CRITERION COLLECTION: TESS

While Columbia's old DVD of Tess was doubly disappointing - not only was it a disappointing transfer but it was also the cut version of the film, which tends to lose a little heart and more than a little irony. Sadly the Criterion and BFI Blu-ray and DVD releases also included the shorter cut after Polanski cut some 15 minutes from the film after it failed to get a distributor in the US: the original 186-minute version that first opened in to an indifferent reception in Germany in 1979 now seems to have been permanently replaced by the 171-minute version that proved a surprise hit when it finally opened in the US over a year later. There's still much to admire, from the beautiful Scope cinematography and Phillipe Sarde's superb score to Polanski's feel for time and place (even if it is shot in France rather than Wessex) and, ironically, sexual prejudice, although Nastassja Kinski never really convinces in the lead and Leigh Lawson's despoiling cad seems constantly on the verge of twirling his moustache. The murder still seems a plot contrivance, although it does throw in one great moment of vintage Polanski with a spot of blood on the ceiling.Neither the Region A-locked Criterion US Blu-ray or the BFI Region B-locked Blu-ray/DVD combo offer the deleted scenes, but both are from the same new 4K restoration of the film supervised by Polanski that restores the visual splendour that was missing from the DVD releases. Both are truly impressive transfers, so it simply comes down to a question of which release - if you have a region-free Blu-ray player, of course - has the best extras package.The BFI's disc basically replicates the old Columbia DVD, offering the same comprehensive three part 75-minute documentary and adding the trailer, a brief gallery of original costume designs and a detailed booklet. However, the Criterion includes the documentary and trailer and adds a lot more as well - an episode of The South Bank Show from 1979 about the making of the film, a 1979 episode of French TV show Cine Regards offering a French perspective on the production (both run 49 minutes each) as well as a 53-minute French documentary produced in 2006, Once Upon a Time... Tess, that interviews all the surviving major players (Polanski, Kinski, Sarde, Claude Berri, Timothy Burrill) and which was included on the French Blu-ray release. Also including a booklet, the Criterion version is easily the very best presentation of the film with the best extras, so if you can play Region A-locked discs it's definitely the one to go for.