Search - Black Narcissus - Criterion Collection on DVD

Try to Resist!

S. P. McCauley | 07/27/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"
A must have. This is state of the art blu-ray imaging--so sharp and detailed the close-ups are constantly startling. The long shots and landscapes are breathtaking.

With proper color-balance settings, the nuns look appropriately pale, while The Archers' logo and the vibrant flowers and foliage are still stunningly brilliant. One of the supplements notes that after two weeks of shooting, Jack Cardiff complained that even though the actresses were wearing NO make up (purposely to produce an appropriate pallor), their lips were photographing as red as if they were wearing lipstick--so they used a concealer over their natural lip color to mute this effect. As this pallor is intentional, and the first few scenes are almost monochromatic, try to resist the temptation to crank up the color. Be patient, because the film establishes this early quiet, pale baseline as contrast to the florid, exotic seduction and horrifying madness and tragedy to follow. This is glorious melodrama exalted to classic tragedy, that brilliantly shows an order of women--repressing their memories and their desires--uprooted, and physically AND emotionally unsettled and seduced by new surroundings that are exotic, and erotic, and dangerous.

This masterpiece has shocked and haunted us for decades. The stunning blu-ray redoubles that pleasure."