Le Refuge

There's a haphazard, easygoing appeal to the making of scenes captured on this DVD. Mainly focusing on a scene on a beach, it gives a real sense of both the conditions in which the actors were peforming in and of Francois Ozon as a director - hands on and adamant about what he wants. That day's shooting is referenced in the second part of the featurette, which shows Isabelle Carré and Louis-Ronan Choisy in the recording studio. Ronan-Choisy is a professional musician by trade, while Carré clearly is not. "I'm going to need a ventilator after this," she says as they make her sing the theme to Le Refuge for the umpteenth time, adding, "And intensive care!"

The resultant song - along with a rather 'striving to be arty' pop video - is also included on the disc. The extra entitled Actors In Conversation is, alas, not an interview with the stars - the one thing that is really noticeable by its absence here. Instead, it is a rehearsal test scene between Ronan-Choisy and Carré. More interesting are the cut scenes, nine minutes of material that didn't make it to the finished film.

Unusually, for this sort of extra, some of the scenes have a lot of resonance and could easily have been included, such as a graveyard segment, although it's a relief that ill-advised dream sequences involving Melvin Poupaud didn't make the cut. The package is completed with an interesting photo gallery - a picture of Ozon on the set as Poupaud's character injects himself in the neck is particularly striking - and the obligatory trailer. Tech specs and subtitling are all fine.