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The Eighties (1985)
The Eighties (1985) poster

The Eighties (1985)

Les Années 80

Music, Documentary • 1h 26m

Director: Chantal Akerman

Cast: Aurore Clément, Magali Noël, Pascale Salkin

Best English-friendly & video release

BFI Chantal Akerman: Volume 2 Blu-ray

Updated 1 year ago


About the film

All of the time and effort put forth to stage a musical is chronicled here in this bright and funny French outing. The story is set at a shopping mall where people audition for an upcoming show. Afterwards, they are seen going through the grueling routines of learning the music and rehearsing.

More from Chantal Akerman

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Director: Chantal Akerman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

2025 BFI Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

2025 BFI Blu-ray > Criterion Blu-ray, much better encoding (caps)
Criterion seems to have done additional adjustment to the original grading

Both France Capricci and Japan Blu-ray are worse than Criterion and BFI.

Best Audio:

Criterion Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

Criterion Blu-ray largely sounds better, but attentuates away some low-frequency ambient noises.
BFI Blu-ray has hum, dropouts, pops, noticable patching and beeping, but has extra low-end detail in a few spots.

Director: Chantal Akerman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Director: Chantal Akerman

Best English-Friendly:

BFI Chantal Akerman: Volume 2 Blu-ray

Best Video:

BFI Chantal Akerman: Volume 2 Blu-ray or US Icarus Blu-ray

Video Notes:

BFI Chantal Akerman: Volume 2 Blu-ray or US Icarus Blu-ray but no comparisons

Director: Chantal Akerman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI Chantal Akerman: Volume 2 Blu-ray

Director: Chantal Akerman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI Chantal Akerman: Volume 2 Blu-ray

Director: Chantal Akerman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI Chantal Akerman: Volume 2 Blu-ray

Director: Chantal Akerman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI Chantal Akerman: Volume 2 Blu-ray

Director: Chantal Akerman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI Chantal Akerman: Volume 2 Blu-ray

Director: Chantal Akerman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI Chantal Akerman: Volume 2 Blu-ray

Director: Chantal Akerman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI Chantal Akerman: Volume 2 Blu-ray

More from BFI

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Director: Jacques Tati

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion for 1949 and 1964, BFI for 1964 English Variant and 1994/5

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray (part of Jacques Tati boxset releasing December 2026)

Best Video:

Jour Germany fete (1949) - Criterion only, HD Jour Germany fete (1964) - Criterion only, HDThe Village Fair (1964, English variant) - BFI only, HDJour Germany fete (1994/5) - Criterion SD, BFI HD

Director: Jacques Tati

Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray (part of Jacques Tati boxset releasing December 2026)

Video Notes:

BFI Blu-ray > Criterion/StudioCanal. New restoration unreleased.

Director: Claire Denis

Best English-Friendly:

BFI Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

2027 Criterion Blu-ray

Video Notes:

FiM encode; BFI shows noticeable macroblocking

Best Audio:

MGM DVD

Audio Notes:

No dip around 10 kHz, wider dynamic range, more natural EQ; BFI & Carlotta BDs are identically worse; HMAX Streaming is similar to the BDs but has worse dynamics

Director: Akira Kurosawa

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

2015 Star Media Blu-ray/2019 BFI Player WEB-DL

Director: Ingmar Bergman

Best English-Friendly:

BFI Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

2022 BFI Boxset Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Tartan DVD, Criterion DVD

Director: Martin Rosen

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

2002 R2 WB DVD

Director: Jean-Luc Godard

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Blu-ray/BFI Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Criterion and BFI very similar

Best Audio:

Fox Lorber DVD

Director: F. W. Murnau

Best English-Friendly & Video:

2006 Restoration: Eureka Blu-ray
1995 photochemical restoration: BFI Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Eureka with Murnau institute restoration featuring score based on original score, BFI uses Photoplay restoration with James Bernard score

Additional Info:

Both Eureka and BFI Blu-rays are worthy of owning. Each restoration has unique positives and extras. The James Bernard score on the BFI is outstanding and the image tinting is different to how the Murnau institute official restoration was done. The Eureka MoC Blu-ray is stuffed with extras and remains one of the best-made Blu-rays of all time. Whatever you do: AVOID THE Kino Lorber Blu-ray!!! It uses the same Murnau institute restoration but drops frames for the whole feature - thus it loses a significant portion of the film! This was never acknowledged or addressed. The Kino Lorber Blu-ray remains one of the worst Blu-rays of all time for this reason.

Director: Ingmar Bergman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

BFI better encode than Criterion

Best Audio:

2006 Criterion DVD

Director: Edward D. Wood Jr.

Video format: 4K Streaming

More Music on Blu-ray

Director: Ernst Lubitsch

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from Original Camera Negative

Director: George Pal

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from Original Camera Negative

Directors: Chris Appelhans & Maggie Kang

Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

"Sing-Along Edition" not included on the Criterion 4K Blu-ray, only available on Netflix Streaming

Director: Masaaki Yuasa

Best English-Friendly & Video:

US GKIDS Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Japan Aniplex Blu-ray is severely lowpassed, which is not an issue on the US release

Director: Damien Chazelle

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Excellent
Upcoming Release:

US Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray re-release announced with Dolby Vision, a new exclusive bonus, and the previously retailer pre-order bonus-exclusive/Hong Kong-exclusive bonus interviews in HD

Video Notes:

Italy Eagle Pictures has DV, better encode, and no brightness shifts compared to Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray for the original Dolby Atmos mix

Additional Info:

Hong Kong Panorama 4K Blu-ray has two interviews available in HD that are SD everywhere else and only included as retailer-exclusive pre-order bonus DVDs with the US Blu-ray

Directors: Ethan Coen & Joel Coen

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly & Video:

UK StudioCanal UHD

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Director: Vincente Minnelli

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Best Audio:

1991 MGM LaserDisc

Director: Morton DaCosta

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Bros Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray Nov 24th

Director: Julien Duvivier

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration

Director: Sofia Coppola

Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

MUBI UK 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Lionsgate US release has incorrect gamma

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vanshady

· last reviewed 1 year ago

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