Deep Crimson - The Criterion Collection 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

Coral (Regina Orozco) is on the hunt for love. Love always seems to be just out of her grasp, and when she finally gets hold of it, it slips through her fingers. There are a lot of reasons, she believes, that are responsible for her loveless lot in life. She’s overweight, for one. She has atrocious halitosis, for another. But the real reason, and the one reason she never even considers, is that she’s a monster. A monster with no qualms when it comes to committing murder. She’s a jealous, petty person who values her own happiness above all else in life.

Nico (Daniel Giménez Cacho) is on the hunt for love, too, but it comes easily to him. He looks like Charles Boyer… when he’s wearing his toupee, anyway. Without it, with his bald head exposed to the world, he thinks he looks like a monster. Maybe that’s why he and Coral are perfect for each other. They both have their hangups and insecurities about themselves, while the other person loves and accepts them for these minor faults, while they both ignore that they’re murderous psychopaths. Their toxic relationships is based on codependence and fantasy.

Nico’s hunt for love is fueled by a lust for money. He takes advantage of women and sucks them dry. He intended to do the same with Coral, but somehow their relationship stuck. Through a combination of her refusing to take no for an answer and Coral seeing what Nico really is, and loving him anyway, they decide to make this con game a duo. She pretends to be his sister while he courts women through lonely hearts ads. Though not originally part of the plan, they wind up rolling murder into their affairs.

Deep Crimson is a loose retelling of the true story of the Lonely Hearts Killers, dramatized and fictionalized. The film is darkly comedic, wallowing in gallows humor as it processes the reality that the human condition can be capable of such evil. As the story progresses, the humor becomes less and less, climaxing in a tale of intense horror. Though the film can be quite violent, most of it occurs offscreen, which allows our minds to process this unspeakable horror in vivid clarity. Sometimes what you don’t see is even worse.

Arturo Ripstein directed the film from a screenplay written by his wife, Paz Alicia Garciadiego. Deep Crimson manages to tell a dark story without resorting to exploitative sleaze. It’s not an easy task to pull off, but the screenplay makes no excuses for its characters, nor does it take any joy in their actions. The performances from the two leads (plus the supporting cast, including Marisa Paredes) are pitch-perfect. They’re pathetic, they’re petty, they’re jealous, and all around crazy, prone to violent outbursts. But they’re so pathetic, and so human, that in a bizarre way, they’re relatable. We may hate them, and they may be vile creatures, but they’re part of the same condition that makes all of us who we are. Even though they embody the ugliness of the world, the world around them is a beautiful, kind place.

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection brings Deep Crimson to 4K UHD and Blu-ray in a two-disc release housed in a standard case, with newly commissioned artwork on the cover. Inside the case is a large, folder poster with the cover artwork on one side, and an essay by Haden Guest on the other. Beneath the essay text are also details about the restoration process involved in this release of Deep Crimson.

Director Arturo Ripstein and cinematographer Guillermo Granillo shoot Deep Crimson almost as if it’s a play. Scenes are shot in a deceptively simple format, almost entirely in a single-camera setup, allowing the action and dialogue to play out in a single take. Occasional scenes are broken into a few edits, so it’s not a strictly enforced rule; it just happens to be how much of the story is visually told.

For this release, Criterion has restored the extended, director’s cut of Deep Crimson from its original 35mm camera negative. The 4K version of the film is presented in SDR, without any HDR grading performed, and looks remarkably similar to the 1080p HD Blu-ray disc, although with a noticeably sharper image, given the increase in resolution. While some, I’m sure, will lament the lack of Dolby Vision/HDR, I think the standard dynamic range suits the film’s look, which is bathed in a golden sepia tone, appropriate for its 1940s Mexican locations. Nearly every shot includes something red in it, appropriate given the film’s title, whether a splotch of blood, a stained-glass window, or a woman’s lipstick.

Deep Crimson is available with the one, sole audio track, a 2.0 surround track, encoded in DTS-HD MA. I’ve heard a number of 2.0 surround mixes, and some are more subtle than others. Usually, when I think of this kind of mix, I think of everything, sans dialogue, being matrixed into the rear speakers. Someone sets down a cup? It’ll clap out through the entire soundstage. Deep Crimson, however, utilizes the format very subtly, almost like a 5.1 mix, in which the rear of the soundstage is mostly for music and ambient effects. Some other, more obvious sound effects, like a car traveling from one side of the screen to the other, do utilize the satellite speakers, too, giving us an immersive sound design.

All supplements for Deep Crimson are found on the second Blu-ray disc, including new interviews with Ripstein and Paz Alicia Garciadiego, an introduction by Ari Aster (director of Midsommar), and a panel discussion with the filmmakers.

• Interview (HD 22:26) - Arturo Ripstein
• Interview (HD 22:27) - Paz Alicia Garciadiego
• Introduction (HD 12:30) - Ari Aster
• Academy Panel (HD 34:21)
• Trailer

It would have been easy for Deep Crimson to have been an excursion into the dark depths of the soul—to shine a light on all the hideous things that lurk just beneath the surface. But Arturo Ripstein and Paz Alicia Garciadiego aren’t interested in inhuman monsters; they’re interested in the humanity that propels people to do the terrible things that they do. Jealousy, love, fear… evil is the most terrifying when it’s convinced that it’s doing the right thing. Deep Crimson from the Criterion Collection is Highly Recommended.