305 Boudu Saved from Drowning

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Jun-Dai · #1 Post by **Jun-Dai** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 4:06 pm

Boudu Saved from Drowning

[img]http://criterion_production.s3.amazonaws.com/release_images/1019/305_box_348x490_w128.jpg[/img]

Michel Simon gives one of the most memorable performances in screen history as Boudu, a Parisian tramp who takes a suicidal plunge into the Seine and is rescued by a well-to-do bookseller, Edouard Lestingois (Charles Granval). The Lestingois family decides to take in the irrepressible bum, and he shows his gratitude by shaking the household to its foundations. With Boudu Saved from Drowning (Boudu sauvé des eaux), legendary director Jean Renoir takes advantage of a host of Parisian locations and the anarchic charms of his lead actor to create an effervescent satire of the bourgeoisie.

Special Features

-New, restored high-definition digital transfer
-Archival introduction by Jean Renoir
-New video interview with filmmaker Jean-Pierre Gorin
-Excerpt from a 1967 Cinéastes de notre temps program, featuring Renoir and Michel Simon
-French television conversation between director Eric Rohmer and critic Jean Douchet
-Interactive map of 1930s Paris, highlighting the film’s locations
-New and improved English subtitle translation
-Plus: a new essay by Renoir scholar Christopher Faulkner

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ellipsis7 · #2 Post by **ellipsis7** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 4:26 pm

This they can improve upon the Optimum R2 release... There is a core commitment to Renoir in the CC... Expect it to keep on coming (LA BETE HUMAINE & LE CRIME DE M. LANGE should be not far off)...

What A Disgrace · #3 Post by **What A Disgrace** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 4:35 pm

For the moment, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a boxed set of Renoir's films from the 30s.

Love the cover, in any case.

numediaman2 · #4 Post by **numediaman2** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 4:55 pm

A box set would have been nice -- but I'll take them one at a time.

Besides, I think they would be smart to go the miminalist route with these films: one disc, only a few extras.

Nonetheless, this is great news -- I have great confidence CC will do it right . . . again.

Brian Oblivious · #5 Post by **Brian Oblivious** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 5:01 pm

SO happy about this one. The cover is nice, using the same poster as Richard Boston's excellent BFI monograph. Just thinking about a Criterion-quality transfer of this film makes me want to roll around in the curtains or something.

Sai · #6 Post by **Sai** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 7:35 pm

The day before yesterday I put the R2 in my Play.com-cart. I'm incredibly happy I put it off 'till next week'.

Alonzo the Armless · #7 Post by **Alonzo the Armless** » Fri Jun 03, 2005 1:15 pm

Is this the movie that was remade into DOWN AND OUT IN BEVERLY HILLS with Nick Nolte, Richard Dreyfus, and Bette Midler? I'm assuming it's a lot better. Is it a lot different in tone?

ellipsis7 · #8 Post by **ellipsis7** » Fri Jun 03, 2005 1:22 pm

Yep... The very one... It was a great favourite of the French New Wave and thought to be a forerunner of the 60's hippy culture... It's really fresh and anarchic in its humanistic and humourous rejection of the strictures of conventional society...

This article, "From clochards to cappuccinos: Renoir's Boudu is 'Down and out' in Beverly Hills" [url=ttp://www.mip.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/cine_doc_d ... 07?13807?1]here[/url], and a nice Derek Malcolm piece from his series Century of Cinema here.

Andre Jurieu · #9 Post by **Andre Jurieu** » Fri Jun 03, 2005 1:23 pm

Alonzo the Armless wrote:Is this the movie that was remade into DOWN AND OUT IN BEVERLY HILLS with Nick Nolte, Richard Dreyfus, and Bette Midler? I'm assuming it's a lot better. Is it a lot different in tone?

Yes and yes. Yet, interestingly, both films star Bette Midler.

ellipsis7 · #10 Post by **ellipsis7** » Fri Jun 03, 2005 1:30 pm

And also just remade again in France as BOUDU, starring Gerard Depardieu!

Steven H · #11 Post by **Steven H** » Fri Jun 03, 2005 11:51 pm

This is definitely the highlight of the month (I can't imagine paying $20 for the three interviews on St. Francis because I already own the MoC, and frankly, I fall asleep during Harakiri everytime I try to watch it). It's a *very* funny film, and one of the highlights of Renoir's career (showing signs of his buddhist/eastern leanings a couple decades before The River). I look forward to seeing this compared to the Bfi disc, which is fine, but I can imagine it looking a bit better.

I look forward to this release turning many more people onto this film.

More Michel Simon in the collection is always a good thing.

Max von Mayerling · #12 Post by **Max von Mayerling** » Sun Jun 05, 2005 10:02 pm

I've only seen this once on a average vhs transfer. I totally loved the film - my favorite Renoir. Simon totally blew me away. I was not expecting this release. I'm thrilled.

iangj · #13 Post by **iangj** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 3:10 pm

sabby wrote:A small corrective. UK "Boudu" is from Optimum, not BFI. The UK disc looks all right, I guess, but could definitely be improved upon. The special feature section has little to savor, though. A great film to be sure. Eagerly look forward to it.

Personally I thought the Optimum disc looked great. And Criterion's extras, while of interest, aren't enough to encourage me to buy it.

Steven H · #14 Post by **Steven H** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 3:39 pm

Thanks for the correction, and I didn't mean to affront Optimum in anyway. Their disc is great with a very reasonable price. But the Rohmer and Gorin interviews have me curious (I'm familiar with Rohmer's position on the film, but Gorin probably has some interesting opinions concerning it). Also, the Cineaste de notre temps with Simon and Renoir (probably) goofing off and joking together is a big seller. Like I said, I look forward to comparisons between the images.

ellipsis7 · #15 Post by **ellipsis7** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 3:49 pm

I think, given the exceptional attention given to the restoration and picture quality of previous CC Renoir releases, that there will be a significant differential in this case also...

FilmFanSea · #16 Post by **FilmFanSea** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 5:32 pm

DVD Savant has posted the first review of Boudu. It will be interesting to see Criterion's work compared with the more-than-acceptable R2 Optimum release. A very entertaining film.

peerpee · #17 Post by **peerpee** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 6:18 pm

When I saw Optimum's BOUDU I couldn't help feeling the compositions were quite cropped. I'm expecting CC's BOUDU to "zoom back" a bit. Will be interesting to see the DVDBeaver comparison.

ellipsis7 · #18 Post by **ellipsis7** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 5:33 am

DVDBeaver confirms very significant bettering of Optimum visuals by the CC...

GringoTex · #19 Post by **GringoTex** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 9:03 pm

Just finished exploring the film and all the extras and it's my pick for DVD of the Year so far. Both the Jean-Pierre Gorin interview and the conversation between Rohmer and Douchet are outstanding (I was surprised just how adoringly insightful former radical Gorin could be about classic French cinema), and the interactive map is minblowing. You click on different locations on a map of Paris and it gives you the historical background of the location mixed with archival materials and appropriate clips from the film. It's incredibly inventive and we need to see more extras like this. May be my favorite dvd extra ever.

Michael · #20 Post by **Michael** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 11:15 am

I still can't make up my mind whether I should get Boudu or not. I have overbloated myself with Vigo, Carne and Truffaut over the past year. I could use some convincing from the Boudu fans.

ellipsis7 · #21 Post by **ellipsis7** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 11:43 am

No you really should go for this... I have the Optimum R2 disc, but have bought the CC disc too. It is a revelation both in terms of the quality of print, transfer and subtitles, but also the really excellent extras which put the film in context... Boudu stands outside the tenets and strictures of civilised society, and Renoir presents his story from several points of view, never indulging Boudu too greatly, but never distancing from him significantly... It's just a fascinating and wonderfully intelligent piece of work, liberated and anarchic, yet nuanced and human - Renoir at the top of his game!

peerpee · #22 Post by **peerpee** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 12:01 pm

I too have bought the Criterion after owning the Optimum UK disc as this is one of my favourite Renoirs. The extras on the Criterion are astounding. The Michel Simon/Renoir conversation is *such* a treat.

BOUDU is a hell of a film.

lull · #23 Post by **lull** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 12:54 pm

the interactive map of Paris is outstanding. although not necessarily essential to the film, it is hands-down one of my favorite extras of the year.

lull · #24 Post by **lull** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 9:13 am

a friend of mine is on a three-week trip through europe. since she was going to Paris the only thing i asked her was if she could take a picture of the Pont des Arts for me :) i'd just watched Boudu a week earlier (not only that but i was also reading The Da Vinci Code which starts out at the Louvre, located right at the other end of the bridge). she said she'd try. lo and behold last week i get a nice black and white postcard with a great shot of the bridge :)

#25 Post by **Matt** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 2:19 pm

goofbutton wrote:What's with the spider crawling up the left side of the frame during the opening credits?

Looks like the poor little guy just happened to be caught in the optical printer while the credits were being printed. He's happy and alive on the "Interprétation" title card, but quite visibly squashed on the next.

Those without the ability to zoom out the image probably can't see the spider due to overscan.