342-348 Six Moral Tales

[backstreetsbackalright]

...the Criterion box set of the crown and jewel of Rohmer's achievement...

Is this the general consensus around here? I've only seen about half of the films in this upcoming set, and I thought it all really terrific, but I generally prefer the stuff Rohmer was doing in the 80s and 90s. The Green Ray, Tale Of Winter - that's the Rohmer that made me fall for Rohmer.

[godardslave]

Eric Rohmer's Love in the Afternoon, the latter part of our upcoming deluxe box-set edition of Rohmer's Six Moral Tales.

The word deluxe is a good sign.
Hopefully, this will mean beautiful digipack packaging, and lots of long, informative, varied extras. Along the lines of the cassavetes and fassbinder boxes and Ugetsu.

Finally, its Rohmer, so the artwork design should be subtle and understated.

[Ted Todorov]

...the Criterion box set of the crown and jewel of Rohmer's achievement...

I think that Rohmer has been producing crown jewels his entire career -- one personal favorite is The Aviator's Wife -- other then his first film: Le Signe du lion, which while not bad, doesn't contain the magic of his later work.

Some of his earliest shorts however, such as Véronique et son cancre and the Godard directed Charlotte et Véronique, ou Tous les garçons s'appellent Patrick (already available from Criterion) contain the Rohmerian magic in full.

It would be fantastic of Criterion's Rohmer DVDs didn't stop at the Six Moral Tales, but at the very least encompass all former Fox-Lorber titles.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Deluxe is a good sign indeed! These being Rohmer (with the excellent Nestor Almendros) I have high hopes for the extras. (Maybe a centerfold of the ladies Rohmer casts - sigh.)
What sort of supplemental material could be included, though? We all love Rohmer so I wonder who Criterion will recruit to convince everyone else that he's a master.
Seriously, though, this better be one sexy package! I want interviews with the actresses! I want a documentary about Almendros, too! He is one of the best cinematographers ever and one of my favorites. (I even want to see Gorin on this set, too. Maybe even Rivette as well.) Maybe that's as much wishful thinking as that centerfold.

[kieslowski_67]

It would be fantastic of Criterion's Rohmer DVDs didn't stop at the Six Moral Tales, but at the very least encompass all former Fox-Lorber titles.

I think it was mentioned somewhere that MGM owns the rights to "tale of a springtime" and "Pauline at the beach", thus preventing a Criterion deluxe box set for "four seasons" and "Comedies and Proverbs" to be released in the near future.

"A winter's tale", "Summer", "Aviator's wife", "Pauline at the beach" are all masterworks. However, my personal favorite Rohmer will always be "my night at Maud's", the best film released in 1969, followed by "Clare's knee", another top 5 film released in 1970.

[stroszeck]

Yes, My Night at Maud's ALONG WITH Adalen 31, Passion of Anna, MASH, Medium Cool, Z, if.......What a great 1 - 1/2 years for Cinema!

[backstreetsbackalright]

Talking about supplements, I'd be happiest to see an essay, interview, or commentary by Ivone Margulies. Margulies is responsible for the bulk of the best writing available on Chantal Akerman, and it's through her Akerman book that I came to give Rohmer a try. And she's been working on (and perhaps even finished) a book on Rohmer.

[Buttery Jeb]

Preliminary specs for the "Six Moral Tales" boxset, from Image's website:

* New, restored high-definition digital transfers supervised by Eric Rohmer
* Exclusive new video conversation with Eric Rohmer and Barbet Schroeder
* Short film: "Nadja in Paris"
* Short film: "Charlotte and Her Steak"
* Short film: "Une etudiante d'aujourd'hui"
* Short film: "The Camber"
* Short film: "Veronique and Her Dunce"
* Video afterword with filmmaker and writer Neil LaBute
* Original theatrical trailers
* A book featuring the original stories by Eric Rohmer
* A memoir from Nestor Almendros
* Six new essays
* Essay: "For a Talking Cinema" by Eric Rohmer

Nothing yet up for"Seduced and Abandoned" or any other possible August releases ("Kicking and Screaming," "The Two of Us," etc...).

[tavernier]

Looks great, but why do we need a small talent like LaBute to pontificate about Rohmer?

[Gigi M.]

I thought the same thing. No commentaries?

[justeleblanc]

Are you kidding, IN THE COMPANY OF MEN and SHAPE OF THINGS are pretty much remakes of SUZANNE'S CAREER. LEPERS, while maybe not a direct homage to a Rohmer tale, surely comes from the same series -- maybe LA COLLECTIONNEUSE...

Though it depends what you think of LaBute. Personally I enjoy his plays a lot (and I like that he directs them for the screen, even if they aren't cinematic).

[toiletduck!]

No film-specific features? That looks like more of a run-down for a supplements disc than anything else. I'm expecting much more as we roll on...

-Toilet Dcuk

[What A Disgrace]

According to someone at DVDTalk...

The Bakery Girl of Monceau – 1962 (short 22mins)
Suzanne's Career – 1963 (short 55 mins)
My Night At Maud's - 1970
La Collectionneuse - 1966
Claire's Knee - 1971
Love in the Afternoon – 1972 (Chloe in the Afternoon)

Approx. 3 hours of extras:
- An interview with writer/director Neal LaBute
- An 84-minute interview with Rohmer
- 50-minute interview with Rohmer from 1977
- A book, which has been out-of-print in the US since 1980

...also, we get Kicking & Screaming and Seduced and Abandoned on the 22nd.

[FilmFanSea]

According to someone at DVDTalk.

Already noted five posts up.

[zedz]

Actually, this is new information: Two Rohmer interviews (one of these is presumably the aforementioned one with Schroeder), adding up to well over two hours! Who needs additional film-specific material?

It's looking like a pretty rich set. The first two Tales could fit on one disc, with the shorts spread throughout with the other features, or each Moral Tale could have its own disc (a nicer touch), with the shorts split between the first two, and a final disc for the interviews. Plus two books!

I'm not sure that commentaries are all that necessary for Rohmer's films. A glossary of cultural allusions (sort of like the visual glossary on Band of Outsiders) would probably be more useful for something like Ma nuit chez Maud, and that could conceivably be covered by the accompanying essay.

[What A Disgrace]

Here's Criterion's version of the story.

SPECIAL DELUXE EDITION SIX-DISC BOX SET FEATURES
- New, restored high-definition digital transfers, supervised and approved by director Eric Rohmer
- Exclusive new video conversation with Rohmer and Barbet Schroeder
- Short films: Nadja in Paris; Presentation, or Charlotte and Her Steak; A Student of Today; The Curve; and Véronique and Her Dunce
- Archival interviews with Rohmer, actors Jean-Claude Brialy, Béatrice Romand, Laurence de Monaghan, and Jean-­Louis Trintignant, film critic Jean Douchet, and producer Pierre Cottrell
- Video afterword by filmmaker and writer Neil LaBute
- Original theatrical trailers
- New and improved English subtitle translations
- PLUS: Six Moral Tales, the original stories by Eric Rohmer, and a booklet featuring “For a Talking Cinema,â€

[justeleblanc]

Does anyone know why Tales III & IV are not in chronological order??

[ellipsis7]

They were not released in the order they were made...

[tavernier]

new essays by Geoff Andrew, Ginette Vincendeau, Phillip Lopate, Kent Jones, Molly Haskell, and Armond White

Armond White? He's the LaBute of critics - why oh why does he have any credibility?

[backstreetsbackalright]

Armond White? He's the LaBute of critics - why oh why does he have any credibility?

Normally I wouldn't think of disagreeing with you on that point, but in the past White has been uncharacteristically lucid in his writings on Rohmer.

[tavernier]

The words "Armond White" and "lucid" are mutually exclusive.

[backstreetsbackalright]

That's overwhelmingly proven true. I'm just saying the essay included in this box may prove to be an exception to that otherwise unbending rule.

[tavernier]

Maybe Criterion has better editors than New York Press to make this an exception, but I won't hold my breath.

[Narshty]

That's overwhelmingly proven true. I'm just saying the essay included in this box may prove to be an exception to that otherwise unbending rule.

Unlikely. Go and read his insightless George Washington gush-a-thonagain.

[tavernier]

Unlikely. Go and read his insightless George Washington gush-a-thonagain.

Yikes! I forgot that essay existed. Here's but one gem:

The odd significance of the title George Washington provides the key to Green's unique vision. The affecting title brings together standard African-American christening with the audience's sophisticated historical awareness.

Let's leave aside the fact that that second sentence makes no sense. But is White actually saying that anybody who knows who George Washington was has, ipso facto, "sophisticated historical awareness"? #-o

I shutter to think what he's spewing about Rohmer.