Criterion Press Release: The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (1975) (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

When a young woman spends the night with an alleged terrorist, her quiet, ordered life falls into ruins. The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum portrays an anxious era in West Germany amid a crumbling postwar political consensus. Katharina, though apparently innocent, suddenly becomes a suspect, falling prey to a vicious smear campaign by the police and a ruthless tabloid journalist that tests the limits of her dignity and her sanity. Crafting one of the most accessible and direct works of 1970s political filmmaking, Volker Schlöndorff and Margarethe von Trotta deliver a powerful adaptation of Heinrich Böll’s novel, a stinging commentary on state power, individual freedom, and media manipulation that is as relevant today as when it was released.
FILM INFO

• Volker Schlöndorff and Margarethe von Trotta
• Germany
• 1975
• 106 minutes
• Color
• 1.66:1
• German
• Spine #177

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Blu-ray: New 4K digital restoration, approved by director Volker Schlöndorff and producer Eberhard Junkersdorf, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• DVD: Digital transfer, enhanced for 16x9 televisions
• Interview from 2002 with directors Schlöndorff and Margarethe von Trotta
• Interview from 2002 with director of photography Jost Vacano
• Excerpts from a 1977 documentary on author Heinrich Böll
• Trailer
• PLUS: An essay by film critic Amy Taubin (Blu-ray only)

New cover by Joan Wong

August 4, 2020

 

[Ronald Epstein]

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