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kieslowski_67 wrote:

Gropius wrote:Resnais is surely a contender for most under-represented major (Western European) auteur on DVD. I am in the plebeian situation of having seen nothing post-Marienbad.

Not really. MK2 and Studio Canal have released nearly all of Resnais's major works on DVD.

I'd agree, except that some French discs don't have English subs--MURIEL, SMOKING/NO SMOKING--and some aren't available yet--JE T'AIME, PROVIDENCE, along with a couple of the important shorts.

kieslowski_67 wrote:

Gropius wrote:Resnais is surely a contender for most under-represented major (Western European) auteur on DVD. I am in the plebeian situation of having seen nothing post-Marienbad.

Not really. MK2 and Studio Canal have released nearly all of Resnais's major works on DVD.

But we're probably talking about releases with English subs and there is still no English friendly release of Muriel and no release at all of Je t'aime, je t'aime, both of which I would say are among his very most important works. In addition to that two of his other most important works La Guerre est Finie and Last Year in Marienbad are only available in the U.S. and U.K. respectively (as far as I know). The MK2 boxset is great though, but as I said in my earlier post, I only feel there are two of his very best films on that.

So we really desperately need dvds of Muriel and Je t'aime, je t'aime before we can come close to having all his most important work available. If there are releases of these films that I am unaware of then I would be very happy to hear about them.

There's also the excellent Providence which is only available on either an Italian or Spanish dvd (I forget which) with horrendous dubbed audio.

I would say availablity of Resnais on dvd is very patchy at best.

I seem to have repeated some of the points you made tavernier since I didn't see your post until after I had submitted mine.

vogler wrote:I seem to have repeated some of the points you made tavernier since I didn't see your post until after I had submitted mine.

That's OK...the more posts about our frustration with Resnais' output on DVD, the better. (BTW: his new film, Coeurs, is terrific.)

After a great early run, I think the quality of his work dropped off substantially after "Mon oncle". None of the post-1980 work is particularly compelling, although all of it is enjoyable in a low-key way. "Coeurs" is a nice little film. I love the fact that it snows during the entire film. To me it looked like it was shot on DV but that may have been the excessive lighting.

Barmy wrote:After a great early run, I think the quality of his work dropped off substantially after "Mon oncle".

From what I have seen I would agree with you, with the exception of L'Amour à mort which I think is an excellent film. It's not that his films since then have been bad films, they just don't come close to the utter brilliance of his earlier work. I find Resnais to be one of the most inspiring directors of all time but that rests almost entirely on his earlier work. I haven't seen Coeurs yet but I'm going to try and see it as soon as I possibly can.

kieslowski_67 wrote:

Gropius wrote:Resnais is surely a contender for most under-represented major (Western European) auteur on DVD. I am in the plebeian situation of having seen nothing post-Marienbad.

Not really. MK2 and Studio Canal have released nearly all of Resnais's major works on DVD.

Okay, if you want to get technical about it, yes, there are more under-represented Western European auteurs out there (e.g. Marker, Straub-Huillet, Akerman, Ivens, Syberberg, post-war German stuff generally that isn't Herzog or Fassbinder, etc). But what I meant was, considering the major status accorded to Hiroshima mon amour by English-speaking critics, it is surprising that stuff like Muriel remains comparatively unknown (at least I haven't seen it).

But what I meant was, considering the major status accorded to Hiroshima mon amour by English-speaking critics, it is surprising that stuff like Muriel remains comparatively unknown (at least I haven't seen it).

I think you've made a quite interesting point. It seems to me as if, generally speaking, people focus too much on Hiroshima Mon Amour and Last Year at Marienbad at the expense of his other work, the implication (almost) being that these are the 'definitive' Resnais films. Gropius, you really ought to watch La Guerre est Finie, it is available in a perfectly good American edition and is quite breathtakingly brilliant. If you see and like this the MK2 boxset and Stavisky are logic next steps.

Regarding Muriel, I find it crushing that it is not available to English speakers (sadly my French is not quite good enough). The French R2 looks very tasty indeed, and the Italians and Spanish have editions too...

I have the Spanish edition, but it's fullscreen instead of 1.66:1.

Thanks I feel much better now!

I watched a bit of the new French "Je t'Aime, je t'Aime" DVD (no subs) and was quite impressed by the transfer.

I just ordered it, along with a cheap CD compilation of soundtracks of Resnais films that came out earlier this month.

A sample from the new French edition:



More screencaps here.

The transfer has an analogue video quality to it. Certainly not from a prime element, ie negative or interpositive. If it had subs, though, I'd buy it and give away DVD-Rs. I know how y'all want to see a watchable version.

This played in Baltimore a couple months ago. The print looked pretty nice and, ironically, despite being English-subtitled, had to be flown in from France for the screening, which makes me think this film is currently without a US distibutor. IMDB says it (was) New Yorker that owned the rights, so if those have lapsed, it can only be a good thing.

Tonight, MoMA screened the Film Desk's 35mm print (struck back around 2013 or 2014). Some wear but otherwise looked great. As soon as it was over, I popped on to the usual Blu-Ray review sites to see what the screencaps for the BD looked like, and the color on the BD looks flat out WRONG. The BD isn't just a little cooler, it's a LOT cooler. It's shitty revisionism.

I've seen this astounding and lovely 35mm print a few times. The notion that BD even approximates 35mm is something that can only be attributed to the delusional. Some day, whether it's 10 or 1000 years away, home video will be able to replicate 35mm. As of now, neither DCP or BD are even close.

hearthesilence wrote:Tonight, MoMA screened the Film Desk's 35mm print (struck back around 2013 or 2014). Some wear but otherwise looked great. As soon as it was over, I popped on to the usual Blu-Ray review sites to see what the screencaps for the BD looked like, and the color on the BD looks flat out WRONG. The BD isn't just a little cooler, it's a LOT cooler. It's shitty revisionism.

so what was the color temperature of the projection bulb for the screening, and what color temperature bulb was the 35mm print timed for? Without that info we know nothing.

That's seriously inflating the likelihood of a slight possibility.