The French Dispatch (2021)
Drama, Comedy • 1h 48m
Director: Wes Anderson
Cast: Benicio del Toro, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Léa Seydoux, Frances McDormand, Timothée Chalamet, Lyna Khoudri, Jeffrey Wright, Mathieu Amalric, Steve Park, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Bob Balaban, Henry Winkler, Lois Smith, Tony Revolori, Denis Ménochet, Larry Pine, Morgane Polanski, Félix Moati, Mohamed Belhadjine, Nicolas Avinée, Christoph Waltz, Cécile de France, Guillaume Gallienne, Rupert Friend, Alex Lawther, Tom Hudson, Lily Taïeb, Stéphane Bak, Hippolyte Girardot, Liev Schreiber, Willem Dafoe, Edward Norton, Saoirse Ronan, Winsen Ait Hellal, Mauricette Coudivat, Damien Bonnard, Rodolphe Pauly, Antonia Desplat, Elisabeth Moss, Jason Schwartzman, Fisher Stevens, Griffin Dunne, Pablo Pauly, Wallace Wolodarsky, Anjelica Bette Fellini, Anjelica Huston, Krishna Bagadiya, Julien Lecat, Gaelle Puimaly, Leo Jennings, Alexandre Steiger, Philippe Peyraud, Gérard Merle, Jean Pierre Grasset, Yannick Begoin, Yves Gaillard, Jerome Caminotti, Pierre-Yves Martron, Philippe Pelletier, Landry Marinette, Natal Koli, Côme Loury, Victor Piechaud, Charlie Rosser, Mathys Raynaud, Thomas Poirson, Gabriel Mesnard, Raphael Delage, Briac Aubin, Raphael Bancarel, Tiago Allaire, Martin Frappier, Raphael Dias, Victorien Belly, Samuel Amblard, Sam Poupart, Milo Bancarel, Charles Audry, Francois Boussiron, Jean-Pierre Coudert, Patrick Morcelli, Bernard Richefort, Djemal Saidoun, Vincent Griere, Arthur Guillebaud, Mehdy Hassani, Jérémy Martincourt, Nicolas Pasciani, Eutrope Roger, Marti Torrens, Pierre Cantaral, Louis Changeur, Denis Havard, Halbo Kool, Pascal Lefort, Jean-Benoit Pinot, Gregory Sacriste, Antonio Terroso, Marc Tournier, Jean Marie Camps, Dominique Donnary, Claude Gaume, Jacques Grattepanch, Damien Nadaud, Gilbert Papponnaud, Robert Rabouin, Willem Rompen, Jacky Souchet, Malik Tati, Jean-Claude Audouin, Alban Ploix, Laurent Bauer, Fanny Taccoen, Tahnee Peterson Stuart, Maud Brethenoux, Anna Budanova, Audrey Chemin, Guillaume Ferrant, Nisrine Mofaraj, Polina Glangetat, Fabien Marcadet, Luc Louis, Karim Youssouf, Rudy Chaperon, Quentin Fournier, Orguiene Corniere, Manon Talandier, Lucas Bascans, Alexis Vignaud, Paul Raymond, Gilles Gauthier, Nahel Bahnas, Akim Bahnas, Antoine Foo Cheung, Francois Foo Cheung, Samy Guerry Ghindri, Felicien Marais, Nathanael Marfin, Basile Vinueas, Evelyne Chapeau, Paula Kvasnikoff, Vallier Vaudin, André Coussy, Hassane Haimoud, Pauline Chadanson, Carlotta Costanzi, Mauricette Genon, Christelle Grelier, Rachel Merabet Hrdy, Sara Lacroix, Delphine Landrieau, Louise Laveuve, Kylian Freslon, Meermout Didier, Nicolas Saada, Yannik Mazzilli, Guillaume Mailland, Victor Nicolas, Jean Delabre, François-Pierre Fol, Bruno Torres, Jean-Louis Verdier, Grégory Trouvé, Loic Baxas, Eliel Ford, Mathéo Sallat Desvard, Dominique Barrier, Pascal Champareau, Sacha Seguin, Jacky Vallantin, Domingos Enrico, Abdel Nour Bouaza, Fanny Rebuffic, Juliette Raffray, Lou Lampros, Odile Fougère, Sandro Kopp, Pedro Firmino Cunha Da Souza, Pascal Battelier, Lionel Lassuderie, Duc Minh, Cyril Morandiere, Benoit Nacaud, Jean Jacques Peyraud, Lubna Playoust, Patricia Richefort, Owen Nsimba Soba, Adrien Yeung, Jean-Michel Audoual, Félix Bouin, Patrick Brousse, Raynald Caraguel, Lhoussine Chinkir, Xavier Dupin, Eric Garaud, Morgan Lorca, Laurent Pizzolato, Romuald Cormeunier, Didier Da Costa, Antonio Da Silva, Charlie Defraine, Erick Dues, Jacques Fauvel, Yoann Gaillard, Anthony Poupart, Thierry Gonzalez, Sébastien Guignard, Raphael Lagrue, Simon Malyon, David Robles, Sharif Andoura, Gilles Gaston-Dreyfus, Laureen Perrocheau, Mallaury Reby Perrocheau, Sophie Fougère, Genevieve Brillet, Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, Jarvis Cocker, Bruno Delbonnel, Bérénice Bernard, Jean Bourdet, Antoine Bourgeais, Lou Salomé Brizard, Zoé Delisle, Julies Desrosiers, Simon Ecary, Ida Fermaud, Hugo Fontaine, Raphael Gallego, Tom Grandadam, Adrien Hans, Adèle Herisson, Antoine Jové, Pierre Lamoureux, Quentin Ledru, Salomé Lesaffre, Rémi Larcher, Hugo Leonard, Elliot Lienard, Sybil Marzin, Thy-Lane Monnet, Munik Neth, Florine Paulius, Emeline Penet, Coline Peron, Constantin Rytz, Bertille Rondard, Alice Sarrauste, Igor Secherre, Laura Studden, Emilien Wiss, Boris Zanni, Angus Henderson, Gaëtan Billères, Sally Bruice, George Smith Burgess, Marie Derambure, Alix Champy, Victor Chevalarias, Lise Cordellier, Arthur Dalle, Lola Degove, Sean Delaunay, Michael Didier, Juliane Fath, Julie Gervaos, Rachel Guerineau, Guillaume Laverdant, Théo Malet, Titouan Maret, Stephen Martin, Nathan Mazeau, Lucas Nativel, Théo Navas, Marie Lucie Parisot, Émile Pélissier, Constance Prost, Matéo Salanave, Théo Hollando Sigot, Manon Taccoli, Gauthier Rigaud Perut, Raphael Coutant, Émilie Tronche, Toheeb Jimoh, Nick Croucher, Sam Haygarth, Samuel Blenkin, Jake Gorridge, Calvin Williams, Pierre Aloui, Louis Blanchard, Hugo Bony, Adrien Brault, Alex Chadeffaud, Matisse Croizard-Niveau, Alfie Flight, Théo Fibaque, Mathieu Grattard, Paul Lafon, Elie Mazalrey, Samuel Montgomery, Florian Salasse, Quentin Veillon, Benjamin Lavernhe, Gabriel Ryan, Léo Gack, Cécilia Anseeuw, Gilberto Fallat Valle, Monique Lapeyre, Christian 'Kiki' Delpey, Cyril Sierk, Jean-Claude Loulmet, Jean-Pierre Chabernaud, Olivier Lecossois, Philippe Szezepanski, Noël Wojcik, Gontran Bisserier, Christian Cordoba, Thibault Descamps, Jonathan Herbon, Marceau Jarrossay, Tiburce Oger, Noé Richefeux, Gilles Verdegay, Kublah Diezi, Stéphane Le Bras, Armand Pierdon, Gilles Frougier, Yann Hedan
Best video release
Criterion 4K Blu-ray see Chris's review
It's a conservative regrade over previous Blu-ray https://slow.pics/c/CyqhRf9W
Updated 10 months ago
UHD tiers
About the film
The staff of an American magazine based in France puts out its last issue, with stories featuring an artist sentenced to life imprisonment, student riots, and a kidnapping resolved by a chef.
- Alternative Titles
- The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun
Director: Wes Anderson
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Criterion 4K Blu-ray see caps and Chris's review
Director: Wes Anderson
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Universal 4K Blu-ray caps. The Blu-ray was clearly low-pass filtered. Luckily, the 4K looks excellent.
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Criterion 4K Blu-ray was an upgrade over previous Blu-ray, removed the orientalist yellow tint, but not much besides that https://slow.pics/c/4b9tem5K
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
2K DI Upscale, see caps. SDR grade in HDR container
Director: Wes Anderson
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
2K DI Upscale, see caps
4K Blu-ray is slightly cropped on all sides compared to Blu-ray, but "that appears to be a conscious choice as the compositions don’t seem to suffer. They also slightly expanded the black bars in order to hide the ringing on the borders."
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Criterion 4K Blu-ray is best, but has surrounds 3 dB too loud
Director: Wes Anderson
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Criterion 4K Blu-ray is 2K DI upscale but better encoded than the previous Blu-ray see caps
Director: Wes Anderson
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Criterion 4K Blu-ray, 2K DI upscale, see Chris's review
Director: Anthony Mann
Criterion 4K Blu-ray, Universal 2008 DVD
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
2008 Universal DVD mono
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.
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: Stanley Kubrick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
The 4K discs in both Criterion and Imprint sets are FiM encodes, but low-passed. The compression is better, but some of the grain is lost. Difference is pronounced in screen caps, but not likely to be noticed during playback, without a reference to compare it to. Comparisons
All discs use the same source transfer. It's not of the highest quality, and it includes some slight distortion, looping, clicks, pops, and hum. Criterion cleaned it up for their release, but unfortunately also lost a lot of fidelity in the process.
MGM NTSC DVD doesn't seem to have some of the more prominent distortion and has slightly different EQ but is otherwise the same.
Director: Sidney Lumet
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
1.85:1: Kino Lorber 4K / Capelight 4K
1.66:1: Criterion 4K but low pass filtered
Comparison between the 4Ks, Criterion on the AR choice
Other discs have unnecessary filtering and sound worse, the difference isn't substantial but audible
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Included in the Complete Kubrick box set with FiM encode of the same master from the Universal release without the filtering.
DTS:X mix on Universal 4K Blu-ray most closely approximates original surround mix
Criterion DVD and Universal 4K Blu-ray has additional features not found on the Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Janus and thus Criterion likely to release 4K Blu-ray in 2027
Director: Hal Ashby
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
StudioCanal's 4K release is similar in encode quality, but has significant glitches in multiple frames. See comparisons 9-16 here: https://slow.pics/c/YkSVb3Ey
The pitch of the StudioCanal 4K's English audio is too high
Criterion has more extras than StudioCanal.
More Drama on Blu-ray
Shout! Factory's Blu-ray has both cuts of the film in addition to the 3.0 stereo and 2.0 mono mixes making it the first time the full theatrical cut is available with the 3.0 mix. The new commentary is good. The 3.0 stereo sounds wonderful and the mono sounds solid.
That's where the positives end. This is the same terrible Universal DVD master slapped on a Blu-ray disc with a terrible encode making both versions share the disc separately taking up more space. This master was already poor for DVD and is nearly unwatchable here on the Shout! Factory disc. It looks virtually identical to the upscaled DVD most of the time with only a bit less noise due to it being 1080p. This is one of the most appalling cases of "DVD master slapped on a Blu-ray disc" you can possibly find. Absolutely shameful video presentation. This should have never been released this way. Sadly it's still ever so slightly better than the DVD and the only way you get the proper theatrical cut with lossless 3.0 stereo. This is still the best source we have for the film.
Director: Anthony Mann
This is an ancient Universal master of a film in dire need of restoration. This only looks somewhat better than the old Universal DVD upscaled and is clearly the same master. Tons of wear, color fringing and other issues abound. The film is stuck at the theatrical widescreen ratio of 1.85:1 when it was composed for Academy ratio. The proper ratio is only found on the trailer, original VHS master and Region 2 PAL DVD. The Kino Lorber Blu-ray is their usual barebones affair except for flawed low res trailer files and a basic commentary. The film's 3.0 stereo mix is intact alongside the more limited mono mix thankfully. The Blu-ray does edge out over the old Universal DVD but that is merely due to it being the same master resolving better in 1080p. This presentation is sadly poor and the film deserves much better.
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Arrow 4K Blu-ray > Criterion 4K Blu-ray > Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray vs Criterion
Three masterings of the original Dolby Stereo SR mix exist: the original Orion video releases, the Criterion (which is from their LD) and the Arrow. All three are excellent with slight mastering differences between them. The original Orion still is probably the one with the most fidelity, the Criterion is the cleanest with a kind of warm feel to it and the Arrow has a bit of both aspects. The Arrow mastering has a tiny almost imperceptible bit of audio bleeding into the surround that isn't on the Criterion. Each has their own pluses and minuses but you can't go wrong with any of them. Whatever you do though: DO NOT WATCH WITH THE 5.1 REMIX. It is another MGM botch job that fundamentally alters the impact of many scenes. It is vastly inferior to the original mix in every way.
Director: Robert Altman
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Cinematrographe's HDR grading is overcooked, which is a known VinSyn tendency. Additionally, their booklet mis-credits the encode to FiM.
YMMV, but for some, the included BD encoded by Marcus Johnson—ironically may make for a more pleasing experience.
Director: Roman Polanski
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
UK 4K teased by 88 Films https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=24252379
Carlotta France 4K Blu-ray > Vinegar Syndrome 4K Blu-ray (better encode on Carlotta without any low-pass filtering, more extras and English subtitles on Vinegar Syndrome)
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