Taking a guess, it was de-grained, restored to death, then re-grained. It looks smeary and unnatural.
And check out those ugly grid lines!
Interpolation still shows under the layer of false grain.
Now, compare to Autour de la Fin du Monde (1930). There’s a clarity that comes through the softness when the picture is left alone:
Too bad it’s out of sync:
La fin du monde (1931) was processed by Gaumont, Eclair, and FPA France. This version is also available from Kino.
The New Beverly just ran a 35mm print from 2008, still in very good condition and with excellent color. Eclair’s restoration, on the UHD from Carlotta, has completely messed-up color. In screencaps here, you can see how it’s now tinged yellow and blue. Snow and geisha makeup should be white, not urine-colored. HD Numerique has a comparison between the UHD and Criterion BD here. Eclair’s skin tones veer purple (yikes!). In every instance, the Criterion disc has color that is a good approximation to the print that I just saw.