StudioCanal - Diva 4K Bu-ray

[John Johnson]

StudioCanal will release on 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray Jean-Jacques Beineix's Diva (1981), starring Richard Bohringer, Dominique Pinon, Wilhelmenia Fernandez, Frédéric Andréi, and Thuy An Luu. The two releases are scheduled to arrive on the market on October 6.

Description: Arriving on 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray for the first time as part of the Vintage World Cinema collection, this highly stylized, high art work became a hugely influential landmark film in modern French cinema, lighting the fuse on the Cinéma du look movement in France in the 1980's. Winner of four César Awards including Best Debut & Best Cinematography (Philippe Rousselot), DIVA is a haunting tale of obsession and beauty that boasts unforgettable imagery alongside a truly atmospheric score. Adapted from the 1979 crime novel of the same name by Daniel Odier aka Delacorta, the film stars Frédéric Andréi (Paris Minuit) as the enigmatic postman Jules, opposite real-life opera soprano Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez as the eponymous diva herself.

This new 4K restoration of DIVA was produced from the original 35mm negative and the sound negative. Scanned in 4K by TransPerfect Media, the image was then digitally graded and cleaned to remove imperfections from the original elements. This project was carried out by the Studiocanal team, Sophie Boyer and Jean-Pierre Boiget. Restoration and digitisation with the support of the CNC. A new trailer has also been created to mark the release.

Following on from its UK Premiere at Bologna's Il Cinema Ritrovata and Bristol's Cinema Rediscovered, a handful of 4K screenings of the film will also take place at the BFI Southbank in August. https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/

Description: Jean-Jacques Beineix's wonderfully stylish thriller was largely responsible for the renaissance of foreign language film in the UK in the early 80s.

The story of Jules (Andréi), an opera-obsessed courier whose bootleg recording of a rare concert by American diva Cynthia Hawkins (Wiggins Fernandez) is believed to be a tape connecting the chief of police with a Parisian vice ring, precipitating a frantic search for its whereabouts by two murderous thugs (Dominique Pinon and Gérard Darmon).

DIVA marks Beineix's debut from the impressively taut novel by Delacorta creating a hybrid of genres: noir, new wave, and fairytale romance.

Special Features and Technical Specs:
NEW 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE
Blue as DIVA: Memories of a cult film DIVA
About the film by Denis Parent
In French, with English subtitles

https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=36858