La Vie De Bohème (Blu-ray)

This deadpan tragicomedy about a group of impoverished, outcast artists living the bohemian life in Paris is among the most beguiling films by Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki. Based on stories from Henri Murger’s influential mid-nineteenth-century book Scènes de la vie de bohème (the basis for the opera La bohème), the film features a marvelous trio of Kaurismäki regulars—André Wilms, Matti Pellonpää, and Kari Väänänen—as a writer, painter, and composer who scrape by together, sharing in life’s daily absurdities. Gorgeously shot in black and white, La vie de bohème is a vibrantly scrappy rendition of a beloved tale.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
• Restored high-definition digital film transfer, supervised by director Aki Kaurismäki, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Where Is Musette?, an hour-long documentary on the making of the film
• New interview with actor André Wilms
• PLUS: An essay by critic Lucy Sante