Zulawski's L'IMPORTANT C'EST D'AIMER on Import Blu-ray

I recently learned, while cruising Amazon, that Andrzej Zulawski's THE IMPORTANT THING IS TO LOVE - one of my favorite movies - was available on Blu-ray as a German import under the title NACHTBLENDE. Naturally, even though I have both the standard and deluxe editions of the domestic Mondo Vision DVD, I had to acquire it.

Sadly, it's a disappointing disc - the transfer is soft and pale, not at all what one expects from 1080p, with a greenish bias. The worst part is that the triple audio options (German, French, English) are not accompanied by subtitle options. So tonight I watched the film as I prefer not to do, in English, which at least reminded me that Howard Vernon dubs Klaus Kinski's performance on this track - which, along with the onscreen presence of Kinski, THE DIABOLICAL DR Z's Guy Mairesse and LORNA THE EXORCIST's Guy Delorme, made it feel like something of a Jess Franco reunion, which is far from the almost uniquely moving experience driven home by the (for the most part, live) French audio.

On the plus side, Georges Delerue's soundtrack is included on the disc in lossless 2.0 audio and sounds spacious and ravishing. Nevertheless, those five cues are not quite enough to compensate for the disappointing and limited presentation. This is not the upgrade it appears to be, and there is bound to be a better one sometime further down the line.

Here are some uncropped grabs from the VZ-Handelsgeselschafft disc, which is labeled Region B (PAL) but is in fact playable on domestic Region A players and available from Amazon.com.