Éric Rohmer on DVD and BD

[zedz]

Okay, I have to ask (since we're already decidedly off-topic): pourquoi le point d'interrogation apres "Un film de Joseph H. Lewis"?

[zedz]

I was tempted to do the same...though was put off that it is not HD, and that the latter 1/2 of her output doesn't interest me. Still...very tempting, especially considering the Second Run release of Kung Fu Master seems to be stalled indefinitely.

After watching everything, I think latter Varda still has a lot to recommend it. Jacquot de Nantes is a really lovely film and Kung-fu Master is deeply odd and quite amazing in how utterly committed it is to its disturbing premise. The late documentaries are primarily delightful as windows on Varda's inquisitive personality. Nobody's ever going to mistake Agnes de ci de la Varda for an auteurist masterpiece, but I could happily watch a fresh episode of that series every week for the rest of my life.

[knives]

I was tempted to do the same...though was put off that it is not HD, and that the latter 1/2 of her output doesn't interest me. Still...very tempting, especially considering the Second Run release of Kung Fu Master seems to be stalled indefinitely.

After watching everything, I think latter Varda still has a lot to recommend it. Jacquot de Nantes is a really lovely film and Kung-fu Master is deeply odd and quite amazing in how utterly committed it is to its disturbing premise. The late documentaries are primarily delightful as windows on Varda's inquisitive personality. Nobody's ever going to mistake Agnes de ci de la Varda for an auteurist masterpiece, but I could happily watch a fresh episode of that series every week for the rest of my life.

I guess I'm the lone gunman to think that Varda has only gotten better with age (though I'm also the same nut who thinks her A work is in documentaries with only a handful of fictions making the grade).

[PGW]

It's numbered. Mine is 2918 of 5000. If the numbers are temporally meaningful I didn't order until December 21 and it wasn't mailed until January 2 (Euro time, Jan. 3 NZ time.)

I think they're random. I ordered long before that, and mine is #4406 - but, yes. Obviously it's limited to 5000 sets.

Just to get things back on the Rohmer track, here's an A/B of the new "Pauline" DVD with the U.S. disc. I don't think the new disc looks overly bright at all - I mean, it's a film set on the beach, after all!

[PGW]

Here's one I did find questionable.

This is a title card from "Claire's Knee." The top screen cap is from the Criterion DVD and the bottom one from the new French disc. I have no idea which one is "right".

[tenia]

Meanwhile more boxset porn:

Humph.

* start to unzip *

[tenia]

Okay, I have to ask (since we're already decidedly off-topic): pourquoi le point d'interrogation apres "Un film de Joseph H. Lewis"?

Eddie Muller explains in his book that it's more a movie with a lot of influences that a movie solely from the mind of Lewis. Which doesn't mean a lot, since this can be done on numerous other movies...
But it has nothing to do with authorship disputes or whatever, it's more a historical point of view.

[MichaelB]

I think The Green Ray/Le Rayon vert is one of the titles that Arrow passed on - they were very keen to do it as an Arrow Academy release (being arguably the most popular of all Rohmer's 1980s films), and they still had the UK rights, but the HD master simply wasn't up to scratch.

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

I won't know the answer to that until I read Eddie's book (traduit de l'Americaine par Philippe Garnier.) I am guessing he's disputing some area of authorship, perhaps with writer McKinlay, although if there ever was a prime Joseph H Lewis picture with all the master's adoration of perversity and sexual violence this is surely it.

And just like guns and other phallic substitutes, the boxset is a whopper:

Your official Losey seems lacking?

[vertovfan]

The Rohmer BD set is marked down to 181.67 euros on amazon.fr. I just ordered it - once they removed VAT and added shipping to the United States, it came to around 160 euros!

[Black Hat]

Or $225 in case anybody's wondering. Glad I finally bit the bullet, can't wait for it to arrive.

[StevenJ0001]

Rayon Vert is the third we have watched and the weakest visual transfer by far so far. It also includes date page shots which are on white which frankly look correct. But looking at Genou de Claire the pink pages are retained and also look correct there. I am afraid the Rayon Vert is also so generally compromised (with wrong ratio and blown up grain, very weak contrast and detail and other things) I sincerely hope we don't find its equal again. This is a very disappointing transfer

Is it definite that the aspect ratio is incorrect? Should it be 4:3? If so, that is disappointing.

[Props55]

Unless RAYON VERT was shot in Super-16 (not sure how prevelant this format is in Europe much less if Rohmer ever availed himself of it) I'd think that 4x3 would be correct. It could be a case of shooting open matte but by the time you blow up to 35mm and then crop the results are often nasty. Increased grain is a given but how does the composition (esp. headroom) look? Without for a moment denigrating the performances of Maria Rivere in RAYON and AVIATOR I am now wondering if there were budgetary constraints involved in these two as opposed to the more marketable professional casts (and thus 35mm treatment) in the production of the other four. I only saw the two Almendros shot features theatrically and of course they look fabulous (and feature the most well know casts). The others I only know from DVD and they look appreciably less polished (esp. the Riveres which are the only two shot in 16mm) so again I wonder if budget wasn't a factor, case by case rather than sequential as with MORAL TALES, with this cycle.

$225 US? I surrender!!!!

More than the price though were those super HD shots of Boxset Porn that (natch!) were provided by Mr. Hare. In addition to the pisspoor ISP I am afficted with I now have to contend with keyboard spluge!

[jindianajonz]

I gave in too. I'm not a huge fan of Rohmer (though I've only seen the Six Moral Tales) but I'm quite anxious to see this box in person. And as a limited edition french item, I'm sure I could easily make my money back on Amazon US.

Now the big question is- do I drink the tea, or preserve it to keep the collectors value intact?

[StevenJ0001]

Unless RAYON VERT was shot in Super-16 (not sure how prevelant this format is in Europe much less if Rohmer ever availed himself of it) I'd think that 4x3 would be correct."

That seems to make sense except that if the films were made for theatrical release, one may assume they had some kind of wider AR in mind. Not many mainstream theatres are set up to project 4:3, are they? (Even in the 80s) Maybe they were shooting with both theatrical and video in mind and so either ratio is acceptable.

I'm just hypothesizing--maybe somebody has a definitive answer as to what Rohmer and the DP intended for the 16mm films.

[jsteffe]

Is the widescreen aspect ratio for LE RAYON VERT definitely incorrect? Is it possible that the film was protected for 1.66 projection? Do you all think that the cropping is very damaging to the compositions? I'm just curious...

Regardless, I ordered the box set for my library, since I couldn't pass up the opportunity for us to have Rohmer's complete works. It think it will be quite a while (if ever) before *everything* in it appears in English-friendly editions.

[Zot!]

I believe the pink title cards only occur in Claire's knee, so they may well be legit...or not. Other intertitles in different films look appropriate and none other are pink.

I have no idea what the official ratio for Green Ray is, but I found the widescreen compositions to be pleasing. You can get an idea from the Beaver review what it looks like. The film looks like crud, which is only increased by the cropping, but I'm still unsure how much better it could possibly look. The scenes in the train station are crawling with grain. Also, you can tell that they struggled to pull focus during production for lack of sufficient light or planning. I contend that this transfer approximates the actual appearance of the film. In any case it looks better than the earlier iterations.

You may want to be careful ordering this for a media library in NTSC land, as there is a fair amount of 1080i 50 material....also region coding, which limits it's public worth.

[Jack Phillips]

Is the widescreen aspect ratio for LE RAYON VERT definitely incorrect?

I saw the film projected in 2010 or 2011 when Marie Rivière introduced it at the Jacob Burns. It was in the Academy AR.

[GaryC]

Rayon Vert is the third we have watched and the weakest visual transfer by far so far. It also includes date page shots which are on white which frankly look correct. But looking at Genou de Claire the pink pages are retained and also look correct there. I am afraid the Rayon Vert is also so generally compromised (with wrong ratio and blown up grain, very weak contrast and detail and other things) I sincerely hope we don't find its equal again. This is a very disappointing transfer

Is it definite that the aspect ratio is incorrect? Should it be 4:3? If so, that is disappointing.

It is my understanding that the OAR is 1.37:1. When I saw it in the cinema on release, it was shown in 1.66:1. It could be shown in that ratio (though certainly no wider) but as I remember a couple of shots did look a little too cropped. It was later shown at the University Film Society in 1.37:1, as per the ratio indicator on Artificial Eye's film cans. Cf. The Aviator's Wife, another 16mm-originated film which is in 1.37:1 - and in that case I projected a 35mm print.

This doesn't always hold: A Winter's Tale was shot on 16mm and I've always seen that in 1.66:1, both in the cinema and on the UK DVD.

[Props55]

OK, button pushed for this Rohmer love fest. Just hope I get an intact, unmolested box (no subtext here, guys) sans scraches, greasy fingerprints or, God forbid, used teabags!

Firstime order for me from the French River but the English help page (and my horrendous 8th grade "pre-French") got me through. I'm as giddy as my when I made my first bid on e-bay! In addition to all the above self-justification I'll add that it's delivery should make a nice late birthday present to myself! Thanks to all who've contributed to the facts, opinions and criticisms surrounding this hitherto unanticipated release!

[Numero Trois]

Regardless, I ordered the box set for my library,

Is this a university library? Coz I can't imagine a public library ordering one of these.

[Tim]

Just received the Comedies and Proverbs set. For what it's worth, the box art is not as shown on the Amazon.fr site (apart from the customer photo/image client) but rather is as shown on the Potemkine site(!). And yes, the clips holding the discs in place are impossible until you get the hang of it, and in the case of the three-disc case, still impossible even once you have managed to get the hang of it (I broke one of the clips).

[tenia]

I got the full set, and started to put all the discs in a way that the BDs are the first discs available (so I don't have to remove the DVDs first to access the BD). I haven't been able at all to put back in its case Les nuits de la pleine lune...

[jsteffe]

Regardless, I ordered the box set for my library,

Is this a university library? Coz I can't imagine a public library ordering one of these.

Yes, it's a university library. Support for Region B Blu-rays will be problem, but at least there are the DVDs, and having the complete works of Rohmer is a no-brainer. I suspect it will be a long time, if ever, before all the miscellaneous shorts in the set appear on DVD or Blu-ray with English subtitles.

[tenia]

I'm having the same problem. I loathe these multi stem packs - they are a danger to life, limb and the discs themselves. I am wondering about removing the Duplicated titles in DVD and shoving them into Unikeep sleeves to simplify extraction and insertion of the BDs.

Actually, I only had real trouble with the 3-discs cases, but managed to get hold of La marquise d'O and Conte d'été. But Les nuits went straight (well, after 10 min of trying to get it back in the case...) into a separate paper sleeve.