Jean-Luc Godard

[Michael Kerpan]

I want a good DVD of LES CARABINIERS - NOW!

What's wrong with the current R1 release?

[sevenarts]

La Chinoise
Made in USA
Le Petit Soldat
Les Caribiniers
Detective
Prenom: Carmen
Woe is Me
Passion

Thanks for the research, this looks like a believable list to me, and that would be a pretty decent box. I cancelled my recent order for Optimum's La Chinoise to wait and see if it's here. If the transfers on these are good (and not a PAL-NTSC ghosting mess), then I'd definitely get the box for that, Woe Is Me, and Les Caribiniers. But for the other films, I can't imagine this will top the Raro discs of Prenom Carmen, Made in USA or Petit Soldat, or the Cahiers Passion, so I don't feel bad for getting those in R2.

Hopefully they announce the lineup soon. And I'm also looking forward to seeing some reviews on the Hitchcock box to get an idea of what these sets will be like.

[justeleblanc]

I want a good DVD of LES CARABINIERS - NOW!

What's wrong with the current R1 release?

It's Fox Lorber, and like their LE PETIT SOLDAT and BREATHLESS, the print quality is below par. Plus, is anyone else bothered why they subtitle "ass" as "arse"?

As for missing Godard titles... do we know if there's an R1 distributer with a working relationship with Gaumont?

EDIT: I'm thinking primarily of Histoire(s) du cinéma.

So I did more digging and found the Godard titles that Gaumont owns:

Band of Outsiders
A Married Woman
Weekend
Le Gai Savoir
A Film Like the Others
British Sounds
Pravda
Wind from the East
Struggle in Italy
Vladimir and Rosa
Tout va bien
Ici et ailleurs
Numero Deux
Comment ca va
Sauve qui peut (la vie)
Hail Mary
Keep Up Your Right
Histoire(s) du cinéma
JLG/JLG
For Ever Mozart

It looks like no one R1 distributer has a deal with Gaumont, though it is nice to know that all the Dziga Vertov's are in one place. And again, like the Studio Canal titles, let me know if there are any errors.

[Macintosh]

Then there are the Studio Canal titles which have already been released by Criterion, or are "going to be" released by Crterion, and I am assuming (rightfully?) that there will be no overlap.

Breathless
A Woman is a Woman
Contempt
Alphaville
Pierrot le fou

My Life to Live does not appear to be a Studio Canal feature, nor does A Married Woman. I'm also unclear as to who owns Sauve qui peut (la vie), New Wave, or his remaining work between 1967 and 1979. And I take it because of a lost copyright suit, King Lear may never be released onto DVD.

So should I buy that R4 release of 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her? Because I heard that Criterion might release that sometime in 2007. Are they planning on releasing it?

[justeleblanc]

Yes, unless something crazy happens. Rialto titles eventually get the Criterion treatment. I'd wait.

[domino harvey]

of course the R4 releases of 2 or 3 Things, Vivre se Vie, Mascluin Feminin, and La Chinoise have commentary tracks exclusive to the release. You aren't missing anything by skipping the La Chinoise track but the others are must-listens for any Godard fan.

[jorencain]

Slow Motion [1980] is 60% off at amazon.uk right now.

[domino harvey]

Got the NYFA DVD of Une Femme Mariee in the mail from Amazon today. I was surprised at the quality of the DVD, which was at least on par with a Fox Lorber release, though the film seemed to run at the wrong speed at least once (I think? This is my first time viewing the film) and the sound is pretty tinny.

A couple screenshots:

[justeleblanc]

Thanks Domino. Judging from the screen shots, the print does look very similar to a Fox Lorber release. It looks like I'll hold off on buying this until a better print comes along. Anyone think this is Rialto worthy?

[sevenarts]

It's a fantastic film, on par with Godard's best 60s work. I'd definitely recommend the NYFA DVD, which is a fine print and transfer, especially since no other release seems forthcoming anywhere, let alone from Criterion.

[justeleblanc]

How does NYFA compare to the Japanese DVD or the German DVD?

[sevenarts]

Uh, it has English subtitles on it? Seriously, beats me, sorry. I know the Japanese Godard DVDs tend to be gorgeous, but with no subs: there were some screencaps posted here a while back of various Godard films out only in Japan. And I'm not sure about the sub situation or the quality on the German 3-disc set that contains the film. If, as I strongly suspect, that box is not English-friendly, then the NYFA is the only English-subbed release of this great film. Of course, if you speak French, that's another story.

[accatone]

Image quality is pretty good - comes from Gaumont. No English subs indeed! The pricing and JLG/JLG might be worth it… (And i must say, i have seen most of Godard's works in the last years on TV or VHS again and again, dubbed or subtitled - so with some (little) French skills it is not that big of a problem to watch at least his 60s work not subtitled, imo)

After rewatching Histoire(s) a week ago, i really thought about dubbing it - hate me! - but this is definitely too much for my ears and the engl. subtitles take almost half the screen…Hanns Zischler would probably the man for a German dubbing (for Godard's words…uuurghhh - hate me!)

[sevenarts]

Has anybody seen the recently released French DVD of the anthology film Paris Vu Par? English subtitles too much to hope for, I presume?

[justeleblanc]

After rewatching Histoire(s) a week ago, i really thought about dubbing it - hate me! - but this is definitely too much for my ears and the engl. subtitles take almost half the screen…Hanns Zischler would probably the man for a German dubbing (for Godard's words…uuurghhh - hate me!)

Certainly that option isn't so terrible. It's not an ideal viewing, but it's no different than having a live translator (which I've done once before).

[Kinsayder]

Has anybody seen the recently released French DVD of the anthology film Paris Vu Par? English subtitles too much to hope for, I presume?

No subs, but the good news is that the transfer is much better than the Japanese DVD, plus an hour and a half of extras. My only complaint, which is starting to become a refrain, is that there's been some tinkering with the audio, which sounds "bubbly" at times. The Godard segment is a little gem; the Jean Rouch even better. Screen shots here. A detailed review (in French) here.

[sevenarts]

I watched Facets' Keep Your Right Up tonight. It's a pretty puzzling and cryptic film, even for Godard, and it didn't help that I missed whole stretches of dialogue and voiceover because of Facets' awful burned-in white subtitles blending into white backgrounds. Still, it's not totally fair to blame Facets entirely -- the film is just especially obscure and disjointed, definitely one of Godard's lesser efforts from a decade of his work that I otherwise love. Still, there's some good moments, especially from Godard himself in his role as "The Idiot," mocking the absurd stupidity of consumer culture with his succession of silly games.

[justeleblanc]

I watched Facets' Keep Your Right Up tonight. It's a pretty puzzling and cryptic film, even for Godard ... definitely one of Godard's lesser efforts from a decade of his work that I otherwise love.

I agree, it's minor Godard. And it's strange to, coming right after KING LEAR, which I consider to be Godard's peak in the 1980s, much like WEEK-END was the apex of the 1960s films. Everything seems to be building to KING LEAR, and then he makes this strange meditational "ode" to Tati.

It's strange, there are moments in KEEP where I'm saying to myself "this really is a horrible film" and then five minutes later I'm blown away and I say "how could I have ever thought this was anything but amazing."

[Oedipax]

It's been a little while since I've seen it, but I seem to recall a scene in Keep Your Right Up where passengers on an airplane start reciting some of the dialogue from the last third of Weekend, spoken by the radicals in the forest. As a reference to past films, it's not as effective as the scene in The Book of Mary where Mary can be seen watching Contempt, but it's still unexpected and sort of interesting and amusing.

Of course my favorite thing about Keep Your Right Up is seeing Godard execute a flawless dive into a car window.

[domino harvey]

The first five minutes of Keep Your Right Up are the biggest cheat in Godard's film history. You think you're going to see Godard star in this amazing physical comedy and then he barely shows up for the rest of the film. Uneven but as was said earlier, there are enough great moments to keep you watching. The choice of white subs makes the airplane scene almost unwatchable tho

[justeleblanc]

I also like the moment when adoring film fans are literally going ga-ga over the film container itself, instead of the film.

[sevenarts]

I also like the moment when adoring film fans are literally going ga-ga over the film container itself, instead of the film.

Yea, that was pretty funny. "Oooh it's so shiny."

Godard jumping through a car window was undoubtedly the most memorable scene, and actually I wish there was a lot more of his slapstick routines in the film, since those were by far the most entertaining moments. The whole plane sequence, with the people pushing over each other and constantly switching seats, was pretty funny too.

All the sequences with the band never really went anywhere though -- they reminded me a lot of One + One, but of course this French synth-pop group was no Rolling Stones, and the song they were recording was certainly no "Sympathy for the Devil."

[justeleblanc]

Any update on the upcoming Lionsgate Godard box set? There was talk that someone would call Lionsgate and ask about the prints being used, or which films were to be included.

[Galen Young]

I've recently been reading Kaja Silverman and Harun Farocki's excellent Speaking About Godard and had a question about one comment in their chapter on Vivre Sa Vie. Farocki makes reference to an original ending in which the final shot of Nana lying in the street lasts for two minutes, whereas the American version it has been shortened to just a few seconds.

I found an unusual book called Film: Encounter by Hector Currie and Donald Staples (Pflaum/Standard 1973) that has a photo of Anna Karina in Vivre sa vie I've never seen before:



I wonder if this a frame from a different cut (longer ending?) of the film, or just a very odd production still?

[evillights]

I watched Facets' Keep Your Right Up tonight. It's a pretty puzzling and cryptic film, even for Godard ... definitely one of Godard's lesser efforts from a decade of his work that I otherwise love.

I agree, it's minor Godard.

I've seen 'Keep Your Right Up' about five times, and can't agree with this at all. Those elements in the film that might at first seem arbitrary, or disjointed, betray after a few more viewings the evidence of an honest, even elegant, way of expressing something very complex, very abstract, but very beautiful. Supposing that the film was, intellectually, "minor" (something I refute), how could one even bring oneself to typing that word in the midst of such ravishing, rapturous shots (courtesy Caroline Champetier), the rhythm of movement in every frame, the tremendous quality of the sound-recording and sound-mix?

Don't worry about JLG's sparse appearances throughout the film as The Idiot -- he's in every second of this film as Godard. One 'Keep Your Right Up' is worth 3200 René Clements.