534 L'enfance nue

[domino harvey]

Someone always has to ruin it for the rest of us

[justeleblanc]

Lee Kline responds to the color choices. Obviously worth reading in full but here's a snippet:

Having seen the comparison between the Masters of Cinema version of L’enfance nue (left) and ours (right) over at Gary Tooze’s site, a number of customers have written to ask why they look so different. I can see why people might have such a reaction. When I saw the frame grabs side by side, I had to say “Whoa!” But we actually had a great reference for this color correction. The film was originally processed at LTC in France, and not only is LTC still around, it has a top-notch video division, called Scanlab. I was working on a few films there last year with a great colorist named Gilles Granier. Not only is Gilles a film fanatic but he loves L’enfance nue. We started looking at the 35 mm elements and saw a definite tint toward yellow in the interpositive. Definitely a look. It would have been easy to dial out and make it neutral, but we decided to investigate further. Gilles dug into LTC’s film vaults and records and found a 35 mm answer print made for the original release that was kept deep in cold storage (an answer print is a print that has been approved by the filmmakers and is often a reference for color when timing subsequent prints. Sort of the final timed print, which is saved and rarely used again). There were even notes about the color in the container, which Gilles says he found deeply helpful. We screened the print and saw that the yellowish gold color was there. Sure, a color print from that age could have been faded, but this print wasn’t. It was in great condition, and all the primary colors came through loud and clear. Gilles diligently went back and forth from the theater to the color grading to make sure he got things as close as he could.

Here's a translation.

[med]

Fair enough, but I still prefer the look of the MoC release. And it's interesting to hear an official admission that their release of Le cercle rouge may've been a bit off.

[CSM126]

Of course, any other print from that era would be considered faded, but not this one. Not the one with the garish golden showers look. No, that's the one that still gets it right. Can't wait for Kline to start timing more films towards piss yellow, then. Obviously the yellow hue must have faded out of countless films.

[Matt]

And it's interesting to hear an official admission that their release of Le cercle rouge may've been a bit off.

And that Universal's BD of Do The Right Thing is completely wrong.

[Jeff]

David Bordwell replied with this interesting possibility on The Current:

This is really interesting. Since L’ENFANT NUE is from 1968, when most theatres were still using arc-lamp projectors, is it possible that the yellowish-amber look was an effort to compensate for the color bias of arcs? Many Technicolor originals have a similar amber cast, but when projected with an arc lamp they lose it. I believe that arcs were gradually discontinued in the 1970s, replaced by Xenon lamps; these emit a purer white light. The best test might be to run the answer print through an arc-lamp projector…if any can still be found!
But of course it’s just as possible that it was a deliberate choice by Pialat.

[oldsheperd]

This whole thing is waaay too much of overreaction. I think I'm going to have to break out the fainting couch for some of you guys. If you like it get it if you don't get the MOC. I think Kline put up his defense and there it is. There's no need for all of you to start have a "clutch the pearls" moment.

[HistoryProf]

This whole thing is waaay too much of overreaction. I think I'm going to have to break out the fainting couch for some of you guys. If you like it get it if you don't get the MOC. I think Kline put up his defense and there it is. There's no need for all of you to start have a "clutch the pearls" moment.

x2

the hyperbole here is patently ridiculous. i know it's the forum's specialty, but good christ. JAUNDICE!!! PISS!!!!!!! THE HORROR!!!!!!!

don't buy it. eesh.

[med]

To say that the yellow color is ugly isn't an overreaction. To question why it wasn't addressed on Beaver isn't an overreaction. To demand a recall or say something like "Criterion's a bunch of goddamn stupid bastards for doing this" (never explicitly said, but the tone is there in some of the posts) is an overreaction. As is assuming Criterion doesn't know what a yellow, faded print looks like, as has been suggested a few posts up. I'm willing to give Lee Kline et al the benefit of the doubt.

As for the film itself, I see on the first page of this thread that I mentioned not owning the MoC. I ended up getting it a month or so later, anyway, well before this hullabaloo. I was completely engrossed in it up until the end, when I felt the rug had been pulled out from under me. I need to watch it again to perhaps better appreciate it. Any thoughts on why Pialat ended it the way he did?

[evillights]

As for the film itself, I see on the first page of this thread that I mentioned not owning the MoC. I ended up getting it a month or so later, anyway, well before this hullabaloo. I was completely engrossed in it up until the end, when I felt the rug had been pulled out from under me. I need to watch it again to perhaps better appreciate it. Any thoughts on why Pialat ended it the way he did?

The letter, and François's absence, convey a sense of just how far François has come, and how much of his future remains undetermined. I find it extremely moving — and elegant. In fact, I'd say 'elegance' is the major quality of Pialat's ellipses (or his abrupt stops), moreso than their nominal violence. Few filmmakers were as concise.

On a first viewing, the ending of Police stands maybe as the most challenging, or even perplexing, climax in Pialat's work. But see the film several times and the final scene/shot opens up an entirely new level of complexity, and richness, with regard to Depardieu's character. And, at the same time, after many viewings, the finale never loses any of its mysterious grace.

[naersjoen]

I had the Criterion DVD in the mail today and have just watched it. In the first 10 or 15 minutes of the film I thought that some scenes were maybe a wee bit yellower than they needed to be. Then again all but one of the screen grabs on DVD Beaver are taken from the first few scenes of the film. That and the heated discussion here may well have influenced my perception. Later on in the film I did not notice anything that seemed "off" - be it colour or proportions. Overall a very nice transfer and I don't think I would have noticed the yellow (whether it is accurate or not) without this thread. It works just fine for me the way it is. In fact some of the outdoor scenes are quite cold, colour-wise (dialogue and some of the photography suggest that it was shot towards the end of winter) - I cannot imagine these being any cooler than they are in Criterions's transfer.

As far as the film itself is concerned I was pleasantly surprised by the documentary-like feel of many of the scenes. It certainly felt more like real life than actors playing their part. I understand that the cast is mainly made up of non-professional actors and it shows.

[cdnchris]

DVD

[oldsheperd]

Watched this last night. The yellow is pretty obvious in the first part of the film but definitely doesn't hinder anything. One has to wonder if Pialat had artistic intentions with the yellowing.

[Fiery Angel]

Naked Childhood review

[zedz]

Naked Childhood review

I suppose they're trying to artificially generate extra hits on their website, but reviewing a DVD under a title that prospective buyers won't be able find it under is the height of either perversity or monoglot arrogance.

[tavernier]

that the reviewer is no Pialat fan may be a deciding factor also

[rrenault]

Criterion/Lee Kline admitted they screwed up Le cercle rouge's colour while defending the piss colouration of L'enfance nue.

Why don't you read the whole article before getting mad that they kept the yellow tint in the L'Enfance Nue transfer.

[knives]

We have read the whole article and discussed it. The reason why their print was tinted piss was most likely to offset the discoloration from the bulb in the projector. Obviously that sort of problem isn't present on a DVD.

[rrenault]

Yeah. I don't mind the L'Enfance Nue transfer either. I just don't understand why they didn't release it on blu ray, as well. Perhaps the assumption was there was no market for a blu ray release of L'Enfance Nue, but how is there any more of a market for a film like The Secret of the Grain?

[SpiderBaby]

Yeah. I don't mind the L'Enfance Nue transfer either. I just don't understand why they didn't release it on blu ray, as well. Perhaps the assumption was there was no market for a blu ray release of L'Enfance Nue, but how is there any more of a market for a film like The Secret of the Grain?

Me either. My guess is they either mess around with Pialat fans (like that is new), or release all the cool stuff dvd-only (Dillinger is Dead).

[swo17]

Yeah. I don't mind the L'Enfance Nue transfer either. I just don't understand why they didn't release it on blu ray, as well. Perhaps the assumption was there was no market for a blu ray release of L'Enfance Nue, but how is there any more of a market for a film like The Secret of the Grain?

Me either. My guess is they either mess around with Pialat fans (like that is new), or release all the cool stuff dvd-only (Dillinger is Dead).

These arguments would be more convincing if they somehow implicated the Illuminati.

[dad1153]

Just caught a 35mm screening of "L'enfance nue" at Film Forum, first time seeing the movie. I'm a stone-cold Pialat fan who gets something from each of his films I've seen. Even "Under the Sun of Satan," the closest a Pialat film has come to turning me off, had moments/scenes that have stayed with me. Considering Truffaut produced "L'enfance nue" (which is why it was shown as part of Film Forum's ongoing 'Tout Truffaut' series) and that he probably related to the 'troubled French youth' parallels to his "400 Blows" film it's amazing how unsentimental, detached, clinical yet approachable the plight of young François (Michel Terrazon doing a great Christian Bale-filtered Jean-Pierre Léaud imitation) is made by Pialat's well-framed mise-en-scène and generosity with every other character in François' life. The scenes between the elder woman and François relating and getting along are some of the warmest and most human moments I've seen in a Pialat film, the polar opposite of the on-screen acid from "We Won't Grow Old Together." But only in a Pialat-directed film about a foster child orphan, for example, would we

Spoiler

be told by the elder surrogate mother about François crying after the death of the elder granny, something most directors would go out of their way to include in the film as a cheap sentimental counter-balance to all the other bad things we've shown François doing.

Even the ending, anti-climactic as it felt watching it in a stunned-by-silence theater crowd, has the glimmer of hope that François might be redeemable and on the right path. This is of course shattered by the fact that this is only the latest in the endless repeat cycles of François getting another chance. It's only our wishful thinking (as a collective audience) that could interpret the ending as potentially uplifting, but Pialat leaving it for us to interpret (the same way "400 Blows'" final frozen image did) is miles from where his latter, more cynical (clinical?) view of humanity would deposit the characters.

And, for the record since this is what most of the thread seems to be devoted too, this 35mm print of "L'enfance nue" (which broke a few times but hey, glad to sit and wait in silence for many uncomfortable minutes for the sake of authenticity) looked nothing like the Criterion still frames or disc (saw a few seconds of it years ago) and it matches the MoC images to a tee. Frankly I can't see how the Criterion "yellow" look would have been Pialat's choice given how most of his other films looked (stark contrast in simple, realistic colors) or how film looked back in the 60's/70's outside of theaters with used up/old bulbs. I can't see myself getting a disc of this anytime soon (this 35mm viewing should hold me a while), but this is definitely a case where MoC knocks the Criterion version by quite the leapin' summersault, picture-wise.

[tenia]

I have a very fond memory of the scenes where the adoptive grandpa shows François his medals and tells him about the war. It's a very warm sequence, where for one small moment, François seems to get the right loving attention, but also to get some kind of culture transfer. A transfer though, not a "shove it down your throat, that's how it should be so behave now !". He responds to it with what seems to be a real kindness, maybe even some respect, something I don't think he shows even once in the rest of the encounters he has.

[dad1153]

But that's what makes the movie effective for me: the little human moments, like when the grandma is sitting on her husband's leg for no reason. One moment (very few actually) François seems happy and like he has landed on the right family (the ending hints strongly at this), the next he's in trouble at school and/or being a real dick to this very kind people. That's how kids are/were, kind and gentle one moment and total shits the next, especially ones like François that are either holding back or working out their issues about why their parents abandoned them (Raoul, the older boy the grandparents adopt who is no angel, has clearly worked an outlet for his issues that François has yet to find). I think the fact François

Spoiler

didn't steal the elder granny's money from her purse below the pillow and wrote to the grandparents in the letter he wished to be allowed to return to them in the summer

points strongly toward redemption, but Pialat lets us hope for that without providing any concrete or solid basis for François not messing again and falling down hard. All's possible in this messed-up kid's upbringing.

[zedz]

Pialat may have been an old grouch, but he does somewhat confirm a happy ending for Francois (and his foster brother) in his subsequent film La Maison des bois, though the boys have to travel back to WWI in order to find it. They're essentially in the same situation, but much, much more stable and happier.