4K Ultra HD – Edition FR – Studiochannel – 147 min – 24 November 2021
Video format
• Intermediate Master: 4K
• Standard HDR: Dolby Vision
• Ratio: 1.85
Soundtrack
• English DTS-HD MA 5.1
• English DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles
• English
• French
It is brought to the attention of our dear readers as well as the viewing equipment specified and used by each tester of the MaG team, the rendering may differ from one installation to another, whether or not it is calibrated, as well as personal preferences and expectations may influence the rating. Moreover, the images in the article are not representative of the edition tested.
WORK – Nightmare in Hollywood
In Hollywood, during the night, Rita, a young woman, became amnesia following a car accident on the road to Mulholland Drive. She meets Betty Elms, an actress who just landed in Los Angeles. With her help, Rita tries to find her memory and identity.
Hypnotic and obsessive, this dreamy journey through the disturbing hills of Hollywood is an unforgettable sensory experience that intoxicated the 2000s. Illuminated by the grace and sensuality of its feminine duo (Naomi Watts and Laura Harring), the night road gives the vertigo. A masterpiece of the 7th art!
IMAGE – Souls lost in the city of angels
From a 4K scan of the original 35 mm negative, this restoration (produced by Studiocanal and The Criterion Collection in 2021) supervised by David Lynch (with the collaboration of Peter Deming, the director of photography) is wonderfully filmic.
With an all organic sweetness but no less full of down textures, the image that is deliberately unreal is rigorously improved in UHD Dolby Vision. The frame is of exemplary stability, the piqué is refined (see the make-up lines), the colorimetric palette with satin hues exploits more luxuriant primaries (blues and reds above all) while reinforcing the other shades, the contrasts which darken (rightly) slightly the visuals nevertheless accentuate the depth of field and disbust many details in the shadows thanks to enriched blacks and clean whites, and the high luminances, diffuse and vaporous, shine with a renewed brightness (from Californian sun to night lights).
SON – The unconscious, the other one who lives in us
Newly restored, the VO encoded in DTS-HD MA 5.1 is more disturbing than ever... Like Silencio Club.
Always « Timor-Leste » Because it is not well-positioned on the multichannel hub (some environmental atmospheres), it operates primarily ahead with a clear and dynamic intensity that belongs only to it. And perfectly balanced, it shakes emotions with a lancinating poisonous score and lows worn on the embrace. Apart from a Dolby Atmos track (and again!), was it possible to improve the present rendering? Sure not!
Far from demeriting, the VF just can't « successful casting » in view of the game of actors, more faithful and natural, in their original language.
CONCLUSION – Beware of what you dream...
For his 20th anniversary, David Lynch's great classic is to (re)see in a 4K Ultra HD edition worthy of him. The opportunity to (re)entangle the story of one of the greatest classics of cinema!
Artistic note
10
Video quality
10
Audio quality
9
0
A great film, absolutely upsetting. I'll get it back.
You're right, you must never hesitate to regularly revive this major work of 7th art.
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