Éric Rohmer on DVD and BD

[Zot!]

Do any of the supplements have subtitles?

No. Unless there is something I missed.

No nothing, including 2 entire discs (Rosette and Rohmer's Workshop). And Claire's Knee poster comes with all of them. I'm still working my way through this set slowly, the Autumn tale transfer is a stunner!

Also there is a brief glitch in Mayor, Mediatheque, etc... where a few frames are repeated. Otherwise I am still thrilled, and stroke it lovingly every day.

[spectre]

Just ordered my set from Amazon yesterday. Fingers crossed that it makes it to Australia undamaged. Do you think they've learned from the issues and taken extra care with the packaging, or is it just a trial and error thing?

[foe]

For those who still haven't bought the set - it won't be cheaper I guess.

I bought mine a week ago, it took 5 days to deliver to England. Unfortunately it wasn't packed by a sensible human being (put inside a huge box with a piece of paper scattered next to) which resulted in 2 small dents. On top of that the cover is scratched ](*,) Due to the fact that now amazon.es doesn't want to send the replacement and the only option I can go for is a refund after sending the box set back to them I decided to keep it. I suppose it won't be very original if I rave about the transfers (although only 2 movies seen so far) and moan about ridiculously irritating digipak-style cases now.

[swo17]

Unfortunately it wasn't packed by a sensible human being (put inside a huge box with a piece of paper scattered next to) which resulted in 2 small dents. On top of that the cover is scratched ](*,) Due to the fact that now amazon.es doesn't want to send the replacement and the only option I can go for is a refund after sending the box set back to them I decided to keep it.

I was able to get a replacement for this item recently from Amazon.es, though I had to email customer service about it directly as opposed to requesting a return within "my orders."

I wonder how many people have received copies of this set where the black box at the end that contains the teabags isn't hopelessly crushed. It almost seems as if the box were designed by a team of engineers for this specific purpose.

[perkizitore]

Amazon.es has atrocious customer service compared to its British and American counterparts, I had to beg them for a refund on a bootleg blu-ray while kindly explaining why returning it is a waste of both my time and their money!

[Perkins Cobb]

Is this out of print now? It seems to have suddenly gone missing from all the Amazons, apart from some pricy third party sellers.

[perkizitore]

Technically this was OOP from the beginning since it's a limited edition, although it seems Amazon is OOS atm, Potemkine still has stock.

[rrenault]

Potemkine's going to be releasing a standalone blu of Ma Nuit chez Maud next week. I'm assuming only the set that contains his entire filmography is a limited edition. FWIW, it's in stock on Amazon France at the moment.

[rrenault]

I don't know where else to ask this, but does Potemkine have its own thread on here?

[GaryC]

This thread is as good as any to note that the BFI Southbank in London will be holding a Rohmer retrospective in January. How complete it will be, I don't know yet - twenty-three cinema features plus quite a few shorts is a lot to fit into a month's schedule. I do know that if they do show The Tree, The Mayor and the Mediathèque I will see that if it's at all possible for me to get there, as that's the one of the twenty-three I haven't seen before. (And I've seen fourteen of the others in a cinema in 35mm.)

Given the recent Blu-ray releases, meaning that HD masters exist, I suspect many of the films will be shown in DCP rather than 35mm, but we'll see.

[GaryC]

As an addendum to the above, the Rohmer retrospective is over two months. January covers the first half of his career, up to The Marquise of O... and an extended run of The Green Ray. There's a note saying they had hoped to show Perceval in January but can't for unexplained reasons, but hope to in March.

Also in the season is a talk by Geoff Andrew and a programme of two shorts (Bérénice and The Kreutzer Sonata), with the Place de l'Etoile section of Paris vu par... showing with The Sign of Leo. Also showing are four programmes of Rohmer's TV documentaries, which it bills as "first UK screenings" - which I suppose is accurate, though three of them (Entretien sur Pascal, Metamorphoses du paysage and Louis Lumière) have appeared as extras on UK DVDs.

Given the recent Blu-ray restorations and French boxset, it's not a surprise that everything is apparently showing as DCPs - no 35mm prints at least so far.

[criterionsnob]

Huge price drop on Coffret Rohmer intégral - EUR 146,23 at amazon.fr. This is by far the cheapest I've ever seen it, so I finally splurged.

[GaryC]

As an addendum to the above, the Rohmer retrospective is over two months. January covers the first half of his career, up to The Marquise of O... and an extended run of The Green Ray. There's a note saying they had hoped to show Perceval in January but can't for unexplained reasons, but hope to in March.

Also in the season is a talk by Geoff Andrew and a programme of two shorts (Bérénice and The Kreutzer Sonata), with the Place de l'Etoile section of Paris vu par... showing with The Sign of Leo. Also showing are four programmes of Rohmer's TV documentaries, which it bills as "first UK screenings" - which I suppose is accurate, though three of them (Entretien sur Pascal, Metamorphoses du paysage and Louis Lumière) have appeared as extras on UK DVDs.

Given the recent Blu-ray restorations and French boxset, it's not a surprise that everything is apparently showing as DCPs - no 35mm prints at least so far.

Make that three months - the season concludes in March, and I'm not sure if the showings of The Tree, The Mayor and the Mediatheque are the first ones available to the public in the UK. I don't remember it showing at the London Film Festival, but it may have shown elsewhere. I'm intending to see that one, as it's the only Rohmer cinema feature I haven't yet seen.

It has been all DCPs so far, though the March showings of The Lady and the Duke, Triple Agent and The Romance of Astréa and Celadon will be from 35mm prints.

[Cronenfly]

Huge price drop on Coffret Rohmer intégral - EUR 146,23 at amazon.fr. This is by far the cheapest I've ever seen it, so I finally splurged.

Has this been a satisfying purchase for most? I already have the Arrow and Criterion sets, and my French skills are non-existent, so this has been a hard sell for me up until this point. I like Rohmer well enough, but this seems like a bit of a faberge egg for the non-French speaker, at least on paper (and unless the transfers are more definitive than reports so far would indicate).

[warren oates]

Um, yeah, like, extremely satisfying. Have you not read any of the many other posts about it? All the feature films have English subs. Most are on Blu-ray, especially some of the smaller titles I'd imagine are least likely candidates for U.S. or U.K. Blu releases, like The Aviator's Wife.

[Cronenfly]

I guess I was a bit concerned by the interlacing/questionable aspect ratio discussions that have swirled around the release. The reports about the set I've read, here and elsewhere, seem more enthused about the set as a beautiful object in itself than as a fully competent rendering of the films themselves, so I just wanted to double check that the transfers measure up.

[warren oates]

Well, it's hardly "demo" material, especially given the limitations of the way many of these films were shot, but it's not some A/V debacle either. So many of the films look better than they ever have, a lot of them likely -- for a long while at least -- better than they ever will. I wouldn't hesitate to the pull the trigger if you're a Rohmer fan, which to me at least means someone looking for beautiful films rather than pristine images.

[swo17]

Some of the transfers could be improved upon, yes, but this set still warms my heart whenever I'm near it.

[Cronenfly]

Good to hear-I know it can come off as pedantic to raise such concerns, but when one already owns a good chunk of the films in watchable editions, and when so many of the bonus features are out-of-bounds due to language constraints, it is hard not to look for reasons to avoid laying down what is still a fairly large sum of money (almost certainly with customs sting to boot, potential postal destruction, etc). Might just have to do with a contact high on this one...

[jsteffe]

I purchased this set for our library and have looked at many of the films on Blu-ray. In just about every case they are a marked improvement compared to other editions, even taking into account the valid concerns about aspect ratios and encoding for a few titles. I'm really picky about these things, and I'm still very glad we went through the trouble to acquire it. Sure, some of the discs could have been done better, but there is so much here to admire!

[StevenJ0001]

Huge price drop on Coffret Rohmer intégral - EUR 146,23 at amazon.fr. This is by far the cheapest I've ever seen it, so I finally splurged.

Thanks for the tipoff!!! I splurged as well--finally!

I can't imagine a set like this ever being produced again, given the uncertain future of physical media.

[StevenJ0001]

While I anxiously await my set's arrival (hopefully in good condition after its long journey!), I'm wondering which films are considered to be in the incorrect aspect ratio. I have read this whole thread but my memory is failing me, and going through the thread again is a daunting proposition.

[domino harvey]

Pretty much everything but Pauline at the Beach is supposed to be Academy, with Pauline at 1.66, I think? My memory of this from years back (before this box set even happened) could be faulty

[cinemartin]

I think Signe du Lion is correct at 1:66 as well.

[swo17]

Aviator's Wife is incorrectly at 1.66:1 in this set.