criterionforum.org

Since my earlier post on Duelle was a lot of words and no illustration, here is a link to my tweet with some pics; other examples in the thread I'm replying to. Unsure about the conclusions I drew though; curious what people here make of the discrepancy, if anything.

I'd suppose it's a blue filter that was added in post, and that the restoration forgot to apply because the negative didn't have it.

diamonds wrote: Sat Mar 18, 2023 1:52 pm [*]"Lacking sections of day-for-night tinting found in previous releases." (Timestamps/screenshots would be helpful here; I've not seen this discussed elsewhere.)

I'm not as familiar with Jeanne la Pucelle as with other Rivette films, but my memory of the film is the skies looking more overcast in 35mm than in the 4K.

Compared to the pretty good Artificial Eye dvd of Part 1, several scenes are brighter on the 4K, but nothing as drastic as day-for-night.

On the other hand, the AE disc of Part 2 seems straight out of a print, untouched. The scene where Jeanne is captured is definitely the most different from the 4K:

Spoiler

Complicating matters further, there seems to be a YouTube video (/watch?v=ltRkpBXw110) from the vhs of the truncated US cut, complete with burned-in subtitles, which doesn't look quite like the AE dvd

Spoiler

Regarding Secret Defense: Lack of proofreading resulting in grammatical errors within subtitle translations is lazy point-blank, but there's something especially telling about not even bothering to translate one of the inter-title changes at 1:40 on the Cohen "trois jours plus tard" when every other one is translated. It's just a black screen, a transition frame that solely exists to (literally) spell something out with no visual distractions as an excuse, and yet it's not even subbed. Are they having unpaid interns sub these Rivettes? A six-year-old who likes doing those picture puzzles, where you name things wrong in one that doesn't fit the internal logic of the other, would point this out as an error 10/10 times

Cohen acquiring this films seems like it was quite "unfortunate" -- but it seems like Criterion (for whatever its reasons) never was terribly interested in Rivette.

It's a bit like the Shahram Mokri set, or a lot of VS and partner label releases - full of typos and stuff, but welcome since they probably weren't getting prioritized elsewhere. Interesting that you don't see a lot of flack against that label for this but with the prestigious Rivette the pitchforks come out in numbers!

I actually haven't read many complaints about the Rivette, and I suspect the buyers of VS/Partner labels either don't often turn on the SDH subs (I find most of them horrendous readings) or aren't people active on dicussion boards.

Michael Kerpan wrote: Mon Apr 03, 2023 2:05 pm Cohen acquiring this films seems like it was quite "unfortunate" -- but it seems like Criterion (for whatever its reasons) never was terribly interested in Rivette.

I suppose it is possible that they simply were outbid by Cohen. It is not like Cohen licenses much beyond French Cinema and the Merchant Ivory catalog.

Just popped in my new copy of Cohen's Haut bas fragile. The film looks astonishing. The subtitles are non-removable. You decide what to do from here!

soundchaser wrote: Mon Apr 10, 2023 11:05 pm Just popped in my new copy of Cohen's Haut bas fragile. The film looks astonishing. The subtitles are non-removable. You decide what to do from here!

Um, I just got my copy and the subs are removable for me...

therewillbeblus wrote: Fri Apr 14, 2023 11:41 pm

soundchaser wrote: Mon Apr 10, 2023 11:05 pm Just popped in my new copy of Cohen's Haut bas fragile. The film looks astonishing. The subtitles are non-removable. You decide what to do from here!

Um, I just got my copy and the subs are removable for me...

Weird! I wonder if it’s a player specific thing this time?

soundchaser wrote: Sat Apr 15, 2023 12:25 am

therewillbeblus wrote: Fri Apr 14, 2023 11:41 pm

soundchaser wrote: Mon Apr 10, 2023 11:05 pm Just popped in my new copy of Cohen's Haut bas fragile. The film looks astonishing. The subtitles are non-removable. You decide what to do from here!

Um, I just got my copy and the subs are removable for me...

Weird! I wonder if it’s a player specific thing this time?

I didn't even know this was a 'thing', but you're right! I just tested the disc on my Sony BDP-S3700 and I can't remove the subs, but I can on my Panasonic 420 UHD player

Is your Panny region free? Being able to disable forced (but not, obviously, burned in) subs is one of the other things that region mods typically enable.

Interesting- Yes it is, though so is the Sony

Heads up to everyone: there's a sale going on until Monday, April 24th on the Kino/Lorber website, and there's a plethora of great stuff but just wanted to mention that two of the recent Rivette titles from Cohen Media are on the list:

Gang of Four is $14.99, and Love on the Ground is $12.99 (both Blu-ray), well below what Amazon was charging or anywhere else that I saw.

I think it's free shipping if you spend $50 or more, and believe me there are a lot of titles on there worth getting. The Rivettes are on the higher end for the Blu-rays, most are $9.99.

Happy hunting!

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned elsewhere, but Liverpool University Press recently published a collection of Rivette interviews in English.

The time has finally come, folks. L'Amour Fou has been restored and is being shown at this year's Cannes Film Festival. Surely a home video release is coming by the end of the year?

From the official site:

Presented by les films du losange. The 35mm negative having been burned in a fire at the GTC laboratory in 1973, this restoration was carried out using elements from various sources kept at the Archives du film and in the stocks of Eclair Préservation. The film was reconstituted in accordance with its original version using an incomplete positive print, a complete duplicate and incomplete 16mm rushes. Film restored in 4K by Véronique Manniez-Rivette and Les films du Veilleur, with the support of the CNC, by the Hiventy laboratory in Boulogne Billancourt, and under the supervision of Caroline Champetier, AFC.
Screening in the presence of Bulle Ogier and Jean-Pierre Kalfon.

lazarus wrote: Fri May 05, 2023 3:19 pm Surely a home video release is coming by the end of the year?

Yes! Potemkine has already confirmed that they will release it this year.

Fingers crossed this will be one of their English-subtitled releases.

So exciting. Hoping and praying that Potemkine will buck recent trends and include English subs again; otherwise, will have to wait for the inevitable Cohen R1 release with gritted teeth ...

furbicide wrote: Sat May 06, 2023 7:48 am So exciting. Hoping and praying that Potemkine will buck recent trends and include English subs again; otherwise, will have to wait for the inevitable Cohen R1 release with gritted teeth ...

Cohen doesn't have the rights to L'amour fou, or, at least, it wasn't part of the initial deal they made. So prepare those teeth for grittin'.

Criterion's general aversion to Rivette would suggest they won't pick up the tab and the running time is prohibitive. I suppose it's possible they get a streaming exclusive for their Channel, but no physical release.

I'd be fine with any UK label releasing a Blu, we know Arrow showed the proper respect and enthusiasm with their 2017 boxed set.

Criterion has released plenty of films with long runtimes, including ones that I doubt are more lucrative than this Rivette would be (i.e. Eight Hours Don't Make a Day) and I wouldn't say they're "averse" to Rivette - they've secured the rights to and released multiple Rivette films, from Paris Belongs to Us a number of years ago to Celine and Julie Go Boating more recently. It seems far more likely that their constantly-expanding focus, filtered into the same five monthly slots, naturally deprioritizes works that other labels who are more concentrated on a niche area, like Cohen, will happily pick up. At this point it feels like Criterion has abandoned so many promised upgrades/releases in favor of new directions, and they're now in their least-interesting phase of promoting UHDs -often blu upgrades- over anything else. That's not meant to be read as a complaint so much as recognizing an organizational consequence of vast eclecticism: that they're a less predictable label than they used to be for the market of restored 'classics', since these days there are one-two titles a month that might be pulled from that pool if we're lucky

Criterion/Janus have picked up the rights to Le Pont du Nord from Losange. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if they also picked up L'amour Fou as Losange is also the rightsholder.

There's a Rivette retrospective going on in Madrid. There are some films (sadly too few) shown in 35mm, and I have to say, they look a lot closer to the ancient dvds than the newer digital restorations. It was really noticeable watching Divertimento, despite being different takes than those in La Belle Noiseuse.