Splendor – Scola's Film on Blu-ray
The journey of a provincial cinema owner coincides with the rise and fall of traditional movie theaters
Directed by Ettore Scola in 1989, Splendor is a declaration of love for cinema and its collective dimension. Set between present and memory, the film tells the life of Jordan (Marcello Mastroianni), owner of the Splendor Cinema, through sixty years of Italian history and passions experienced in the theater.
Scola alternates color and black and white to distinguish the present from memories, evoking a time when cinema was a popular ritual. From the impromptu screening of Metropolis in a village square to the emotion felt watching It's a Wonderful Life, Jordan's journey coincides with the rise and decline of traditional cinemas, first crushed by multiplexes and then by new cultural transformations.
Nostalgic journey through the era of Italian cinemas
Alongside him, Chantal (Marina Vlady) and the awkward Luigi, played by Massimo Troisi, form a tender and melancholic trio. Their bond spans decades, while the true fourth protagonist remains cinema itself: a living space, full of dreams, flirtations, illusions, and disappointments.
The tone is nostalgic but never bitter; Armando Trovajoli's soundtrack lightly accompanies a universal reflection on the passage of time and what once seemed eternal. Splendor is not just a cinephile's homage: it is a poetic meditation on the end of illusions and the unrepeatable magic of the shared screen. A film that speaks to anyone who has loved sitting in the dark and letting themselves be transformed by the light, recalling the years of "standing room only" screenings.
4K master of the 35mm negative scene (unspecified ASA sensitivity) and 35mm mono magnetic track, processed at Cinecittà laboratory in 2023, for an excellent 2K result. Original image format 1.66:1 (1920 x 1080/23.97p), AVC/MPEG-4 encoding on a single-layer BD-25. The work shows no signs of the time elapsed since its theatrical release in 1989, with vibrant colors and excellent black and white transitions, featuring deep blacks and high detail even in the background. Dual track DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (16 bit) + Dolby Digital 2.0 (224 kbps), with decent rendering for a show where not much was invested in the technical aspect, as was Scola's custom with his works.
Only the trailer as an extra.