Blu-ray Release: Manon (1949)

Blu-ray Release Date: Feb. 25, 2020
Price: Blu-ray $27.99
Studio: Arrow Video/MVD

Manon, Henri-Georges Clouzot’s 1949 adaptation of Abbé Prévost’s 1731 novel Manon Lescaut marks quite a departure for the great French director, who is generally lauded for his acclaimed thrillers The Wages of Fear and Les Diaboliques.

A classical tragic romance transposed to a World War II setting, Clouzot’s film follows the travails of Manon (Cécile Aubry), a village girl accused of collaborating with the Nazis who is rescued from imminent execution by a former French Resistance fighter (Michel Auclair, Beauty and the Beast). The couple move to Paris, but their relationship turns stormy as they struggle to survive, resorting to profiteering, prostitution and even murder. Eventually escaping to Palestine, the pair attempt a treacherous desert crossing in search of the happiness which seems to forever elude them…

Clouzot’s astute portrayal of doomed young lovers caught in the disarray of post-war France wowed the jury of the 1949 Venice Film Festival, where it won the Golden Lion award.  Manon now returns to screens in High Definition with a selection of extras.

Here’s a rundown of the whole Blu-ray package:

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original 1.0 mono audio
• Optional English subtitles
• Bibliothèque de poche: H.G. Clouzot, an archival documentary from 1970 in which Clouzot talks of his love of literature and the relationship between the page and the screen
• Woman in the Dunes, a newly filmed video appreciation by film critic Geoff Andrew
• Image gallery
• Reversible sleeve featuring two artwork options