{"id":29840,"date":"2024-10-29T02:49:54","date_gmt":"2024-10-29T09:49:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=29840"},"modified":"2024-10-29T02:49:54","modified_gmt":"2024-10-29T09:49:54","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-dont-change-hands-1975","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=29840","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: DON\u2019T CHANGE HANDS (1975)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This \u201cSpecial Edition\u201d Blu-ray from Severin Films is available on October 29th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Review by James Jay Edwards<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Paul Vecchiali was one of the more important French\nfilmmakers in the \u201cerotic cinema\u201d genre. He made, to paraphrase Kurt Longjohn\nfrom Boogie Nights<\/em>, not smut, but \u201creal films.\u201d Because of the taboo\nsubject matter, some of his movies have been hard to find for collectors and\ncinephiles, and one of the biggest blind spots for many has been his 1975\nthriller Change pas de main<\/em>, or Don\u2019t Change Hands<\/em>. That is,\nuntil the folks at Severin got a hold of the rights and did what they do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t Change Hands<\/em> is about a politician named\nFrancoise Bourgeois (H\u00e9l\u00e9ne Surg\u00e9re) who is being blackmailed by someone who\nlearned that her son (Jean-Christophe Bouvet) appeared in a pornographic movie.\nSo, she hires a hard-boiled female detective named M\u00e9linda (Myrian M\u00e9zi\u00e9res) to\nhelp her unravel the mystery of who has uncovered her past and is trying to\nextort her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The movie itself is a crime noir thriller, with Vecchiali\nand co-writer No\u00ebl Simsolo tossing in just enough twists and turns to keep\nthings interesting. The filmmaking wears its influences on its sleeve while\nstill appearing to have influenced future movies. Think of it as a missing link\nbetween Hitchcock and DePalma \u2013 if either (or both) had relied solely on sex to\nsell their pictures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vecchiali\u2019s movies are notoriously low-budget, and Don\u2019t\nChange Hands<\/em> is, of course, no exception. This North American Blu-ray\npremiere includes a 2k transfer in 1.66:1 aspect ratio from the original camera\nnegative, so it really looks better than it ever has, and probably better than\nanyone involved ever intended it to. The colors pop and the images are sharp.\nThe audio track is mono, but it sounds cleaned up, with nice, balanced\ndialogue, crisp sound effects, and a dynamic score.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Besides the standard re-release trailer, the special\nfeatures included with this package consist mainly of interviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First up is Le Cin\u00e9phile, which is billed as \u201can\nappreciation by Knife + Heart<\/em> director Yann Gonzalez.\u201d This is mainly\nGonzalez discussing Paul Vecchiali in general and Don\u2019t Change Hands\nspecifically, and how Vecchiali and his films affected him and influenced his\nown work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Next is Elsewhere Man<\/em>, which features author Matthieu\nOrl\u00e9an speaking on the life and impact of Paul Vecchiali. Orl\u00e9an touches on\nmany of Vecchiali\u2019s films, but focuses mainly on Don\u2019t Change Hands<\/em> and\nits influence on both Vecchiali\u2019s future films and the films of his so-called\n\u201cdisciples\u201d (of which he includes Yann Gonzalez above).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there\u2019s Noir D\u2019Amour<\/em>, which is an interview with\nscreenwriter No\u00ebl Simsolo in which he reflects on the creation of Don\u2019t\nChange Hands<\/em>, from its initial conception and writing to the casting and\nshooting of the movie. He even goes a bit into the details of its eventual\nrelease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next interview is A Remedy for Chaos, a Conversation\nwith actress Myriam M\u00e9zi\u00e9res<\/em>, who reflects upon her experiences while\nmaking the movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And, just when the interviews are starting to get tedious,\nthere\u2019s The Prodigal Son<\/em>, a crazy conversation with actor\nJean-Christophe Bouvet, who also reflects upon his experiences making the\nmovie, but his fascinating discussion revolves around the sexuality of his\ncharacter and how his own sexuality played into his performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This release of Don\u2019t Change Hands<\/em> is more than just\na placeholder, it\u2019s a worthy addition to any Vecchiali collector\u2019s catalogue.\nIt earns its spot on the shelf of anyone who, for whatever reason, would like\nto own it. High cinema? No. But better than some of the junk out there? A hearty\nyes. And this presentation is about as good as one is bound to find.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This \u201cSpecial Edition\u201d Blu-ray from Severin Films is available on October 29th. Review by James Jay Edwards Paul Vecchiali was one of the more important French filmmakers in the \u201cerotic cinema\u201d genre. He made, to paraphrase Kurt Longjohn from Boogie Nights, not smut, but \u201creal films.\u201d Because of the taboo subject matter, some of his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":29849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[106,2928,4983,6100,6101,6102,6103,7798,8172,14523,18083],"class_list":["post-29840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-106","tag-blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review","tag-cult","tag-dont-change-hands","tag-dont-change-hands-blu-ray","tag-dont-change-hands-blu-ray-review","tag-dont-change-hands-review","tag-france","tag-genre","tag-mystery","tag-severin-films"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29840\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}