Story of a Woman Blu-ray Review
Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov, April 1, 2022
Leonardo Bercovici's "Story of a Woman" (1970) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Code Red. The only bonus feature on the release is a vintage American trailer for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
A film like
Story of a Woman could have been directed only by an American who had moved to Europe and embraced the European way of life with an almost concerning enthusiasm. In the old days, long before the internet came to exist and people connected by meeting each other in person, this type of enthusiasm would have made such an expat stick out like a sore thumb. Was this good or bad? I will tell you what I think later on, but your answer to this question should determine whether you enjoy
Story of a Woman.
The Eternal City, the 1970s. During a massive traffic jam, Karin (Bibi Anderson) meets Bruno (James Farentino). She bumps his car, he gets out of it determined to use his fists, she takes her sunglasses off and smiles at him, and moments later he invites her to have a drink with him. Then they begin seeing each and fall madly in love.
But on an indescribably beautiful summer day, after visiting the local market to buy the ingredients for Bruno's favorite dish, Karin meets his wife, Liliana (Annie Girardot). After hearing Liliana describe the real Bruno and concluding that for months he has been telling her lies, the heartbroken Karin quickly packs her bags and heads back to her family in Stockholm. She even abandons her dream of becoming a concert pianist, which had brought her to the Eternal City.
While trying to forget Bruno and choose a new direction in life, Karin accidentally meets and befriends David (Robert Stack), an American diplomat stationed in Stockholm. She is reluctant to begin a romantic relationship with him, but the more time they spend together, the more her previous relationship with Bruno fades away. Eventually, Karin and David marry and move to America. They become parents, too.
Shortly after they choose their dream home and Karin begins decorating it, David is told that he has to go back to the Eternal City to take on a brand new assignment. Having agreed to support his career, Karin promptly packs their bags and they leave America. Then at a party where David is introduced to other diplomats, she sees Bruno, and not too long after that they secretly meet again. She tells him that what they shared in the past is gone forever, but when he reveals to her what had happened to his relationship with Liliana and why, her heart begins insisting that she gives him a second chance. When David eventually discovers that Karin and Bruno have met, he asks her to choose the man she wants to spend the rest of her life with.
Story of a Woman is such a simple film and rehashes so many cliches that it is guaranteed to disappoint anyone expecting it to be different.
What happens between Karin and the two men she falls in love with has been seen in countless other films that have been made over the years.
And yet
Story of a Woman is not only a wonderful little film that is virtually impossible to dislike, but in some ways even rivals a few of the very best classic romantic films from the same period. Why is that? It is shot in a very particular manner by American director Leonardo Bercovici, which is heavily influenced by the type of expat enthusiasm that is mentioned at the top of this article. Indeed, this unbridled, at times slightly overwhelming enthusiasm effectively transforms
Story of a Woman into a big promotional piece for old-fashioned European romance, and because all of it is very sincere, it works really well.
Possibly with the exception of Stack, who slightly overemphasizes his anger in the final third, the leads and supporting actors match the attitude and tone of the film just as well. Indeed, it is very easy to tell that their performances are driven by sincere enthusiasm that is simply wonderful.
Bercovici used the services of Italian cinematographer Piero Portalupi, who was undoubtedly the right man to capture the natural beauty of the excellent locations in Italy and Sweden because there are plenty of glamorous visuals that remind of Federico Fellini's work. (For what it's worth, Portalupi's lensing was equally impressive in John Guillermin's
House of Cards, an action thriller with a surprising Fellini-esque appearance).
The delightful soundtrack, which features a genuinely stunning piano piece, was composed by John Williams.
*Some of Wim Wenders' very best films, including
Paris, Texas, see America through a similarly idealistic prism, which an American director would be unable to uncover. It is why they always have very special personalities as well.
Story of a Woman Blu-ray, Video Quality
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer,
Story of a Woman arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Code Red.
The master that was used to produce this release was apparently supplied by Universal Pictures. I like it a lot. It is not very old and provides
Story of a Woman with a pretty solid organic appearance. In fact, if the folks at Code Red had replicated it on a dual-layer disc, optimized the encode as best as possible, and done some quick cosmetic work to remove the few minor white specks that pop up here and there, I think that
Story of a Woman would have looked pretty impressive on Blu-ray. Just a few nights ago, I screened
Downhill Racer for a good friend and the overall quality of the presentation was very similar, at times even identical. Yes, there are a few darker areas where shadow definition could be better, plus in a couple of wider panoramic shots it is easy to see that depth isn't optimal, but the overall quality of the visuals is very pleasing. Color reproduction is convincing as well. There is some room for minor rebalancing work, but saturation levels are very nice and balance is good. There are no serious stability issues to report. (
Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
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