The Film
Liz Gilbert (Julia Roberts) realizes she's drifting in her marriage and in life. Her soul search takes her on a culture and carbs tour of Italy (eat); to an ashram in India (pray); and studies with a healing master in Bali, where she ultimately finds love in Eat Pray Love, now on Blu-ray. The story, based on a book by the same name, is auto-biographical to some degree but is not without cliché and formulaic events including the first encounter between two main characters as the result of a near accident due to careless driving. The story has its finer points, but the film drags details to 140 long minutes (146 minutes if you've choose the extended version).
For more on the film read the review by Beth McCabe.
The Picture
If you're going to film on location in such histories and exotic locations as New York City, Italy (Rome), India and Bali, you have a lot of color, architectural detail, nature and culture to capture. Colors in this 1080p, 1.85:1 transfer are rich. However Director Ryan Murphy chose to go with natural lighting in many scenes, which glared from the wrong angle and as a result was unflattering to the actors and sometimes jarring.
Many scenes were shot with the sun directly behind Julia Roberts. The outcome was to show the sunlight through her (often frizzy) hair, yet lose details in her face and any other fine details of the room she was in. Nighttime scenes had similar issues with room lighting, which detracts from the deep blacks you'd expect on a Blu-ray. Given the locations in which the film takes place, it's a shame more wasn't done with the cinematography to make this a more solid film.
The Sound
Dialog is well handled by the 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. There are discernable differences in various settings including one-on-one conversations, a dinner party in a private home and chatting at a beachside club. If the audio is lacking, it's ambient noises that are lost. The bustling city streets of New York, Rome and Naples; the forest area of Bali, the frenetic work at an ashram in India lack some of their expected background sounds.
The Extras
Several featurettes beef up the extras, which also include the theatrical and extended versions of the film. A movieIQ+sync feature lets you identify locations in the film while watching. You also get to see interviews with author Elizabeth Gilbert to get an idea of what she went through while writing the book.
Final Thoughts
Eat Pray Love has its redeeming moments, though the runtime of over two-and-a-half hours makes some of those moments easy to forget. Lighting and cinematography can become a little distracting, if not disappointing that more care wasn't taken during filming to capture the beauty of the varied settings.
Product Details
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