Maurice Pialat

[Aunt Peg]

It's OOP now along with all their other Pialats, but Eureka/MoC released it in 2010 in a 2-disc edition with a big ol' booklet.

Wow - how on earth did I miss that? ](*,)

[domino harvey]

I consider Le Garcu one of the lesser films, though it's got great bits in it (Depardieu storming around the apartment on the toy truck, the ineffably bizarre accountants-dance-to-'Human Behaviour' scene), and it's both heartening and heartbreaking to see Pialat going off in new directions on what would be his final film.

I caught up with this the other day and feel much the same as you. The two moments you single out are so far beyond anything else in this extremely familiar film that it’s quite sad Pialat couldn’t see the value in favoring more novelty of this fashion over the rather rote, presumably autobiographical “He’s an asshole, all right” notes this kept hitting

[MichaelB]

Nudity per se has never been an issue in the UK (even in the 1950s, nudist camp "documentaries" were being passed as suitable for children), and A nos amours has duly been passed uncut with a 15 certificate on both occasions that it was submitted to the BBFC (theatrical in 1984, home video in 2010) - and in both cases this was after the passage of the 1978 Protection of Children Act.

It's actual sexual contact that's the legally troublesome issue - for instance, while the BBFC bent over backwards not to censor Jean-Claude Lauzon's Léolo, there was one scene in which a prostitute had her breasts fondled by clearly underage teenagers that had to bite the dust, even though the only nudity in the shot was that of someone clearly well over 18.

[Stefan Andersson]

L´enfance nue, 4K restoration:
https://www.filmlinc.org/series/la-mais ... ?tab=films

À nos amours, 2K restoration:
https://www.filmlinc.org/films/a-nos-amours/

[Calvin]

L´enfance nue, 4K restoration:
https://www.filmlinc.org/series/la-mais ... ?tab=films

À nos amours, 2K restoration:
https://www.filmlinc.org/films/a-nos-amours/

These have been on Blu-Ray for several years, I think only La maison des Bois is from a new restoration (and has been the subject of much excitement here!)

[Stefan Andersson]

L´enfance nue, 4K restoration:
https://www.filmlinc.org/series/la-mais ... ?tab=films

À nos amours, 2K restoration:
https://www.filmlinc.org/films/a-nos-amours/

These have been on Blu-Ray for several years, I think only La maison des Bois is from a new restoration (and has been the subject of much excitement here!)

Hi, thanks for the update!

[rrenault]

L´enfance nue, 4K restoration:
https://www.filmlinc.org/series/la-mais ... ?tab=films

À nos amours, 2K restoration:
https://www.filmlinc.org/films/a-nos-amours/

Is the Criterion Channel stream of À Nos Amours not from the same master Gaumont used for their blu-ray?

[Never Cursed]

La Maison des Bois is a solid if very slow character piece, though I'm not sure how I feel about its structure. Certainly it is one of the best

Spoiler

"you can never go home again"

movies I've seen in a long time. I can't blame those who have only seen the first half of it for failing to see it through, since the first four or so hours are mostly an extended introduction to the pastoral world as experienced by children out-of-place in said environment and don't have much in the way of narrative or forward momentum, but once the fifth episode makes it clear where this sad story was headed (and in retrospect it could only have ever ended the way it did), the scrappy adventures of and camaraderie forged by the central trio takes on a different, sobering connotation in hindsight. A little green as a filmmaker and definitely making this film under the pressure of a TV show's production schedule (expressed if nowhere else by the shaky zooms in many of the long takes), Pialat uses his environment and collaborators to his advantage - the movie makes gorgeous ("painterly," as I assume every review of this ever says) use of natural light and finds non-flashy but affecting methods of spotlighting several great, understated central performances. I had no familiarity with Pierre Dorel before this (nor does his filmography indicate that he did much else of interest) but he's very charming as the rural patriarch/outdoors factotum who always angles for a quiet solution to problems before his life turns sour. All the kids are impressive, too - the movie's gradual narrowing of focus onto Hervé Lévy works well, and the entire second half of the film would not be so effective were he not capable of anchoring it. I won't say too much more than this, though I'm looking forward to hearing the thoughts of those users who care about "films of youth" finally seeing this.

Side note: what an evening to see a six-hour-long movie! The news of the night flashed on my phone screen with about an hour left in the screening (during one of the inter-episode credits sequences) with no additional context, and I was left wondering for the entirety of the last episode, itself equally if not more diverting in its sadness.