Pet shop owners by day and swingers by night, Italian couple Hermes and Betta are, in most ways, regular people. In this honest, sex-positive look at the swinger lifestyle, director and cinematographer Mauro Russo Rouge is invited into their lives with no moment off-limits, crafting a portrait of a relationship that gives equal weight to the mundane yet strangely fascinating logistics of organizing sex parties as it does to the act itself. Shot in a rich visual style that is deeply sensual without ever feeling vulgar or exploitative, the film is “more emotionally than sexually voyeuristic” (Screen Daily), an intimate exploration of the deep love and complex challenges one polyamorous couple shares. Bloom Up premiered at the Hot Docs Film Festival and has a suggested rating of R / 18+.

For in-depth thoughts on Bloom Up, please see my colleague Mike Vaughn’s review from its original theatrical release here.

For additional thoughts, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic:

[youtube https://youtu.be/kn1ug72VBbE?t=657]

Video Quality

Bloom Up comes to Blu-Ray featuring an array of enlightening material that gives you unparalleled access to this world. There is little doubt that the movie itself and everything within it looks as technically excellent as you would hope in high definition. This can be attributed to the fact that Kino Lorber has delivered a great encode and allows the film plenty of room to breathe. This company is typically so great in this respect, and it is always appreciated. There is no hint of compression artifacts or other digital nuisances of the sort. This recent footage looks incredibly crisp and clear with cooler color grading and detailed production design. While some of the filming environments may not be as optimal as others, everything looks as good as the footage will allow. Kino Lorber has delivered some great work with this one.

Audio Quality

This Blu-Ray comes with a strong DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track in the original Italian that captures this material just right. While you do have quite a bit of dialogue with interesting exchanges, this film thrives when it comes to the natural space of the world and all of the sounds it entails. Ambient noises are rendered with precision within the contained soundscape. The filmmaker does a really great job of capturing the subjects and making sure all this information comes through with supreme clarity. The music and the score establish the atmosphere of the film, and these elements are resolved well here as music fills up the room. The audio track is not going to push your setup to the limit, but it nonetheless proves to be the perfect representation of this feature. There are optional English SDH subtitles included for those who desire them.

Special Features

Trailer: The two-minute trailer is provided here.

Final Thoughts

Bloom Up finds a unique entry point into a world which many might be curious about, yet might remain somewhat mysterious otherwise. This sex positive documentary gives you some decent insights into the community in which they are a part, but the couple themselves are never explored in as much depth as you may want. While the filmmaking itself may strive to be objective, there is the occasional sense of male gaze which does not sit entirely well. Kino Lorber has provided this film with a Blu-Ray that sports a strong A/V presentation but nothing in the way of special features. If you are interested in the subject, it is worth a look, but there is a better version of this story waiting to be told.

Bloom Up is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Kino Lorber has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.