-disc set Three Films by Leos Carax and is paired with a standard, dual-layer Blu-ray presenting a 1080p version of the film and all of the title’s special features.
A caveat or two aside, this is a wonderful looking 4K presentation. The restoration work has cleaned the film up beautifully, and outside of a handful of minor scratches (along with a couple of slightly dupier shots closer to the end), it looks about as pristine as I think anyone could hope for. The scan has picked up a remarkable level of detail, right down to the very fine grain, which is—for the most part—rendered exceptionally well. Fine textures and other details are also rendered beautifully, with no obvious digital artifacts in this area.
I was also very impressed with the grayscale, which is remarkably wide and delivers clean gradations despite the lack of an HDR grade, with highlights still managing to pop gorgeously without clipping out finer details Shadows look very good as well, appearing rich and deep for the most part, but the encode does show a couple of weaknesses here from time to time, with some minor macroblocking popping up. Some of the deepest blacks can also look a little flat, with the film's grain getting lost in them.
Ultimately, while these issues can be noticeable, they’re still generally minor quibbles. On the whole, I thought the presentation held up wonderfully.
Three Films by Leos Carax - Screen Captures
Audio 7/10
The monaural presentation, delivered in lossless PCM, is surprisingly dynamic at times, with the music throughout the film being the standout. Dialogue also sounds excellent, with strong fidelity, while the track itself is very clean and no noticeable drops or noise and no obvious signs of filtering.
Extras 7/10
Supplements are spread across the three titles in this set (which also includes Mauvais Sang and The Lovers on the Bridge), with film-specific extras appearing on their respective standard dual-layer Blu-rays. Boy Meets Girl receives a few good ones, starting with Carax’s 2024 experimental essay film, It’s Not Me. Created for an art exhibit that never happened, the 40-minute short, somewhat in the vein of Godard’s Histoire(s) du cinéma, is ultimately a semi-reflection on his work and the films that influenced him (with plenty of clips from those films), while also reflecting on the current state of affairs in the world. I won’t pretend I got all of it, but it’s a very energetic, playful piece that even has a post-credit sequence that I’d say is worth it on its own. It’s been playing on the Criterion Channel, so you can catch it there, but it’s great to have it on a physical release.
Also pulled from the Channel is a 9-minute interview with Carax, filmed for their Meet the Filmmaker series. It was done in conjunction with the release of It’s Not Me (with Carax offering more background around it here), but it also features the director quickly recalling how he was drawn to filmmaking, bypassing school and simply watching films before finally making Boy Meets Girl. He then talks about some of his other work up to this point, including Holy Motors. It’s sadly too short, but I enjoyed it, and I appreciated how Carax was more than willing to talk about his work.
Following that, Criterion has wonderfully also recorded a new 26-minute interview with actor Denis Lavant, who sits down to talk about his broader work with Carax. Not all that surprisingly, it sounds as though he was initially hesitant to do his first film with the filmmaker, possibly because he was more fond of theater, but he recounts what ultimately drew him to the film (mentioning its literary aspects) before talking about the other films in this set, along with Holy Motors. He also recalls a handful of moments, including the skydiving sequence in Mauvais Sang, before discussing his performative style (born out of an interest in the circus) and how that has come into play throughout his work. It’s a really terrific piece, and I’m very happy they got the actor to sit down for this release.
The disc then closes with 17 minutes' worth of behind-the-scenes footage, showcasing Carax’s directing style, along with Lavant’s screen test, where he talks with Carax (off screen) about the character and the film while wearing headphones and listening to David Bowie’s “When I Live My Dream” on repeat.
And that sadly closes it for this film. Though academic material appears elsewhere in the set, I was a little disappointed there wasn’t something here specifically for Boy Meets Girl. Still, the two interviews and the 2024 short are solid additions.
Closing
A nice start to the set, with a really good presentation and a handful of worthwhile supplements that also serve as a nice introduction to the director and his work.
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