Trouble Every Day

Back when Trouble Every Day hit Cannes in 2001, the film was almost immediately derided for being silly, maudlin, and needlessly violent. A far cry from the near-unanimous praise that gets heaped on it nowadays, though. But that just speaks to the lasting cultural impression that good art can make, and that observation has been reflected multiple times in the films of Claire Denis. And yes, full disclosure: this is one of my favorite films of all time. For what reason? Of the hundreds of reasons, Trouble Every Day showed me what would happen if you tore back the flesh on the filmmaking form and started feasting on the blood underneath. It’s Denis’ intention to link directly into the ethos of moving art, and thus reflect on the physical, emotional, and corporeal bodies that we willfully give to art. 

Okay, I’m very sorry, sometimes I get carried away when talking about this movie. For the uninitiated, Trouble Every Day may be categorized under the New French Extremity movement in the late-90s to late-2010s, but it can’t be further from the very literal entries in that movement. As with many of Denis’ films, this one floats between the past and present to give us just enough information to keep you firmly situated in the unknown. That may sound kind of cold and calculated, though direct audience manipulation isn’t what’s on Denis’ mind here.

Trouble Every Day tells the story of newlyweds Shane (Vincent Gallo) and June (Tricia Vessey) as they fly to Paris for their honeymoon. There, Shane’s ulterior motives start to come to the fore, with his hunt for a notorious neuroscientist and his wife that he was once obsessed with taking over. Dr. Léo Semenau (Alex Descas) is that neuroscientist and he locks his wife Coré (Béatrice Dalle) up in the house, as her hunger for human flesh has caused a bump or two in the doctor’s life. Oh, and Shane’s hunger is growing. Or is that love? 

I’ve seen Trouble Every Day so many times at this point, both at home and in theaters, that you’d think its alluring, destructive and somehow-regenerative power would lose its luster over time. Quite the opposite, as its lurid, poetic trance gets you every time, as does the destruction that plunges you into an unrelenting nightmare.

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-rays
Fire up that Tindersticks theme, as it’s time to see Trouble Every Day on Blu-ray from The Film Desk and OCN Distrobution! This single-disc Blu-ray release comes with a BD50 disc inside a clear Viva case with reversible artwork and an essay booklet. If you order from Vinegar Syndrome, while supplies last you can score an exclusive slipcover. The disc boots up to a standard menu screen with options to play the film, select chapters, set up audio and subtitles, as well as explore extras.

Trouble Every Day is presented here in its intended 1.85:1 aspect ratio and in 1080p with an MPEG-4 AVC encode that provides a very accurate presentation of what the film looks like on the big screen when projected on 35mm. I’ve seen the film a few times on various prints over the year and the grain structure here looks very similar to that of an interpositive rather than the kind of dynamic range that can be found at the original camera negative. No transfer details are offered here, but I’d hazard to guess that this is the very same 4K restoration that was used on the 2022 German Blu-ray and was supervised by cinematographer Agnès Godard and approved by Claire Denis.

On the whole, this is a very pleasing presentation with much deeper blacks than age-old transfers of the film that have come before this, and it’s a great pleasure to see how the grain field changes during the flashback sequences. Denis is the kind of filmmaker that thinks texture is essential to memory, and that vision really does look wonderful here. As for the source condition, I was kind of surprised to see so many white specks throughout the presentation. There’re clear damage lines in key sequences as well, which I can only assume wasn’t cleaned up because it would introduce digital artifacting into the mix. That being said, colors are solid and flesh tones are just right as well.

The Film Desk provides both 5.1 and 2.0 tracks packaged in the DTS-HD MA codec. This is a mostly front-focused film in terms of its soundscape, but the 5.1 track opens up to the surround channels in the key violent sequences to really envelop you in the terror. Bass kicks in nicely and adds depth to the terrific Tindersticks score playing over the film. Source seems to be in very good condition with nary a moment of damage to be heard throughout.

As for supplements, the package here is thin, but all features here are worthy of your attention. In particular, the audio commentary by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas is predictably essential, with the critic’s deep, deep knowledge of the film really deepening your own appreciation. The film itself is perfect to watch a commentary with, as you’re as tuned into movement within the frame as you are to whatever is going on in the story. 

• Audio Commentary by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
• Video essay by Zach Clark & Melodie Zisk (HD 5:53)
• Theatrical trailer (SD 1:57)
• Booklet with essays by Melissa Anderson and Philippe Azoury

Claire Denis’ classic 2001 horror film Trouble Every Day is finally available on Blu-ray in the US for the first time ever from The Film Desk and OCN Distribution. The transfer is very good and handled well by the encode, plus the 5.1 track included opens up the soundscape nicely in key sequences. There’re only a few supplements to dig into, however they’re all worth your time. This release comes Recommended!