French DVD/Blu-ray/UHD Recommendations

[Stefan Andersson]

Queimada! has been released on bluray and DVD in France, in two versions, 110 minutes (English and French dubs) and 130 minutes (Italian dub).

Review:
https://homepopcorn.fr/test-blu-ray-que ... more-47631

[GoodOldNeon]

Received an email from Potemkine saying that they are releasing

Paris nous appartient (Rivette)
La lettre inachevée (Kalatozov)
Pierre Clémenti Intégrale boxset
Dementia (Parker)
L'Ascension (Chepitko)
Walkabout (Roeg)
La belle noiseuse (Rivette)
La bande des quatres (Rivette)
Nosferatu (Murnau)
Rashomon (Kurosawa)
Metropolis (Lang)
Guerre et Paix (Bondarchuk)

in "versions restaurées". They don't specify whether these are UHDs, Blu-rays, or DVDs.

[Stefan Andersson]

A Lelouch-Belmondo box set, featuring Un homme qui me plaît (no English subs), Itinéraire d´un enfant gâté (English subs) and Les Misérables (English subs). Released by Metropolitan Vidéo, rights holders of the Lelouch catalogue.

Restorations by Éclair.

Review and comparison screencaps:
https://www.dvdclassik.com/test/blu-ray ... itan-video

[Stefan Andersson]

Editions Montparnasse have announced Blurays of Un soir, un train (Delvaux) and La nuit fantastique (L´Herbier):
https://www.dvdclassik.com/forum/viewto ... 22&t=39811

[Stefan Andersson]

Upcoming on DVD from Malavida:

La Famille Homolka de Jaroslav Papoušek (Malavida - DVD - 24/08/22)
Fin août à l'hôtel Ozone de Jan Schmidt (Malavida - DVD - 24/08/22)
Happy End de Oldřich Lipský (Malavida - DVD - 24/08/22)

Source: https://www.dvdclassik.com/forum/viewto ... 4&start=30 - June 30 post




Coin de mire bluray lineups for Sept. 2022 and (subject to change) Dec. 2022:

septembre 2022
Notre Dame de Paris (1956) Jean Delannoy
Le meurtrier (1963) Claude Autant-Lara
Martin Roumagnac (1946) Georges Lacombe
Le ciel est à vous (1944) Jean Grémillon
L'air de Paris (1954) Marcel Carné
Du rififi à Paname (1966) Denys De la Patellière
Adorables créatures (1952) Christian-Jaque
Pétrus (1946) Marc Allégret

décembre 2022 (sous réserves)
Cerf-volant du bout du monde (1958) Roger Pigaut
Dans l'eau qui fait des bulles (1961) Maurice Delbez
Le drapeau noir flotte sur la marmite (1971) Michel Audiard
La loi c'est la loi (1958) Christian-Jaque
L'Étoile du Nord (1982) Pierre Granier-Deferre
Prêtres interdits (1973) Denys de la Patelllère
La vierge du Rhin (1953) Gilles Grangier
+ L'homme de Rio (1964-UHD) Philippe De Broca (collection Émeraude).

Source: https://www.dvdclassik.com/forum/viewto ... &start=960 - July 2 post

[Stefan Andersson]

Le bel Antonio (Bolognini) restored in 4K, released by Lobster on Blu in France:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=353244

Lobster also released Bolognini´s La Viaccia, with extract from original sepia version as an extra, and L´Avventura, which has an extra entitled "La fin originale" (original ending):
https://www.lobsterfilms.com/fr/evenement/49

[spectre]

Listings for the La Belle Noiseuse and Gang of Four Blu-rays are now up:

https://store.potemkine.fr/dvd/35450200 ... s-rivette/
https://store.potemkine.fr/dvd/35450200 ... s-rivette/

No sign of English subtitles, but doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t have them – I might make some enquiries and see. The La Belle Noiseuse release looks particularly good; it includes Divertimento plus the Claire Denis documentary on Rivette.

[spectre]

Just heard back, no dice for these two unfortunately

[hearthesilence]

I'm guessing La Belle Noiseuse looks identical to the Cohen Collection's Blu-ray (though the Cohen Collection's edition has either fallen out-of-print or is once again waiting for a re-press)?

[domino harvey]

Kino has been gradually bringing back all the OOP Cohen discs, if it’s not available yet, it likely will be soon

[tenia]

I'm guessing La Belle Noiseuse looks identical to the Cohen Collection's Blu-ray (though the Cohen Collection's edition has either fallen out-of-print or is once again waiting for a re-press)?

It looks like it will be placed on a single BD-50 rather than split on 2 like Cohen did, which makes me wary about potential compression issues like Jeanne la pucelle had (it also was only on a single BD-50).

[Stefan Andersson]

A test of the French 4K UHD Rules of the Game (English subs):
https://digitalcine.fr/4k-bluray-dvd/te ... jeu-en-4k/
The included bluray is identical to an earlier French blu from Movinside. No English subs.

Discussion with ESC about why they did not include a regular Bluray based on the new restoration:
https://digitalcine.fr/4k-bluray-dvd/ne ... selon-esc/

[Matt]

I have ordered the Pierre Clementi Integrale set from Potemkine without knowing much about it, anyone else considering it? It’s Region ABC and appears to be English-friendly.

We need to start a Watch Buddy program here to help people work through these niche releases together.

[therewillbeblus]

I have ordered the Pierre Clementi Integrale set from Potemkine without knowing much about it, anyone else considering it? It’s Region ABC and appears to be English-friendly.

We need to start a Watch Buddy program here to help people work through these niche releases together.

I haven't picked up the set yet but decided to sample one of the films just to check to see if it was up my alley. I'm pleased to report that La révolution n'est qu'un début. Continuons le combat is terrific; a spellbinding kaleidoscopic collage that's mixing home movies with May '68 political enthusiasm. The latter is quarantined primarily to superficial words talking about "revolution" -as if incorporating only the banal text in Godard's idiosyncratic essay work and swirling them around the images to mimic a hallucinogenic trip- but the political ideas eventually become a reality, as the home movies spill into guerrilla footage of pre-May '68 uprisings in the last act. This is just so aesthetically digestible, like a less stimulated Mekas with a psychedelic neon-soaked sheen coating the imagery -the overall vibe trumping any vapid curiosity, until that last act becomes an intimate and urgent exhibition of revolution in action. It's very satisfying to watch on a visceral level, and adds an extra thematic layer by transitioning from talking the talk to walking the walk, mirroring the evolution from Clémenti's videography of childhood play to front-lines documentation of matured hostile revolt. There's something empowering yet fatalistically depressing about this demonstration of what can/has to happen with aging alongside a world that we are eventually forced to see as larger than that ignorant happy place of our early youth.

The literal text's simplified messaging toward the finish undercuts the visual power a bit, revealing this to be not much more than an amateur propaganda project, but since one can just oscillate attention back from any shallow thematic interest into the phantasmagoric schema enveloping our surface senses, it's hard to critique when that backup strength is so potent.

[Almereyda]

I have ordered the Pierre Clementi Integrale set from Potemkine without knowing much about it, anyone else considering it? It’s Region ABC and appears to be English-friendly.

We need to start a Watch Buddy program here to help people work through these niche releases together.

I have not watched everything from the set, but I can tell you that if you know and like those films you'll likely be very happy with the presentation, Potemkine did a great job.
Most of the movies outside of the third disc were shot entirely without audio, here they are accompanied by newly recorded music and it's terrific, very psychedelic and it totally fits the spirit of the films.
Everything else has english subtitles except for the extras (for some reason), and the booklet is only in french but it doesn't have much text, overall you're not missing much if you can't understand french.
The films themselves are a peculiar thing but they're very good, if you're going into this blindly I hope you enjoy them !

[kekid]

Request to Mods:
It would be great if there was a thread for all Integrale or big sets in one place.
We could conveniently find which sets exist, whether and whether they are English-Friendly.
Please consider.

[swo17]

I'm not entirely sure how such a thread would look, but perhaps it could work if there was enough interest and someone willing to maintain it like Finch does the UHD Titles Worth Upgrading thread

[kekid]

Here are two recent examples. The Tavernier box and the Claude Berri Box. The latter is called "Integrale", the former is not, but Tavernier is a substantial box. I wanted to know which films within these boxes have English subtitles. I have not been able to locate that information on the Berri box in this forum. That's when the thought occurred to me. If people who buy any such boxes (or find the pertinent information from some source), there should be a single place to share that with people on the forum. The mods can only provide the place. The success of the concept would depend on whether people take time to post information about the boxes they have. I thank the mods for considering it.

[Matt]

My Clementi set arrived today. It’s a beautiful package, limited to 1000 numbered copies apparently. We’re getting some beautiful early autumn weather this week, but if I can, I will work my way through the set and post impressions as I go (like I did for the Duvivier silents box).

[Stefan Andersson]

Peaux de vaches, with a strong Sandrine Bonnaire performance (and brief animal cruelty, if I remember correctly), now on Blu w/ English subs:

https://www.amazon.fr/Peaux-Vaches-Blu- ... C98&sr=8-1

https://www.editionsdeloeil.com/product ... icia-mazuy

[Calvin]

Some accounts will be eligible for 5 off 15EUR at Amazon France. There's also a 3 for 2 offer on that has most Gaumont titles and some Pathe included in the selection.

[Stefan Andersson]

Serge Bromberg of Lobster Films stands trial in France, Nov. 22/23, due to a 2020 nitrate fire (two deaths). Several pages of discussion in French here, including a mention (source: Lobster insider Emile duhomard) that Lobster plans to stop releasing blurays:
https://www.dvdclassik.com/forum/viewto ... &start=555

[Red Screamer]

I have ordered the Pierre Clementi Integrale set from Potemkine without knowing much about it, anyone else considering it? It’s Region ABC and appears to be English-friendly.

We need to start a Watch Buddy program here to help people work through these niche releases together.

I picked up the Clémenti set out of sheer curiosity as well, and I was immediately taken with the first film, Visa de censure no. X. It's like watching Anger and Mekas projected on top of each other, but it's more inspired than that sounds because the everyday, documentary setting grounds the psychedelic freakout, and the psychedelia brings a fresh attention and intensity to the diary material. So strobing lights and bizarre imagery are revealed to be neon storefronts and knickknacks on a friend's wall, while scenes of smoking cigarettes and casual goofing around become curious glimpses into alien rituals. I thought it was a short film when I pressed play so I was amazed for multiple reasons when the film kept ramping up and kept getting more ambitious stylistically (as well as more self-assured). A major reason why the film has that great sense of escalation is the music, which seems to be a collage cut together from some droney jam sessions. It coheres remarkably well even as the bands switch up styles and speeds, and the synthesis between the frenzied music and the rapid-fire double imagery creates a really effective "come up."

Which, speaking of, if you're allergic to anything hippie-adjacent, I don't think this will be a film that changes your mind—I feared the worst when it began with a nude Clémenti emerging from a cave to attend a witch's fireside ceremony, but the film quickly leaves these allegorical scenes behind and gets to the good stuff. But I loved it, impressed with Clémenti's filmmaking chops from the get-go, and I get the feeling that the rest of his filmography will not disappoint.

[Matt]

I concur with everything you’ve said. I had to put the set aside to attend to other things, but hope to get back to it soon.

I like these kinds of acid-damaged-style hippies, though. Lots of crossover appeal for fans of Anger’s Lucifer/Demon Brother/Pleasure Dome period.

[Red Screamer]

La révolution n'est qu'un début. Continuons le combat. This one kinda feels like it’s channeling Len Lye, if Lye made political home movies. Its layered imagery that fuses unwieldy documentary footage with poster-style text and makeshift icons is something like the radical 60s equivalent of Trade Tattoo. It's pretty great. From what I gather, the film's original version was silent, with this soundtrack of music, voiceover, and (non-diegetic) sound effects added for the new restoration. Normally I would prefer to leave silent films silent, but I found the addition here worthwhile. Sure, the voiceover might be aping Godard to some degree but it’s well done, and they brought back one of Clémenti’s original collaborators to compose the music, which turned out perfect. I am curious where the text of the voiceover is coming from though and haven’t been able to figure out who wrote it or who’s performing it. I don't discount the possibility that I'm overlooking something obvious.

Antoine Barraud says in the booklet that all of Clémenti’s superimpositions were done in-camera. I'd guessed that from how they looked, and from Clémenti’s rowdy artistic ethos, but still: that’s kind of astonishing given the range of effects he gets out of the technique. Especially if you’ve ever tried to do one on a 16mm camera yourself. There's a great one in this film where the superimposition creates a swirling orb effect on a portrait of a woman standing in a garden in the bottom corner of the frame while above that, there's another juxtaposition taking over the focal point of the shot. I'm not able to do it justice in words, but it was a really cool moment that had me asking myself the rest of the night afterward, "How did he do that?" Now it's even more magical.

[Also the booklet basically begins with a comparison combining Anger and Mekas similar to the one I made above, i.e. so much for my brilliant originality.]