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Return to Reason
Four Films by Man Ray
(1923-1929)

Contents: La retour à la raison (1923), Emak Bakia (1926), L’étoile de mer (1928) and Les mystères du Château du Dé (1929).

This Blu-ray Disc collection has been mastered from high-resolution scans of archival prints conducted by Womanray and Cinenovo in partnership with L’Immagine Ritrovata, La Cinémathèque française, the Centre Pompidou, the Library of Congress and the Centre Nation de la Cinematographie Archives du Film et du Depot Legal (CNC). The films are presented not as individual films but as an anthology collection in a thematically-arranged rather than a chronologically-arranged order as chosen by filmmaker Jim Jarmusch and musician Carter Logan.

The Criterion Collection
2025 Blu-ray Disc edition

Return to Reason: Four Films by Man Ray (1923-1929), black & white, and color-tinted black & white, 70 minutes total, not rated, including La retour à la raison (1923), black & white, 3 minutes, not rated, Emak-Bakia (1926), black & white, 20 minutes, not rated, L’étoile de mer (1928), black & white, 17 minutes, not rated, and Les mystères du Château du Dé (1929), black & white, and color-tinted black & white, 22 minutes, not rated.

The Criterion Collection, CC3752BD
(collection number 1291), UPC 7-15515-32581-3.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in pillarboxed 16:9 (1920 x 1080 pixels) 24 fps progressive scan image encoded in SDR AVC format at 35.8 Mbps average video bit rate; DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound encoded at 3.8 Mbps avarage audio bit rate; French language intertitles, optional English language subtitles; 5 chapter stops; 12-page insert booklet; standard BD keepcase; $39.95.
Release date: 2 December 2025.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 8 / audio: 8 / additional content: 8 / overall: 8.

This Blu-ray Disc collection has been scanned at 4K resolution from 35mm nitrate prints, with missing footage inserted from duplicate 35mm materials. The scans have been digitally stabilized and lightly cleaned, with a few examples of dust, speckling, splices, emulsion scrapes, scratches, beginning nitrate decomposition, and other print flaws remaining. The results are not flawless but are still quite pleasing.

The films are accompanied by music scores composed and performed by Sqürl (Jim Jarmusch and Carter Logan).

Supplemental material includes an interview regarding the music for the films by and with Jim Jarmusch and Carter Logan (9 minutes); “Sqürl, Man Ray’s Backing Band,” footage of a 2023 concert of Jarmusch and Logan performing their music for May Ray films (77 minutes); and a 12-page accordion-fold insert booklet including an essay by Mark Polizzotti, with notes about the films and restorations.

For our comparative reviews of the individual films in the collection, see our Emak-Bakia on home video, L’étoile de mer on home video, Les mystères du Château du Dé on home video and Le retour à la raison on home video pages.

This is our recommended home video edition of these films.

This Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition is available directly from . . .