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A Man and a Woman (1966)
A Man and a Woman (1966) poster

A Man and a Woman (1966)

Un homme et une femme

Drama, Romance • 1h 42m

Director: Claude Lelouch

Cast: Anouk Aimée, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Pierre Barouh, Valérie Lagrange, Antoine Sire, Souad Amidou, Henri Chemin, Yane Barry, Paul Le Person, Simone Paris, Gérard Sire, Gérard Larrousse, Clive Roberts, Jean Collomb

Criterion Blu-ray

Best English-friendly & video release · updated 3 months ago

Video notes:

Criterion Blu-ray is a new 2K restoration and the only English friendly release. No comparison available with France or Japan Happinet Blu-ray

Overview

A man and a woman meet by accident on a Sunday evening at their childrens' boarding school. Slowly, they reveal themselves to each other, finding that they have something deeply in common.

Release details

Length
102 mins
Type
Movie

Featured in Cannes Palme d’Or Winners

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Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

> BFI 4K Blu-ray. caps Criterion presents the master as originally graded in SDR whereas FiM added HDR / Dolby Vision for the BFI.

Best Audio:

1991 Criterion LaserDisc

Audio Notes:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray's audio mix has more detail than BFI’s and same applies to the subtitles, covering both English and France spoken word

Director: Luis Buñuel

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

Radiance Blu-ray / Criterion DVD

Additional Info:

Radiance's audio is ported from the Criterion DVD, see Blah-ray

Director: Jacques Demy

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

For Blu-ray Criterion Demy Set > StudioCanal

Director: Renato Castellani

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Best English-Friendly:

UK New Wave Blu-ray

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

Best Video:
Video Notes:
Best Audio:

Germany Universum Blu-ray or France Memento Blu-ray seems to be better than UK New Wave Blu-ray? https://slow.pics/c/LD1gLnYF

US Blu-ray only has 2.0 and no DTS-HD MA 5.1

Additional Info:

UK New Wave Blu-ray, compared to the US Adopt Blu-ray, has the making of documentary and no burned in subtitles

Director: Carol Reed

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray or Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray/Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray (shared encode); slight improvement over the 2015 StudioCanal Blu-ray

Best Audio:

StudioCanal/LG UHDs

Audio Notes:

StudioCanal/LG UHDs port the 1999 Criterion DVD, considered the best source

Additional Info:

StudioCanal has a remastered Blu-ray, Lionsgate only a 4K Blu-ray

Director: Martin Scorsese

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

2024 Sony 4K Blu-ray Steelbook

Sources: blah-ray.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

2024 Sony 4K Blu-ray Steelbook fixes duplicate shot seen on the previous Columbia Classics release and has better encoding

Best Audio:

Original mono mix: 1990 Criterion LaserDisc/1991 Columbia LaserDisc
The 4K Blu-ray mono is only minimally worse (see blah-ray).

5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray

Director: David Lynch

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Censored US version: Shout! Factory or Twilight Time Blu-ray

Uncensored version: old DVD

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

2026 Criterion 4K Blu-ray, confirmed to be uncut

Director: Roberto Rossellini

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Roberto Rossellini’s War Trilogy Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

BFI Blu-ray slightly better encode but gamma is off

Director: Michelangelo Antonioni

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

More from Claude Lelouch

See more →

Director: Claude Lelouch

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly & Audio:

-

Best Video:

Metropolitan France Blu-ray

More from Criterion

See more →

Director: Steve James

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Blu-ray and UK Dogwoof Blu-ray probably similar

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Director: Joel Coen

4K · Disappointing
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Director's Cut: Disappointing UK StudioCanal/US Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Theatrical Cut: LaserDisc or 2001 UK Universal DVD

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=21782879#post21782879 - comparison. StudioCanal is a massive improvement to the Criterion but still flawed in some areas (chroma noise)

Director: Hiroshi Teshigahara

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

Criterion DVD

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: Ingmar Bergman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

BFI has boosted contrast and crushed blacks

Best Audio:

Tartan DVD

Director: Nicolas Roeg

4K · Disappointing
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray poor compression, otherwise Second Sight has best Blu-ray

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: Terrence Malick

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Lovely underlying remaster by Criterion and Resillion but encode is sadly low-pass filtered by Pixelogic, and even then, the encode is still less than ideal. Still easily obliterates any prior disc release, but certainly wouldn't hurt to have a UK or German label take a crack at this same master.

Best Audio:

1999 Paramount DVD

Director: Anthony Mann

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray, Universal 2008 DVD

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

2008 Universal DVD mono

Audio Notes:

The mono on the Criterion is severely filtered resulting in it sounding incredibly muffled. It is nearly as filtered as the 2003 original Universal DVD which had extreme filtering and sounds horribly thin. The 2008 DVD remaster and original Laserdisc analog mastering are mostly left alone. The original LD master is from a worn element but otherwise sounds very natural. The 2008 DVD is the highest quality version we have without the heavy filtering and the defects of the LD master. It isn't perfect but easily the best of the main four sources by a dramatic margin. 

Additional Info:

The existing 4K SDR restoration looks excellent, but the Criterion extras are limited and disappointing. The classic Stewart interview commentary from the LD is ported over but given a new mastering. Compared to past releases it has been very slightly noise reduced.

Director: Peter Bogdanovich

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

Eureka UK are considering doing a 4K and actively exploring the possibility: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24363810&postcount=264

Video Notes:

Wonderful underlying remaster by Criterion and Resillion, but NexSpec encode has clipped highlights with the occasional blockiness. The Criterion Blu-Ray, sourced from their 4K remaster, ironically makes for a more consistent and overall pleasing experience.

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Researched and maintained by

vanshady

· last reviewed 3 months ago

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