1206 Eric Rohmer's Tales of the Four Seasons

[Peacock]

I am comparing this label’s releases against… this label’s releases. Using the same director, even! This release is just shrinkflation and I see nothing to praise with a label throwing us scraps AND charging more for it

I have to agree with Yolo here while sympathising with everyone else. It does suck that Criterion isn’t stacking their releases as much as the likes of Arrow are. They certainly used to. I don’t think we can compare this to the Moral Tales boxset though as, if my memory is right, the blu-ray set has pretty much the same extras as the DVD.

Clearly Criterion has had to cut costs and extras were seen as one of the ways to do it. Do I like it? No. Criterion was marketed as “film school in a box”. But it must be financially extremely hard keeping such a large catalogue (mostly) permanently in-print.

I know I’m flip flopping between sides here but I think it’s worth telling Criterion you miss the extras and maybe there is something they can do. But ultimately there’s clearly a deliberate business reason they are doing what they’re doing rather than Criterion just getting lazy.

(I do agree with vsski though, Criterion clearly sit on too many titles, unreleased for presumedly multiple licensing periods, which is surely a lot of money that could be used elsewhere and would give other labels a chance to do those titles right)

[Rupert Pupkin]

I understand your concerns and bitterness; perhaps they have the time to add some extras. The "Moral Tales" Criterion which I had on DVD was amazing in terms of extras : Criterion had interviewed Eric Rohmer at the time. This was a gorgeous box set.
I had bought the French DVD (I live in France), then the Potemkine Blu-Ray set but it was a bit like the selfdestruction of Impossible Mission with the unsolved bronzing, playback issue through the years.
Then I bought the ARROW box set which covered essentially "Comédies et Proverbes" (the master were different than the Potemkine Blu-Ray - Pauline à la plage was back in its original theatrical ratio); I even had Pauline à la Plage blu-ray via an US release (was it Kino ?)
Does Arrow plans to release in the UK "Contes des quatre saison" ? This is one of my favorite Eric Rohmer set. I was about to buy the German release last year or two years ago (it looks like a re-release of the Potemkine set; but apparently the master are different, and the Criterion one will be different judging from the info at Criterion web site.

Sadly, sometimes it does not worth waiting... I'm happy to have bought last year in Japan the Desplechin box set with "Comment je me suis disputé... (ma vie sexuelle)" no extra at all; but great transfer (the restored one).

[Matt]

But it must be financially extremely hard keeping such a large catalogue (mostly) permanently in-print.

I think about this often, actually: How expensive must it be to keep something like 1000 releases in print, stocked up and warehoused, in constant distribution to retailers? In a market where I can’t imagine anyone is still buying new copies of DVDs first released 20+ years ago!

But what compels me to purchase this? Having recently watched the films on the Criterion Channel (and not likely to want to watch them again soon) and not being a Rohmer completist, why should I race to buy this? Or worse, their edition of the Heroic Trio films. There’s almost nothing on the discs except the films. 10 minutes of Anthony Wong?

[dwk]

In the case of The Heroic Trio/Executioners, the physical release offers the films in 4K, which the Criterion Channel currently does not.

[Matt]

Well yes, but we’re talking specifically about extras.

[swo17]

General discussion of the economics of producing extras moved here

[wernski]

Has anyone here watched this yet? Unless I somehow got a uniquely flawed copy, the subtitles seem to be broken on the Summer disc. Specifically, at almost the exact hour mark into the documentary, they just stop. And fast-forwarding ahead, they never come back. I've tested this on two players and my PC. No other online reviews, forums etc that I could find seem to mention this, though. Anyone heard anything?

[domino harvey]

I begrudgingly have to pick this up due to the French blus rotting, so hopefully this is addressed and corrected if there is an issue. Have you contacted Criterion to let them know?

[JSC]

Considering how much this set costs, I'll be waiting for a sale, whether it is Criterion or B&N. The
same goes for the Sembene set. With Sembene retailing at $99 dollars for a three disc set, it's a
bit too steep for my wallet these days, even with Criterion's reduction to $79.

[wernski]

I begrudgingly have to pick this up due to the French blus rotting, so hopefully this is addressed and corrected if there is an issue. Have you contacted Criterion to let them know?

I wrote them an email, but haven't heard anything back.

[Aunt Peg]

Has anyone here watched this yet? Unless I somehow got a uniquely flawed copy, the subtitles seem to be broken on the Summer disc. Specifically, at almost the exact hour mark into the documentary, they just stop. And fast-forwarding ahead, they never come back. I've tested this on two players and my PC. No other online reviews, forums etc that I could find seem to mention this, though. Anyone heard anything?

My copy has the same issue with the documentary.

I compared the film with my French set and noticed that the Criterion has brighter colours.

I also checked some of the French discs that I had a problem with a couple of years ago and they are fine when played in my newish player.

[tenia]

I compared the film with my French set and noticed that the Criterion has brighter colours.

5 out of 10 movies were already from different presentations between the Potemkine and Arrow sets. It's likely there also have been different/newer restorations for the 4 seasons movies.

[mhofmann]

I compared the film with my French set and noticed that the Criterion has brighter colours.

5 out of 10 movies were already from different presentations between the Potemkine and Arrow sets. It's likely there also have been different/newer restorations for the 4 seasons movies.

Yes. All 4 movies in the Criterion set use newer (and significantly better) restorations than the ones in the Potemkine set.

[mhofmann]

Criterion's response to the reported subtitle issues:

Thank you for writing to us, though I'm sorry you've encountered this error on your ERIC ROHMER’S TALES OF THE FOUR SEASONS Blu-ray set. I'm happy to help you on behalf of Jon.

We've investigated this on our end and can confirm that the initial pressing of the ERIC ROHMER’S TALES OF THE FOUR SEASONS Blu-ray set is missing subtitles on the A TALE OF SUMMER Making Of Documentary supplement starting around the 1 hour mark.

Corrected discs are being made now and we would be happy to provide you with a replacement for your A TALE OF SUMMER Blu-ray once available. Please hold on to your copy for the time being and we will be in touch with an update regarding next steps as soon as the replacements are ready to ship out.

We hope you enjoy the rest of the content in this set in the meantime and appreciate your patience as we work on a resolution. Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns.

Good to hear that replacements will be coming.

[TMDaines]

Ahh, ffs. I hope they will honour this for overseas customers too, as they usually do.

[TMDaines]

Has there been any more on replacements for this?

[jheez]

Has there been any more on replacements for this?

Yes, I got my replacement from Criterion about a month ago. I emailed them earlier in the year about the issue. They must have kept my name on a list, because they emailed me as soon as they were available - great customer service.

[therewillbeblus]

Is the issue across the board or only affecting random discs?

[domino harvey]

The issue is the long documentary stops having English subs after about an hour in, so it only effects the single disc that doc appears on

[domino harvey]

Does anyone know if new copies are still old stock or have the corrected disc included? Tempted to pick up on Amazon but I know I don’t want to go through the hassle of disc replacement with Criterion

[im_online]

Was considering picking this up during the upcoming flash sale so I emailed them about whether the old stock with missing subtitles is still around. Response from Jill at Criterion:

To give you more insight, it's likely that the ROHMER stock will be mixed for some time. The current packaging does not indicate whether or not the set includes the second pressing of the A TALE OF SUMMER disc, though the corrected disc will say SECOND PRESSING.

Edited to add: they requested I write my name and date on the actual disc and take a picture in order to process my replacement. Pic of the replacement disc is spoilered below.

Spoiler

[Matt]

“Yeah, we dunno lol!”

[TMDaines]

FYI, they are now charging a lot to post replacement discs overseas. I am waiting till I do my nexr Stackry order.

[ballmouse]

Not necessarily a issue per se, but the subtitles in A Tale of Winter have 2 odd quirks.

The first is there are some where the subtitles appear at the top of the screen (there doesn't seem to be any reason they shouldn't appear where they normally appear as there is no competing text/imagery or white color that would make them heard to read). The second is that there are subtitles for the date when the film seemingly cuts to a new day (e.g. "Monday, December 17") when no audio indicates it's being said and there is no text on the screen at all to make sense of why the subtitles should appear at all.