By the way, it's worth noting – for anyone who isn't aware – that this is actually two* Eustache films, not one: it also includes the short Hieronymous Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights.
*Well, three, perhaps, depending on how you classify the two parts of Une Sale Histoire.
I have spoken to Potemkin Films in Paris who tell me that Eustache junior is not actually the rights-holder for Une sale histoire and that this accounts for its availability. Boris is a seemingly failed film-maker - one feature from a long time back - and that may play a part in his effective blocking of the release of his father's work. Given the demiurgic powers of rights-holders under French copyright law - even though France is in most respects a highly culturally interventionist state - there would appear to be no circumventing this. Somebody at the Paris Cinémathàque even said to me that we would have to wait for Boris's death ....
Anybody know anything about the Japanese Eustache DVDs that are available on Amazon, it says they have English subtitles but I'd like to know for certain!
I was wondering the same, lastrade, but found this post on page 3 that provides more detail about them. I'm presuming that the Japanese DVDs on Amazon are either these ones or bootlegs of them with added English subtitles – perhaps someone else can confirm:
JacquesQ wrote:La Maman et la Putain (not 5th generation copies from the old VHSs, but the Japanese DVDs, now OOP, that Loony Boris somehow didn't manage to keep out of existence, from unrestored prints admittedly and with genitals slightly blurred the way Japanes censorship likes them, but hey ! noboody's perfect !)
I can handle average visual quality, but censorship feels like a dealbreaker.
Wow, huge news! I had given up hope- so now, greedily, I'll move the goalpost and pray they prioritize a release of Une sale histoire along with the key behemoth
Fantastic news. It's a manageable body of work, and it's been neglected for so long that I expect they'll try to restore everything and then mount major retrospectives in key centres, then stick it all in a big, beautiful box set. There are the two fabulous features, then a whole lot of awkward-length films that would be much harder to market on their own.
Incredible news for sure. Not just for The Mother and the Whore, which we all know is insanely overdue for a big DVD/Blu-ray release, but also for so much of his other work that has been criminally underseen. My Little Loves is also a masterpiece, and the shorts (off the top of my head, Une sale histoire, Les photos d'Alix and Santa Claus Has Blue Eyes in particular) very much deserve rediscovery in their own right. Let's hope we don't have to wait too long for an English-friendly release!
Does anybody have a summary of the subscriber-only linked interview with the head of Films Losange? Curious if it contains more info/timelines, or even just juicy gossip.
I look forward (with continued apprehension) to retiring my New Yorker double VHS of Mother and the Whore. I managed to see all of these films projected in a retrospective as well, but that was probably more than 20 years ago.
It seems like they were able, because the produced some of the movies and because it was the 30th anniversary of Eustache's death on Nov 5th 2021, to meet Boris and get him to finally let go and accept whatever deal they gave him. He gave them the rights to the full Eustache catalogue : movies, shorts, documentaries, made for TV movies. They have already got some 4k restorations started at Ritrovata, with some DPs involved (Besse, Champetier). La maman et la putain has been prioritised and should be shown in festivals this summer wity a DVD release to follow (they're saying DVD, but I don't know if it's just laziness or if it'll really only be DVD).
tenia wrote: Thu Jan 20, 2022 9:35 am
It seems like they were able, because the produced some of the movies and because it was the 30th anniversary of Eustache's death on Nov 5th 2021, to meet Boris and get him to finally let go and accept whatever deal they gave him.
Or he's just about reached retirement age, and the pandemic's been hard on everyone, etc. so why hold out any longer?
MichaelB wrote:That has to be laziness, surely? A SD-only release from a 4K restoration would be insane.
This happens regularly in France. Fists in the Pocket was only re-released on DVD, and most of what Second Run releases on BD and gets released in France often only get a DVD release.
swo17 wrote:
tenia wrote: Thu Jan 20, 2022 9:35 am
It seems like they were able, because the produced some of the movies and because it was the 30th anniversary of Eustache's death on Nov 5th 2021, to meet Boris and get him to finally let go and accept whatever deal they gave him.
Or he's just about reached retirement age, and the pandemic's been hard on everyone, etc. so why hold out any longer?
It could very well be but he was stuck on not getting enough money for these movies for most of the past decade, so it's hard to imagine him suddenly saying it's not a problem anymore.
But it often seemed like he was vastly misunderstood about how financials work with those, so maybe he got it explained properly since and now has found a common ground for the re-releases.
Hopefully Les Films du Losange include English subtitles, as I dare not hope that Boris does a deal with a US/UK label as well! Though are they even in the home video publishing business? The releases may come out via a label such as Potemkine
Les Films du Losange have posted a Twitter thread in English:
A few weeks ago, Boris Eustache entrusted Les Films du Losange to rerelease his father’s catalogue, putting an end to the dispute blocking the exploitation of a filmography which became rare worldwide in theaters, on DVD, Blu-ray, TV. The audience will be able to rediscover the prestigious library of the filmmaker: length feature films, short films, documentaries… Including rare titles as two part-documentary work THE VIRGIN OF PESSAC, THE PIG, LES PHOTOS D'ALIX and NUMERO ZERO, a portrait of his grandmother. The films will all be remastered one at a time, resulting in a full retrospective, starting with the presentation of his masterpiece, acclaimed by filmmakers and moviegoers from all around the world: THE MOTHER AND THE WHORE, which will premiere in a major film festival. The 4K restoration and digitalization of Jean Eustache’s films is ongoing with cinematographers who took part in the shootings such as Jacques Besse, assistant to DOP Pierre Lhomme on THE MOTHER AND THE WHORE, in collaboration with the Italian lab l’Immagine ritrovata. The meticulous restoration of the sound and image will offer all the sparkle of his films’ modernity to rebuild the author’s memory with filmmakers, artists, journalists… A complete edition of his body of work will be of great importance for the cinephiles all around the world. Directors from all over the World, from Wim Wenders to Damien Chazelle, Cristian Mungiu, Jacques Audiard, Olivier Assayas or Nadav Lapid, describe Jean Eustache as a major reference. THE MOTHER AND THE WHORE is considerer a landmark French film. This ambitious restoration follows the works on Eric Rohmer, Barbet Schoeder and Jacque Rivette’s catalogue, which has been a success in France and aboard.
I suspect the intention is for an English-subtitled edition to be released at some point, depending on whether they can get co-production partners.
If I remember rightly, the Jacques Rivette films distributed by Arrow and Carlotta contain literally the same video encodes on the respective Blu-rays (subtitles and all) - the only difference is the branding on the menus.
At worst, I'm sure they'd get licensed to US/UK parties who would happily release them on blu-ray regardless of what's made available for the French market. I'm sure there are French-language films with Anglo-American blu-ray releases that have still only received DVD releases in France. The French home video market is quite small for specialty fare. With the exception of Carlotta, the distributors tend to prioritise repertory distribution with throwing the film on a blu-ray merely an afterthought, as if it were a proverbial gift bag trinket to accompany the theatrical exhibition. At least that's the impression I get.
It looks like the Eustache titles will be getting blu-ray releases anyway, however.
Françoise Lebrun has reportedly said to expect theatrical releases of the Eustache restorations (or at least La Maman et la Putain) in January of next year
She said 'releases' rather than specifying theatrical but I suspect that will be the case. She also said 'the others are shorter' so it won't be limited to La Maman et la Putain, which she mentioned is a favourite of Gaspar Noe's and that 'without it there wouldn't be Vortex'.
