Vincent Paul-Boncour and Jean-Pierre Gardelli set up Carlotta Films in Paris in 1998 to bring restored heritage films back to French cinemas. A DVD line followed in 2002 and Blu-ray in 2008. The catalogue leans on American, Japanese and Italian classics, silent cinema and auteurs such as Ozu, Pasolini and Fassbinder, with deluxe titles issued as Ultra Collector boxes that include a book.
Carlotta
58 films on Best BluraysBest video release: 14 in 4K43 in HD1 in SD5 more for audio only1 more announced
Best 4K release by tier:
- Excellent9
- Solid1
Films where Carlotta's release is the pick. How picks are made
43 of 58 films match · Page 2 of 3
Films where Carlotta's release is the pick. How picks are made
Director: Miloš Forman
Best English-Friendly:
Best Video:
UK Second Run Blu-ray vs France Carlotta Blu-ray?
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Kino Lorber US and Carlotta France
Director: Alan J. Pakula
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Carlotta Blu-ray
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Director: Miloš Forman
Director: Frank Borzage
Sources: academymuseum.org (opens in a new tab)
Video Notes:
4K restoration has no home media release yet
Best English-Friendly:
Best Video:
UK Artificial Eye vs France Carlotta no comparison
Best English-Friendly:
Kino Lorber 2020 Blu-ray
Sources: DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)
Video Notes:
Kino Lorber 2020 Blu-ray is a newer restoration, but the color grading is very different and seems too bright. Grading aside, the encoding is subpar, hence Carlotta is superior. See DVDBeaver caps
Director: King Vidor
Best English-Friendly:
Kino Lorber vs France Carlotta vs Germany Blu-ray ?
Best Video:
Kino Lorber US, and other Germany and France Blu-ray
Director: Max Ophüls
Best English-Friendly:
French version: Criterion Blu-ray
German version: Filmmuseum DVD
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · cinema-scope.com (opens in a new tab) · fredcamper.com (opens in a new tab) · +1 more
Best Video:
French version: 2020 Carlotta Blu-ray
German version: Filmmuseum DVD
Video Notes:
French version: Criterion Blu-ray (Carlotta has no English subtitles)
German version: Filmmuseum DVD
Additional Info:
Carlotta Films corrects the mistakes of Criterion due to the compression on dark scenes and gives the gorgeous transfer of the restoration a better encode/compression and more bitrate.
The German cut, titled Lola Montez, is considered by Ophüls scholars such as Jonathan Rosenbaum, Dan Sallitt and Tag Gallagher to be superior to the French cut. It has only been reissued on the Filmmuseum DVD.
Director: Bert Stern
Best English-Friendly:
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Directors: Ray Ashley & Ruth Orkin & Morris Engel
Best English-Friendly:
Best Video:
Kino Lorber Blu-ray or France Carlotta Blu-ray
Video Notes:
No comparison available
Director: Otar Iosseliani
Video Notes:
2K restoration of 4K scan. This 2K restoration’s detail level is quite good, although its highlights are somewhat blown out. On the other hand, the newer 4K restoration (on DCP only as of Aug 2026) exhibits severe black crush.
Best Audio:
TBD. Carlotta sounds muffled.
Additional Info:
Carlotta’s English subtitles omit quite a bit of dialog. This was improved upon in the subs accompanying the newer 4K restoration DCP.
Video Notes:
2K restoration of 4K scan. This 2K restoration’s detail level is quite good, although its highlights are somewhat blown out. On the other hand, the newer 4K restoration (on DCP only as of Aug 2026) exhibits severe black crush.
Best Audio:
TBD. Carlotta sounds muffled.
Additional Info:
Carlotta’s English subtitles omit quite a bit of dialog. This was improved upon in the subs accompanying the newer 4K restoration DCP.
Know a film where the Carlotta release is the one to buy? Suggest it