Two by Raoul Ruiz

[Michael Kerpan]

Ce jour-là / That Day (Raoul Ruiz, 2003)
Klimt (Raoul Ruiz, 2006)

I have no hesitation in categorizing Ce jour-là as a masterpiece. Unique -- but (in part) rather like a mix of Bunuel, Rivette and Durenmatt, this tells the story of a scatty young heiress (Elsa Zylberstein), her greedy family (headed by papa Michel Piccoli), a deranged killer (Bernard Giraudeau) and a couple of seemingly indolent police officials (Jean-Luc Bideau and Christian Vadim). Released from the asylum so he can kill Zylberstein, Giraudeau instead becomes her protector. Often macabre, but very funny.

Klimt purportedly tells the story of the noted art nouveau painter (played by John Malkovich). It looks great -- but any resemblances to biographical fact are probably inadvertent. More a fever dream (which it may be) than a coherent narrative. Nikolai Kinski (Klaus's son) steals the show (whenever onscreen) as the young painter Egon Schiele.

[zedz]

Thanks Michael. Are these reviews based on the French discs? If so, what's the subtitling situation?

If you liked these, definitely check out Time Regained, and, if you're feeling more adventurous, the French Trois films de Raoul Ruiz set is superb. Three Crowns of a Sailor is a fever dream par excellence, and Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting filters Rivettian paranoia through Resnaisian cool. I don't know what comparisons I can offer for The Suspended Vocation. The set also includes great (subtitled) interviews with Ruiz himself.

[David Ehrenstein]

If you can scare up a copy, my long out of print Film: The Front Line -- 1984 (Arden Press) has a chapter devoted to Ruiz. I also wrote piece for Film Quarterly back in the early 80's Raul Ruiz at the Holiday Inn.

Among his films I reccomend Memoires des Apparances and The Territory.

His Proust film is a masterpiece.

[Michael Kerpan]

Thanks Michael. Are these reviews based on the French discs? If so, what's the subtitling situation?.

Klimt is mostly in English, but the bits of other languages are subtitled. Ce jour la's subtitles are fine. One mysterious bit of subtitling -- something that sounds like "cromp" is subtitled "cramp" -- we guessed that this was slang for "comprendre" (meaning understand/understood here).

Thanks for the recommendations.

MEK

[Michael Kerpan]

If you can scare up a copy, my long out of print Film: The Front Line -- 1984 (Arden Press) has a chapter devoted to Ruiz. I also wrote piece for Film Quarterly back in the early 80's Raul Ruiz at the Holiday Inn.

Among his films I reccomend Memoires des Apparances and The Territory.

His Proust film is a masterpiece.

Thanks for the recommendations -- and I'll see what the library here happens to have in re: readings.

[Doug Cummings]

Ruiz's compositional humor is especially acute--I recall the deep focus images with the forked food carefully framed in the exreme foreground in Ce jour-là as being especially hilarious.

I'll also vouch for the French set (ported by Facets and not unwatchable); Three Lives and Only One Death is one of the few Ruiz films available on (New Yorker) VHS.

[Michael Kerpan]

Ruiz's compositional humor is especially acute--I recall the deep focus images with the forked food carefully framed in the extreme foreground in Ce jour-là as being especially hilarious.

Definitely love at first sight -- for all four family members who saw this. The visual humor is almost non-stop.

I'll also vouch for the French set (ported by Facets and not unwatchable);

I wonder if there is any advantage to the French set over the Facets one -- PAL>NTSC conversion issues, etc?

[Doug Cummings]

Unfortunately, I didn't do a framegrab analysis, but I kind of wish I had. (Rentals.) The Facets looked pretty good in motion.

[colinr0380]

There are a number of reviews of Raoul Ruiz's films here at the Rouge site.

[John Cope]

So what's the story with Klimt anyway? The German disc appears to be the 90 minute "producer's cut" and the only edition I see listed on Amazon.fr is a 2 DVD set that hasn't been released yet. Am I looking in the wrong place or is the German disc the one being discussed above?

I've been wanting to see this for more than a year and yet I'd really rather wait for the 130 minute cut if there's any indication it will be released.

[Scharphedin2]

According to Play.com, Klimt will soon be released in the UK through Soda Pictures.

No information on the running time, but since Soda released the 127 min. cut in theatres, I would be surprised if this was not the version that they include on the DVD.

As to the quality of Soda's DVDs, the only release I own is Carné's Hotel du Nord, which is quite good.

[MichaelB]

As to the quality of Soda's DVDs, the only release I own is Carné's Hotel du Nord, which is quite good.

They're variable, depending on the individual film. I'd say their The Saddest Music in the World is the single best Guy Maddin DVD available worldwide (throwing in not just the film and copious extras - including a commentary - but also the mini-feature Cowards Bend the Knee and three shorts), but their Hukkle isn't a patch on either the Hungarian or US releases.

They can't be blamed for some BBFC snippage (animal cruelty), but the Dolby 2.0 sound is unforgivable when you consider that the film was the first Hungarian release mixed in 5.1 surround from the outset (the Hungarian disc has DTS), and it's also missing virtually all the extras of other editions.

So if this new disc is another Saddest Music, you're laughing. If not...

[John Cope]

This is very exciting news. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

I'm going to wait though as Amazon lists this as the 97 minute cut while MovieMailUK lists it as the 127 miunte version. DVD Outsider meanwhile mentions a Jonathan Romney interview with Raul Ruiz on stage at the Cine Lumiere as a bonus feature.

I own the Soda DVD of Into Great Silence and can definitely vouch for its exquisite quality so, hopefully, this will be in line with that and the Maddin that Michael mentions above.

[Scharphedin2]

For what it is worth, Koch Lorber will be releasing Klimt in the beginning of January, although apparently the short version.

[John Cope]

Okay, I know that this, by now, belongs firmly on the DVD page but rather than starting a whole new thread or posting this to the Soda thread just let me ask: can someone in the UK tell me if the Soda Klimt DVD is the 97 minute cut? Now Movie Mail is saying it is but other sites claim it's 132 minutes.

[Dylan]

Does anybody know what happened to Le Sens de la Nuit, Ruiz's proposed adaptation of Nicolas Bréhal's novel?

[FerdinandGriffon]

Ce jour la's subtitles are fine. One mysterious bit of subtitling -- something that sounds like "cromp" is subtitled "cramp" -- we guessed that this was slang for "comprendre" (meaning understand/understood here).

The subtitles are properly translated. The police chief is asked whether he has a cramp because of the fact that he's continually rubbing his hand throughout the film.

I can't recommend Ce jour-la enough. I watched it for the first time just this evening, and I'm already dead-set on tracking down as much more Ruiz as I can find. The Blaq-Out box set is going to be my main target in my last week or so in Paris, even taking precedence over the first Cahiers Desplechin set. Ce jour-la is a black-comic masterpiece, sleek, beautiful, perfectly structured, ingeniously shot and exhaustingly funny. Bernard Giraudeau's performance as the the escaped psychopath Emil is subtly hysterical and strangely touching. The most amazing thing about it though is the way in which Ruiz makes a hundred absurdities even more absurd by the very fact that none of them are really absurd at all. I usually try and mull over love-at-first-sight films a little while before gushing about them,especially recent ones, but I just can't help myself.