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Vatel
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment // PG-13 // August 7, 2001
List Price: $32.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
A beautiful, yet slow and rather empty feature, "Vatel" doesn't develop the potential of either its story or talented cast and crew. Gerard Depardeau (in an unusually restrained and enjoyable performance) plays Vatel, the steward to the Prince de Conde (Julian Glover). When King Louis XIV (Julian Sands) and his entourage come for a visit, it's up to Vatel to provide the feast for the entire party. Running around the bowels of the castle, he turns into a period Martha Stewart, fixing the food and arranging for the entertainment that will be provided for the party. He even gets to have a little romance with a courtesan played by Uma Thurman.
Ah, but Vatel is not alone in those desiring Thurman's Anne de Montausier. Vatel will have to compete with not only the King, but his aide Marquis de Lauzon (Tim Roth). This "love square" is the centerpiece of this cinematic meal, but it's generally a dish that's unfortunately served cold. The reason for which is that not only is the pairing of Depardeau and Thurman rather odd, the two generate little or nothing in the way of chemistry with one another.
It becomes less interesting as the film stretches these events towards the two hour mark. Although I previously mentioned that Depardeau's performance was more restrained than usual, that doesn't make it an especially engaging one. The actor's performance seems indifferent to what's going on around him and except for a few instances, seems content to walk through the movie. Thurman can play an icy beauty quite wonderfully ("Gattaca"), but here she simply seems distant and bored. Supporting performances don't fare much better, as director Roland Joffe (Demi Moore's "Scarlet Letter")'s order of the day seems to be for everyone to underplay. Roth, in his extremely minor role, is the only one who devotes a slight level of energy to the role.
If there's one positive element to the picture, it's the costume and production design, which is obviously where the majority of the 36 million dollar budget went to. The film also received an Oscar nomination for art direction, but was shut out otherwise, even though I'm sure that Miramax did try as much as they could to get it considered in the other catagories.
Although the film was picked up for distribution by Miramax at the Cannes film festival, the film went on to open in only a handful of theaters in the US and gross less than $50,000.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Vatel" is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen by Miramax. Although the transfer is frequently goregeous, it does not always rise to the level of beauty that the film's sets and costumes provide. Sharpness and detail are still mostly superb; some of the dimly lit interior scenes seemed a tad murky, but the brighter scenes looked lovely and well-defined.
Yet, some problems unfortunately arose during the movie. Slight edge enhancement is infrequent, but was noticable a few times. Print flaws were generally absent from the film; I noticed a handful of minor speckles and a slight mark or two, but that was about it. Only one or two tiny traces of pixelation popped up, but were barely noticable and didn't cause much concern.
Colors looked stellar throughout the picture. Although the interiors of the castle where Vatel prepares his dishes look rather subdued, once the film moves outside to the party itself, both the dishes and the surrounding scenery offer goregeous colors. Colors appeared well-saturated and crisp, with no instances of smearing or other problems. Black level also appeared fine, and flesh tones are natural and accurate. Not perfect, but a mostly fine presentation if the visually lush picture. The layer change is located at 1:07:17.
SOUND: "Vatel" is presented in English Dolby Digital 5.1. Surrounds have little involvement in the goings-on during the picture, as one might expect. The score is the only element of the audio that opens things up a bit; the surrounds remain otherwise silent when the music exits - there's not even much in the way of ambient sounds or other subtle details. Audio quality was pleasant, as the score sounded rich and crisp, while dialogue came through clearly.
MENUS:: Basic, non-animated menus which share the beautiful cover art.
EXTRAS:: A very basic 3 1/2 minute featurette on the costumes of the movie along with "Sneak Peek" trailers for "Bounce", "Hamlet", "Love's Labours Lost", "Mansfield Park", "Shakespeare In Love", "Life Is Beautiful", "An Ideal Husband" and "Beautiful Girls". All of the trailers are full_screen and 2.0.
Final Thoughts: A fabulous looking, but less than delicious cinematic offering, "Vatel" starts off mildly interesting, but doesn't really go anywhere. The DVD presents the film with fine audio/video quality and only one minor extra - rather overpriced at $32.99 retail price. Although those who are interested in the film's beautiful costume, art and production design may find it worth a rental, they will not likely be as satisfied with the rest of the film.
A beautiful, yet slow and rather empty feature, "Vatel" doesn't develop the potential of either its story or talented cast and crew. Gerard Depardeau (in an unusually restrained and enjoyable performance) plays Vatel, the steward to the Prince de Conde (Julian Glover). When King Louis XIV (Julian Sands) and his entourage come for a visit, it's up to Vatel to provide the feast for the entire party. Running around the bowels of the castle, he turns into a period Martha Stewart, fixing the food and arranging for the entertainment that will be provided for the party. He even gets to have a little romance with a courtesan played by Uma Thurman.
Ah, but Vatel is not alone in those desiring Thurman's Anne de Montausier. Vatel will have to compete with not only the King, but his aide Marquis de Lauzon (Tim Roth). This "love square" is the centerpiece of this cinematic meal, but it's generally a dish that's unfortunately served cold. The reason for which is that not only is the pairing of Depardeau and Thurman rather odd, the two generate little or nothing in the way of chemistry with one another.
It becomes less interesting as the film stretches these events towards the two hour mark. Although I previously mentioned that Depardeau's performance was more restrained than usual, that doesn't make it an especially engaging one. The actor's performance seems indifferent to what's going on around him and except for a few instances, seems content to walk through the movie. Thurman can play an icy beauty quite wonderfully ("Gattaca"), but here she simply seems distant and bored. Supporting performances don't fare much better, as director Roland Joffe (Demi Moore's "Scarlet Letter")'s order of the day seems to be for everyone to underplay. Roth, in his extremely minor role, is the only one who devotes a slight level of energy to the role.
If there's one positive element to the picture, it's the costume and production design, which is obviously where the majority of the 36 million dollar budget went to. The film also received an Oscar nomination for art direction, but was shut out otherwise, even though I'm sure that Miramax did try as much as they could to get it considered in the other catagories.
Although the film was picked up for distribution by Miramax at the Cannes film festival, the film went on to open in only a handful of theaters in the US and gross less than $50,000.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Vatel" is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen by Miramax. Although the transfer is frequently goregeous, it does not always rise to the level of beauty that the film's sets and costumes provide. Sharpness and detail are still mostly superb; some of the dimly lit interior scenes seemed a tad murky, but the brighter scenes looked lovely and well-defined.
Yet, some problems unfortunately arose during the movie. Slight edge enhancement is infrequent, but was noticable a few times. Print flaws were generally absent from the film; I noticed a handful of minor speckles and a slight mark or two, but that was about it. Only one or two tiny traces of pixelation popped up, but were barely noticable and didn't cause much concern.
Colors looked stellar throughout the picture. Although the interiors of the castle where Vatel prepares his dishes look rather subdued, once the film moves outside to the party itself, both the dishes and the surrounding scenery offer goregeous colors. Colors appeared well-saturated and crisp, with no instances of smearing or other problems. Black level also appeared fine, and flesh tones are natural and accurate. Not perfect, but a mostly fine presentation if the visually lush picture. The layer change is located at 1:07:17.
SOUND: "Vatel" is presented in English Dolby Digital 5.1. Surrounds have little involvement in the goings-on during the picture, as one might expect. The score is the only element of the audio that opens things up a bit; the surrounds remain otherwise silent when the music exits - there's not even much in the way of ambient sounds or other subtle details. Audio quality was pleasant, as the score sounded rich and crisp, while dialogue came through clearly.
MENUS:: Basic, non-animated menus which share the beautiful cover art.
EXTRAS:: A very basic 3 1/2 minute featurette on the costumes of the movie along with "Sneak Peek" trailers for "Bounce", "Hamlet", "Love's Labours Lost", "Mansfield Park", "Shakespeare In Love", "Life Is Beautiful", "An Ideal Husband" and "Beautiful Girls". All of the trailers are full_screen and 2.0.
Final Thoughts: A fabulous looking, but less than delicious cinematic offering, "Vatel" starts off mildly interesting, but doesn't really go anywhere. The DVD presents the film with fine audio/video quality and only one minor extra - rather overpriced at $32.99 retail price. Although those who are interested in the film's beautiful costume, art and production design may find it worth a rental, they will not likely be as satisfied with the rest of the film.
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