French DVD/Blu-ray/UHD Recommendations

[Aunt Peg]

Does anybody know of any up to date site and lists French Blu Ray releases of French films that also have English subtitles?

Whilst it is widely known that Read My Lips & Zig Zig have English subtitles there are some others that slip under the radar due to I suspect to their lack if profile in English speaking countries.

I ordered Read My Lips & Zig Zig from FNAC just a couple of days ago and happen to discover that the French releases of Une année difficile (2023) & Le tableau volé (2024) also have English subtitles so I purchased them too (having already seen them at the cinema).

I looked at a number of recent and upcoming titles in France and discovered the following Blu Ray (and DVD) release of the following titles also have English subtitles:

Vingt dieux (2024)
Le roman de Jim (2024)
À son image (2024)

Having recently seen the first two at the cinema I am eager to add them to my collection and am curious so see the third title so I'll be placing an order for all three.

A comprehensive list of films that is kept up to date would be most useful.

[Stefan Andersson]

Does anybody know of any up to date site and lists French Blu Ray releases of French films that also have English subtitles?

A comprehensive list of films that is kept up to date would be most useful.

I don´t know any English-language site dedicated specifically to listing French Blu Ray releases of French films with English subtitles. But you might find some of the info you are looking for on these French-language sites, several of which feature detailed reviews with tech specs:
https://www.dvdfr.com/ - extensive listings of new releases on Blu and DVD in France
https://testsbluray.com/
http://www.regard-critique.fr/public/index.php
https://www.senscritique.com/
https://www.dvdclassik.com/
http://devildead.com/
https://digitalcine.fr/
https://homepopcorn.fr/
https://www.fnac.com/
https://www.amazon.fr/

Discussion of English subtitles in various threads here:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/forumdisplay.php?f=100

I can´t vouch for the accuracy of the info about subtitles on the above sites, so buyer discretion is still advisable.

[Stefan Andersson]

"Gaumont Decouvertes will be releasing a double bill (in one package) of two of Renoir’s silent feature films Le Tournoi and Le Bled."

Source:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.ph ... 10&page=32

[domino harvey]

DVDfr is what I use to check this and I don’t think I’ve ever seen inaccurate info up there (unlike Amazon, which is frequently incorrect, or has been in the past at least)

[tenia]

DVD Fr is indeed very accurate. I'm not sure where they're getting their info from, but they often look to be precise enough to stem from having the disc in-hands (they also often list and detail extras in a way looking like they had the disc in-hands).

I’m always listing (for testsbluray.com) all the subs from having got the disc in-hands, so it’s 100% accurate. The only inaccuracy I can have (in all transparency) is the region-locking : it used to be easier for me to check those, but I’m now more often than not relying on what it should be (though it seems like I haven’t got it wrong so far). The main caveat is that the info will only get uploaded when the review is finalized, and not right when I get the disc.

You can also trust DVD Classik, who do like I do so they have the discs.

[Aunt Peg]

Thanks to everyone for the advice on sites in relation to French Blu Rays

[Aunt Peg]

Just noticed that Kirill Serebrennikov's Limonov: The Ballad of Eddie (2024) is being released in France on Blu Ray next week.

From what I understand most if not all the film is in English. Has anybody who has seen the film can advise.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Just noticed that Kirill Serebrennikov's Limonov: The Ballad of Eddie (2024) is being released in France on Blu Ray next week.

From what I understand most if not all the film is in English. Has anybody who has seen the film can advise.

There's some non-English background dialogue, but the only instance I remember actually being subtitled was a very short bit with a TV playing some Stalin-era footage of an official talking about Ukraine. It's possible that the onscreen captions will be redone in French (instead of just subtitled) since the film was a French co-production, but this would only really be an issue with the closing titles, which are fairly long and not necessarily the sort of a thing a non-French-speaker would readily understand.

[Aunt Peg]

Just noticed that Kirill Serebrennikov's Limonov: The Ballad of Eddie (2024) is being released in France on Blu Ray next week.

From what I understand most if not all the film is in English. Has anybody who has seen the film can advise.

There's some non-English background dialogue, but the only instance I remember actually being subtitled was a very short bit with a TV playing some Stalin-era footage of an official talking about Ukraine. It's possible that the onscreen captions will be redone in French (instead of just subtitled) since the film was a French co-production, but this would only really be an issue with the closing titles, which are fairly long and not necessarily the sort of a thing a non-French-speaker would readily understand.

Thanks so much. I'll order a copy as I highly doubt it will be released on physical media in any English language countries.

[Aunt Peg]

Got the French Blu Ray edition of Le roman de Jim (Jim's Story) (2024) directed by Arnaud Larrieu & Jean-Marie Larrieu. The Blu Ray has English subtitles.

I saw the film at a local film festival in between the announcement of the Cesar award nominations and the announcement of winners.

The film impressed me to no end with it's naturalistic tone, casual plotting and a set up of a rather unusual story. Karim Leklou was outstanding in the film - the type of performance that one doesn't see the acting but simply experiences the character with no awareness of the actor. I was thrilled when he won the Cesar because I honestly didn't expect that to happen. Apart from the fact that his nomination was the only nomination the film received his role was so natural and lived in that I thought one of the more showy performances from a more high profile film (Francois Civil, Beating Hearts, Pierre Niney, The Count of Monte Cristo, Benjamin Labernhe, The Marching Band or Tahar Rahmin, Aznavour) would have easily won but the voters went for the beautifully understated Karim Leklou giving him the award over his very formidable competition. Really great line-up of performances (shame I can't say the same about the Best Actor Oscar line-up).

But back to Jim's Story it is worth noting that nothing from the directors work that I have previously seen ever impressed me which makes the success of Jim' Story even more gratifying. Oh, Sara Giraudeau is also wonderful in the film and it is a shame she didn't earn at the very least a Cesar nomination in the supporting actress category. Great real work there.

Lovely film that I cannot recommend highly enough and so pleased to see an English friendly release of the film.

[Aunt Peg]

Word of warning. Despite a number of French vendors stating that the French Blu Ray of Vingt Dieux (Holy Cow) (2024) has English subtitles I can confirm that it does not.

There is no mention of the back of the case, there is no menu option on the disc for English subtitles and the pressing the option button on the remote does not include an option for English subtitles.

[Stefan Andersson]

4 René Clair films on Bluray:
https://digitalcine.fr/4k-bluray-dvd/te ... ez-tamasa/
https://www.dvdclassik.com/test/blu-ray ... eur-tamasa

A nous a liberté
Quatorze juillet
Sous le toits de Paris
Le million

Le dernier milliardaire:
https://www.dvdclassik.com/test/blu-ray ... aire-pathe

Paris qui dort + Entr´acte:
https://www.dvdclassik.com/test/blu-ray ... lu-ray-dvd

Le silence est d´or:
https://www.dvdclassik.com/test/blu-ray ... d-or-pathe

La beauté du diable:
https://www.dvdclassik.com/test/dvd-la- ... ont-zone-2

[Stefan Andersson]

From Rimini Films, Sept. 16:
L'Aigle à deux têtes 4K resto
Les Parents terribles 2K resto
https://www.dvdclassik.com/forum/viewto ... start=2235

[Stefan Andersson]

Potemkine Films, Sept. 16:

Coffret Kira Mouratova
Brèves rencontres
Les Longs adieux
Parmi les pierres grises
Changement de destinée
Le Syndrome asthénique

https://www.dvdclassik.com/forum/viewto ... start=3540

From Tamasa, November. a Chabrol box:
Les Biches - La Femme infidèle - Que la bête meure - Le Boucher - Juste avant la nuit - La Rupture - Les Noces rouges - Le beau Serge - Les Cousins - Les Bonnes femmes - Les Godulereaux - Landru
https://www.dvdclassik.com/forum/viewto ... start=1020
https://www.tamasa-cinema.com/film/clau ... ere-vague/

No mention of restorations in press kit:
https://www.tamasa-cinema.com/wp-conten ... ital-2.pdf

Update: films are restored, showing at the Rochelle Film Festival in July:
https://festival-larochelle.org/retrosp ... e-chabrol/

[domino harvey]

Nice! The circulating DVD print of Les Godulereaux is particularly heinous

[andyli]

This is obviously major, but I'd remain cautious about all of them being restored. For instance, the page for Les bonnes femmes has only rough-looking images to show for.

[domino harvey]

There’s an HD TV capture out there that looks fine, I wouldn’t panic too much

[kekid]

From Tamasa, November. a Chabrol box:
Les Biches - La Femme infidèle - Que la bête meure - Le Boucher - Juste avant la nuit - La Rupture - Les Noces rouges - Le beau Serge - Les Cousins - Les Bonnes femmes - Les Godulereaux - Landru
https://www.dvdclassik.com/forum/viewto ... start=1020
https://www.tamasa-cinema.com/film/clau ... ere-vague/

No mention of restorations in press kit:
https://www.tamasa-cinema.com/wp-conten ... ital-2.pdf

Update: films are restored, showing at the Rochelle Film Festival in July:
https://festival-larochelle.org/retrosp ... e-chabrol/
[/quote]

English subtitles? (Does not seem likely)
Does Tamasa license it to English-friendly labels?
Which label in USA and/or UK might most likely pick up this highly anticipated set?
Any chance of seeing any of these in 4K?

[starmanof51]

Thanks Kekid, that is very encouraging!

[Stefan Andersson]

New French blu of La Règle du jeu:
https://www.dvdclassik.com/test/blu-ray ... s-postales
No subs. Additional restoration work has been performed compared with the previous French blu from ESC (problematic because of an SDR restoration in HDR playback).
Reviewer thinks the Criterion and BFI look more film-like.

[tenia]

I've reviewed the BD here.
On top of providing a proper HDR/DV grading while the ESC UHD was indeed forcing HDR on a SDR presentation, the 4K restoration went through a pass led by AI tools. This isn't something new for the label Rimini, who already got 1984, The Horse Soldiers and The Hunchback of Notre Dame going through it, which led to various psychovisual issues (not unlike the issues seen on the 4K restoration of Picnic at Hanging Rock : the overall aspect of the picture clashes with its texture, because they don't match). Interestingly, this isn't really the case here. In particular, there are few background-related issues, or focus-related ones (both typical plagues of AI-led works). It also doesn't look artificial, nor in the texture or in the precision (it doesn't look particularly sharpened).
But this of course poses the question of what it means if one can get La règle du jeu to look like it still as its OCN available (which it doesn't), and that this convergence cannot really be visually detected. I'm torn myself, as can be read in my (French) review, but the fact is that if the tools don't come with negative counter-effects anymore, it can be argued that there is no problem.

[nicolas]

I've reviewed the BD here.
On top of providing a proper HDR/DV grading while the ESC UHD was indeed forcing HDR on a SDR presentation, the 4K restoration went through a pass led by AI tools. This isn't something new for the label Rimini, who already got 1984, The Horse Soldiers and The Hunchback of Notre Dame going through it, which led to various psychovisual issues (not unlike the issues seen on the 4K restoration of Picnic at Hanging Rock : the overall aspect of the picture clashes with its texture, because they don't match). Interestingly, this isn't really the case here. In particular, there are few background-related issues, or focus-related ones (both typical plagues of AI-led works). It also doesn't look artificial, nor in the texture or in the precision (it doesn't look particularly sharpened).
But this of course poses the question of what it means if one can get La règle du jeu to look like it still as its OCN available (which it doesn't), and that this convergence cannot really be visually detected. I'm torn myself, as can be read in my (French) review, but the fact is that if the tools don't come with negative counter-effects anymore, it can be argued that there is no problem.

Great review and very well put re. the ethical matters that inevitably come to surface here. Which of the screenshots in the two comparisons corresponds with the new Rimini edition? I prefer the left screenshots in both examples but this seems to be a case where screenshots don’t do the result in motion justice in positives and negatives alike.

[tenia]

In the 2 smaller A/B comparisons, left cap is from the BFI BD, right from the Rimini one. When looking at them through the reader, you can read the legend (la-regle-du-jeu-09-uk vs La règle du jeu 09 FR 2025).
I've made the 3 sets of caps (Criterion 2011, BFI 2023, Rimini 2025) so they can be comparable. For instance :
Criterion : https://testsbluray.com/wp-content/uplo ... -10-us.jpg
BFI : https://testsbluray.com/wp-content/uplo ... -10-uk.jpg
Rimini : https://testsbluray.com/wp-content/uplo ... R-2025.jpg

[nicolas]

In the 2 smaller A/B comparisons, left cap is from the BFI BD, right from the Rimini one. When looking at them through the reader, you can read the legend (la-regle-du-jeu-09-uk vs La règle du jeu 09 FR 2025).
I've made the 3 sets of caps (Criterion 2011, BFI 2023, Rimini 2025) so they can be comparable. For instance :
Criterion : https://testsbluray.com/wp-content/uplo ... -10-us.jpg
BFI : https://testsbluray.com/wp-content/uplo ... -10-uk.jpg
Rimini : https://testsbluray.com/wp-content/uplo ... R-2025.jpg

Thanks for the caps! I’d be interested to see this in motion but I’m happy with what I have from the other labels.

[Zot!]

LA VIE RÊVÉE DES ANGES aka The Dreamlife of Angels (Erick Zonca) 4k resto on BD.
A 90’s favorite! No subs…I hope very much this gets picked up for localization.
https://www.dvdclassik.com/test/blu-ray ... j-editions