Otar Iosseliani

[AndyOstmo]

For any of you who bought the Carlotta set: are there english subs for all of the movies? Or just some? The Carlotta web-page states that "Languages and subtitles may vary depending on the movie". I am very tempted, but would be good to know exactly which movies I wouldn't understand a single word of..

[pistolwink]

I don't have the set in hand yet, but there are a number of Iosseliani's early films that he has requested not be subtitled, either because they were saddled with Russian voice-overs that he didn't approve (and thus doesn't want people to pay attention to) or because the dialogue was not intended to be understood to the extent it's even present (I think this is the case with April). My understanding is that the films where the dialogue is supposed to be subtitled, is subtitled in English on the set. That said, as I believe I noted above, Iosseliani explicitly preferred that subtitles for most of his films be sparse, often with the "gist" of a conversation conveyed and lots of individual lines of dialogue not directly translated. This "downgrading" of dialogue is essential to the sensibility of his films (a bit like Tati, an avowed inspiration for Iosseliani, that way).

[TodoModo]

finally a blu-ray box for a great career. Sadly, like with many great non-mainstream regisseurs we had to wait Iosseliani's departure for this. I found out late that a blu-ray box had already been released in 2023 in Japan.

[StefanH]

The subtitles vary a bit from film to film but all of Iosseliani's films have English subtitles. The Carlotta set generally has subtitle translations into French, English, Russian and Georgian, but doesn't translate into the original language of each film of course. Iosseliani's earlier French fiction films also have French SDH subtitles. It's only the extras on discs 7 and 8 which are not subtitled (and the Soviet censors' interferences, as already noted), the Arte documentary Seule, Géorgie has four audio options for the voice-over.
Euskadi (disc 3), Seule, Géorgie (disc 5) and Chantrapas and Chant d'hiver (disc 9) plus both the extras are in 1080/50i by the way, the rest of the films is in 1080/24p.

[Stefan Andersson]

Details about the Iosseliani box contents:
https://testsbluray.com/2025/02/03/test ... osseliani/

[Black Hat]

I noticed many of you listed the Carlotta set in the 'Best of 2024' set. Can someone suggest the best place to order it from in the USA?

[swo17]

I noticed many of you listed the Carlotta set in the 'Best of 2024' set. Can someone suggest the best place to order it from in the USA?

As a reminder, the set came out this week. I think FNAC might be the most affordable option? €94.52 shipped to the U.S.

Though it looks like the price has gone up a little since I originally wrote this

[brundlefly]

The price is a couple euros lower at Amazon.fr than when I pre-ordered (currently €104.58 shipped), though the dollar is weaker.

[Yakushima]

I noticed many of you listed the Carlotta set in the 'Best of 2024' set. Can someone suggest the best place to order it from in the USA?

I got mine on Amazon.fr. It was the cheapest option at the time (I am in the US).

[MichaelB]

With wonderfully serendipitous timing, I did a deep dive into Yuri Norstein's life and career not long after bingeing the Iosseliani box, and discovered that Iosseliani is one of Norstein's absolute idols.

His book Snow on Grass includes quite a few nods to Iosseliani, including this one (please excuse the machine translation):

Cinema is a collective art. If a poet can instantly express all his feelings in one line, and a composer can write them down on a staff, then a director makes a "bonfire" of separate branches, collects them into something whole. In this sense, cinema is truly a collective art, an art of action, agreement, and connection. But how can we avoid turning a film into a corpse with algebra? Here, it seems to me, a higher level of consciousness comes into play, when the meaning of human existence is so high and sensual that it does not allow making a film solely based on a speculative formula. At some point, a failure occurs, an error. Which, in fact, is what all art is built on - not on dry calculation, but on some error in it, on some shift.

Such a great master as Otar Iosseliani understands this perfectly well and does not completely submit to mathematics, although he cannot do without it either - especially since he once studied at the Physics and Mathematics Department. One could say that his films combine musical mathematics and mathematical music. Naum Kleiman told me that when he entered the editing room of Iosseliani's film Pastorale, he saw that the entire room was hung with strips of paper with curves drawn on them. This means that Otar uses the method of vertical editing, although he does not like Eisenstein because his calculation exceeds feeling, and because of this there is too much theatricality and politicization. But, in the end, why should he necessarily like Eisenstein's films if he is much closer to others, more mysterious in nature? L'Atalante, directed by Jean Vigo, for example.

[pistolwink]

That's very interesting. Iosseliani always explained that the structures of his films aspired to musical rather than literary or theatrical form (an ambition shared with near-contemporaries like Terence Davies and which carries on an honorable tradition from silent cinema).

I wonder if he means "vertical montage," which is different from, indeed in some senses opposed to, what is usually conveyed by the English word "editing."

[MichaelB]

He almost certainly does - blame the machine translation!

[ryannichols7]

trying to import this (way late to the party!) and FNAC gives me an error message when I try to switch the country to the US. has anyone ordered from them recently?

EDIT: if you have issues with this, try it in Edge instead of Chrome...worked like a charm once I did, and was even able to use PayPal pay in 4. insane deal for the price + only €12,67 for the shipping!

[martin]

I don't know how the price history of the Carlotta blu-ray set has evolved lately but I was surprised to see it listed at €70 at fnac today.

[criterionsnob]

Worth it at full price, but that’s a steal.

[MichaelB]

I don't regret paying full price for a single millisecond as I got to see it a year ago.

But at €70, it's a total no-brainer.

[ryannichols7]

I paid that price but got hit with a customs fee, which is normal for FNAC apparently

haven't started the box yet (have a few others I need to finish), but it's gorgeous. clearly worth every penny before even putting a disc in

[therewillbeblus]

Well now I'm trying to buy it but their site is down?

[A man stayed-put]

Well now I'm trying to buy it but their site is down?

Is this happening when you try to input your address for shipment? If so turn off any translation or switch back to French- I kept on getting Lego men working pictures at that point but it worked after.

[therewillbeblus]

It's not giving me access to the site unless I use a VPN set in France, and when I get to delivery, it does the Lego men when I enter United States - but when I leave it on French, United States isn't listed as an option

[A man stayed-put]

Ah, sorry- thought I'd cracked it for you. I'm based in the UK and that was the only bit it messed me about on.

[therewillbeblus]

I appreciate the support regardless!

[nicolas]

I appreciate the support regardless!

If you’re an Apple user, deactivate iCloud Private Relay and any ad blockers when you visit FNAC. I’m either unable to access their site altogether or go to checkout if I don’t do that. Their IT is ridiculously “protective” of bots but they probably just want to track us.

[ryannichols7]

I kept getting the Lego men in chrome and switched to Edge and it worked just fine. even let's you use PayPal (and pay in four) just like any good US retailer after