French DVD/Blu-ray/UHD Recommendations

[Stefan Andersson]

"L´An 01" (1972) by Doillon, Resnais and Rouch; restored in 4K, now on French Blu and dvd:
https://www.dvdfr.com/dvd/f170713-an-01.html

[Stefan Andersson]

Lobster Films releases La Viaccia, restored in 4K, in a blu/dvd combo; extras include a sequence from the original sepia version:
https://www.lobsterfilms.com/en/evenement/49
https://shop.lobsterfilms.com/fr/products/la-viaccia

[Stefan Andersson]

Lobster Films is in receivership; they will restructure:
https://www.nitrateville.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=34408

[soundchaser]

Lobster Films is in receivership; they will restructure:
https://www.nitrateville.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=34408

Not surprising given Serge Bromberg's ongoing legal troubles.

[Stefan Andersson]

Spectrum Films, France, to release King Hu vol. 2 box set:
https://www.spectrumfilms.fr/prochainem ... 71785.html
Contains Come Drink with Me (UHD and Blu-ray), Sons of Good Earth, Four Moods, The Wheel of Life et The Painted Skin
French subs only.

Spectrum´s King Hu vol. 1:
https://www.lemagducine.fr/sorties-dvd- ... -10038903/

On their FB, Spectrum says they are interested in The Valiant Ones, but rights are blocked until 2023 if I read it correctly:
https://www.facebook.com/spectrumfilms. ... 753595617/

Also from Spectrum, a box with The Soong Sisters (145 min. version) + Eight Taels of Gold:
https://www.spectrumfilms.fr/prochainem ... 71723.html

[Stefan Andersson]

La Rabbia/Jokers in France to release a Kenji Misumi trilogy: Kiru, Ken and Ken ki, starring Raizo Ichikawa. Discussion seems to indicate the first Zatoichi film will be included:
https://www.dvdclassik.com/forum/viewto ... &start=450

[MichaelB]

I saw all three Misumi films in Bologna last year, and would definitely be up for this. I’m assuming they’ll at least have French subtitles!

[Stefan Andersson]

Vie privée (Malle), test by tenia:
https://testsbluray.com/2023/10/09/test ... ie-privee/

A Woman of Paris, two versions with different music scores, tested by tenia:
https://testsbluray.com/2023/10/08/test ... -publique/
Relevant info about the music of one of the versions:
https://festival.ilcinemaritrovato.it/e ... f-paris-2/

[Stefan Andersson]

Test of a new French René Clair box, from Tamasa:
https://digitalcine.fr/4k-bluray-dvd/te ... ez-tamasa/

[hearthesilence]

Test of a new French René Clair box, from Tamasa:
https://digitalcine.fr/4k-bluray-dvd/te ... ez-tamasa/

Thrilled by this, I've been waiting for Clair upgrades for well over a decade now! I recall someone (or some people) claiming that Criterion's edition of À Nous la Liberté doesn't include the original cut of the film, or at least as it was originally shown - supposedly the deleted scenes presented on their disc should've been reinstated in the feature itself. Anyone know anything about this and how it's presented on this new reissue?

[Calvin]

Shellac are releasing a Paul Vecchiali Blu-Ray box set containing:
- L’étrangleur (1970)
- Femmes femmes (1974)
- Change pas de main (1975)
- Corps à coeur (1979)
- En haut des marches (1983)
- Rosa la rose, fille publique (1986)
- Once more (1988)
- Le Café des Jules (1989)

Sadly, it won't have English subtitles. Shellac say that "considered it for a time but [they] don’t have the international right for all the films and some subtitles files are unfortunately not in [their] possession".

Altered Innocence have picked up L’étrangleur for the US but the others are still unaccounted for as far as I'm aware.

[Stefan Andersson]

King Hu´s The Valiant Ones, restored from OCN by HK Film Archive, is up for release by Spectrum Films, France in a UHD/Blu/DVD box set:
https://www.spectrumfilms.fr/prochainem ... 71969.html

Plus another box set with rarities like Four Moods and The Wheel of Life:
https://www.spectrumfilms.fr/prochainem ... 71785.html

HK Film Archive released a bluray of Valiant Ones, including burnt-in English and Mandarin subs. This disc is out in Germany, a bootleg (?) of the HK blu, with burnt-in subs cropped, plus English and German subs:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=365403
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.ph ... st21668267

[Stefan Andersson]

Delphine Seyrig bluray box, with Le jardin qui bascule (Guy Gilles), La Musica (Duras), Aloïse (Liliane de Kermadec), and more:
https://www.dvdfr.com/dvd/f171569-delph ... femme.html

[Stefan Andersson]

La passion de Dodin Bouffant (Tranh An Hung), Gaumont blu w/ English subs:
https://www.esc-distribution.com/accuei ... 02033.html

DVD:
https://www.esc-distribution.com/accuei ... 02026.html

[Stefan Andersson]

Then new 4K Coin de mire cinema release of Classe tous risques has deleted scenes as a bonus. Interesting for fans of the film. BD now OOP ("indisponible/épuisé") at CdC website but stock remains at online sellers according to info on DVDClassik forum. UHD/BD combo still in print:
https://www.coindemirecinema.com/collections/nouveautes

Upcoming from CdC: Retour de Manivelle, from a James Hadley Chase novel:
https://www.coindemirecinema.com/produc ... anivelle-1

[Stefan Andersson]

French distributor ESC now has Pathé´s older catalogue, according to a post here:
https://www.nitrateville.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=36004

[Stefan Andersson]

From Spectrum Films:

A Certain Killer and A Killer´s Key, two Sixties crime thrillers starring Raizo Ichikawa:
https://www.spectrumfilms.fr/prochainem ... 50086.html

Don´t Play with Fire, Tsui Hark, two versions:
https://www.spectrumfilms.fr/prochainem ... 71501.html

[Stefan Andersson]

The ESC Films release of Les deux visages de Dr Jekyll (Two Faces of Dr Jekyll) is not in 2.35, it´s reformatted to 1.78. Replacement discs are out of stock and will not be renewed, since ESC lost the rights to the film.
See June 30 post by HAL9000 here:
https://www.dvdclassik.com/forum/viewto ... start=4350

[Stefan Andersson]

O Cangaceiro starring Tomas Milian on Blu from Elephant Films, France:
https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index ... ,_O/BluRay

Label: Elephant Films
"Release date: November 5, 2024 (FNAC exclusive), January 2025 (wide)
Steelbook, BluRay and DVD
92mins, uncut version
Video: 2.35:1 1080p
Audio: Italian, French
Subtitles: French, English
Extras: 24 page booklet with text by Alain Petit; intro by Gérald Duchaussoy; deleted scenes; trailers"

[Finch]

A Blu-Ray for Terrence Davies's magnificent last film Benediction was released in France in late August. The Amazon listing is here. Could any of our French members confirm if the French subs are forced and how the encoding is? I've not heard of the publisher Condor Entertainment before.

[nicolas]

A Blu-Ray for Terrence Davies's magnificent last film Benediction was released in France in late August. The Amazon listing is here. Could any of our French members confirm if the French subs are forced and how the encoding is? I've not heard of the publisher Condor Entertainment before.

This is the first time I’m hearing about this - fantastic news and thank you for sharing! I love the film as well and thought the digital 4K would be the end of it. Incidentally I’ve received a 10€ discount at FNAC today and that’s the perfect opportunity. If the Blu-ray.com specs are correct, the film is encoded on a BD-25 and with 16-bit audio. Both of this implies cutting costs (which it probably is) but doesn’t immediately have to be a bad thing if in the right hands but with French labels it’s often either the one end or the other. I’m also not familiar with Condor. If no one else does in the meantime, I’ll let you know how it looks and post screenshots.

[Finch]

That'd be great, nicholas! Maybe Criterion will put it out in 2025 if this French disc turns out to be no good.

[nicolas]

That'd be great, nicholas! Maybe Criterion will put it out in 2025 if this French disc turns out to be no good.

I’ve now received my copy of the Condor BD and I second your hope for another label to put this one out as the French disc isn’t optimal. The info on BR.com is correct (BD-25, 16-bit audio) but in addition French subtitles are forced and need to be moved out of frame. Also, credits and the title are translated into French.

The dealbreaker is the poor encoding though. I’ve compared the BD with the 4K stream that’s available on Apple USA and the disc is sadly inferior as it can’t always properly render the digital grain in the master. The stream is more consistent and also comparable in terms of detail. Usually 4K streams are less detailed than a BD but due to the heavy compression by Condor, the difference is small. There are parts of the film where this isn’t as in your face as in quieter scenes so it’s overall a mixed bag.

However the one great gem this Blu-ray provides is a 30-minute making-of Condor prepared for the disc. I assume the video is theirs as their logo comes at the start and French subs are burnt-in (not forced). I haven’t watched the entire thing but it features a candid interview with Terence Davies recorded shortly before filming and great footage of him on set, directing and talking with his actors and crew. Compared to the usual BTS stuff where we see how it’s done but rarely hear what directors and crew talk with each other. I’m a huge fan of Davies and this feature is a wonderful treat I never expected.

Hopefully Criterion or ideally Radiance do Benediction justice one day.

[Finch]

Pity the French disc is no good. I'd have bought it even with the forced subs if the presentation had been good. The UK rights were with Vertigo who released it on DVD which I have and it might not be available to Radiance or anyone else in the UK. So Criterion or another US boutique label need to step in, or maybe one of the Aussie ones.

[nicolas]

Pity the French disc is no good. I'd have bought it even with the forced subs if the presentation had been good. The UK rights were with Vertigo who released it on DVD which I have and it might not be available to Radiance or anyone else in the UK. So Criterion or another US boutique label need to step in, or maybe one of the Aussie ones.

Do you have access to the US 4K stream? That would give you a good idea of how the BD looks and only a bit worse picture-wise. They should have used a BD-50 and it would’ve been fine but I do acknowledge that the film isn’t for everyone and likely only has limited sales potential and hence the label cutting corners. I can upload some screenshots over the weekend to give you an idea.