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The Last Romantic Lover (Cult Epics) Blu-ray Review

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    Ian Jane
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  • The Last Romantic Lover (Cult Epics) Blu-ray Review

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    Released by: Cult Epics
    Released on: October 25th, 2022.
    Director: Just Jaeckin
    Cast: Dayle Haddon, Gerard Ismaël, Fernando Rey
    Year: 1978
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    The Last Romantic Lover – Movie Review:

    One of filmmaker Just Jaeckin’s lesser known seventies efforts and a film that will probably always live in the shadow of Emmanuelle, 1978’s The Last Romantic Lover begins at a circus where the various performers are holding a funeral for a lion that has recently passed away. After the put the anima’s coffin into a cart we meet the man in charge, Max (Fernando Rey), who, along with the performers and workers that make up the troupe, is more or less destitute. Pierre (Gerald Ismaël), Max’s right hand man and the person who previously worked as the lion tamer before the great cat’s passing, really looks up to Max.

    Without a whole lot of options, the circus performers come up with an odd way to make some quick and much needed cash – they want to enter Pierre into a television contest wherein the show will evaluate various male contestants to find the world’s last romantic lover. The show is run by Elisabeth (Dayle Haddon, who had previously worked with Jaeckin on Madame Claude), a beautiful woman who is in a somewhat shaky relationship with a man named James (Ben Simon) that would seem to leave both of them wanting more.

    Pierre is a modest man and it goes against his very nature to be put on display in a show that judges the contestants on their looks and sexual abilities but he goes along with it and, along the way, he winds up bringing Elizabeth back to the circus for a few days to see how things go. And how do they go? Not as planned…

    From the interesting opening credits where a fire breather’s act is worked into the visuals to the requisite steamy sex scene you’d expect from one of the director’s pictures (though it has to be said that there is a lot less sex in this picture than in the movies he had made prior), The Last Romantic Lover is a visually impressive effort. The film makes great use of color, with the different circus costumes really standing out, and some lavish and fairly decadent television studio sets to ensure that it is always visually appealing, even if the narrative is a bit on the predictable side at times. The art direction on display throughout the movie is excellent and a solid score helps the movie as well.

    Still, most of what’s here works really well. Dayle Haddon was clearly cast not only for her exceptional beauty but also because she’s a legitimately talented actress capable of handling the more dramatic aspects of the storyline and making it look easy. She’s got a really strong screen presence here and is perfect for the role. Gerald Ismaël is quite strong as the male lead, playing his part with just enough vulnerability that we don’t necessarily know how he’s going to react to things, even if we know before he does where much of this is headed. Fernando Rey and Ben Simon are also both very good in their respective supporting roles.

    The Last Romantic Lover – Blu-ray Review:

    Taken from a brand new 4k scan of the original 35mm negative supervised by cinematographer Robert Fraisse and presented in AVC encoded 1080p high definition on a 50GB disc framed at 1.66.1 widescreen, The Last Romantic Lover looks really nice on region free Blu-ray from Cult Epics. Colors are reproduced nicely and while black levels do sometimes look closer to a very dark grey than a true black, it's a safe assumption given Faisse’s supervision of the transfer that this is how it is supposed to look. Regardless, detail is strong throughout and the picture always looks nice and filmic. There are no issues with any obvious noise reduction, edge enhancement or noise reduction and overall Cult Epics has done a really nice job here.

    Audio options are offered in 24-bit LPCM 2.0 Mono, 24-bit DTS-HD 2.0 and in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound in French. Optional subtitles are included that translate the French track. Both of the lossless French options sound quite nice, giving the score some appreciable depth. Levels are balanced and the tracks are clean.

    Extras start off with an audio commentary by Jeremy Richey, the Author of the upcoming book Sylvia Kristel: From Emmanuelle to Chabrol. It’s an interesting track that explores where Jaeckin’s career was at this point in time, how this film differs from his other, better known films, details on the cast and crew members affiliated with the picture, thoughts on the score and the cinematography and quite a bit more.

    An eighteen minute interview with Just Jaeckin sees the late director explain how tricky it was making this movie after the box office success of Emmanuelle, some of the more unique elements of the story, changes that were made to the script and working with the different cast and crew members. An interview with Dayle Haddon runs twenty-four minutes and allows the actress to express her appreciation for the work she did in France, her thoughts on doing nudity in films, working with Jaeckin as well as some of her co-stars and how she now works for UNICEF.

    The fifteen minute Presentation At The Cinematheque Francaise, from March 30th, 2022, sees Jaeckin, Haddon, Philippe Labro and a few others discuss the making of the movie before awarding Jaeckin with a plaque.

    Finishing up the extras on the disc are a still gallery, trailers for a few other Cult Epics releases (Madame Claude, Playing With Fire, Naked Over The Fence, Frank & Eva, The Cool Lakes Of Death and A Woman Like Eve), menus and chapter selection options.

    The first pressing of this release also comes with some nice double-sided cover sleeve art.

    The Last Romantic Lover - The Final Word:

    The Last Romantic Lover isn’t as sexually scintillating as some of Just Jaeckin’s better known films but it is an interesting and well-made deviation of sort from what you’d expect from the director’s filmography. Cult has done a very nice job bringing the film to Blu-ray with a strong presentation and some strong extra features, making this a very well-rounded release for an underappreciated movie.


    Click on the images below, or right click and open in a new window, for full sized The Last Romantic Lover Blu-ray screen caps!

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