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domino harvey wrote:The exchange rate is killing me now: The Potemkine site doesn't take off VAT so with shipping it ends up being 225 Euros-- which is $304 in American dollars! Yikes! I'll wait for some more positive reviews before putting that kind of money into this worthy venture

sorry, I talked only about plastic and removing the disks operation...
but really it pissed me off...
I will watch today with videoprojector Pauline a la Plage... and les nuits de la pleine lune... I can make some screenshots of the blu-ray..
I have high exceptations with Pauline since Nestor Almendros was there... (I can't wait if there is a reference to Frank Zappa's Bungo Fury LP which can been seen (but not heard) in Pauline à la Plage...
I always wondering if Eric Rohmer choose this LP himself (I think he did apparently) - since Rohmer played progressive-rock-like percussion with Haydée's 1 musician - band for the opening of La Collectionneuse...

will try the other blu-ray too...

Since Criterion put out a fantastic DVD box set several years ago, I was thinking to give a try to "Comédies & Proverbes" first and if the HD transfer are stunning, then I'll go buy "Morale Tales" this week.

No, it's good to let others know about the hinky packaging-- it plays a factor for us overseas customers especially, since even normal DVD/Blu-ray cases don't always arrive intact!

domino harvey wrote:No, it's good to let others know about the hinky packaging-- it plays a factor for us overseas customers especially, since even normal DVD/Blu-ray cases don't always arrive intact!

well indeed I do care about packaging when it's Criterion. Because when the dual format came out with their combo thing I was worried concern about the disks arriving still clipped and not scratched during the shipping...

Sadly I don't have this sort of money right now - and as Michael suggests upthread some or all of these transfers might be licensed to UK distributors in due course.

It's pretty much inconceivable that these won't come out in English-speaking territories in some form.

For starters, Les Films du Losange will be very keen to recoup what must have been a pretty considerable investment - and Rohmer is one of the few French arthouse directors whose entire catalogue has at least some commercial value outside France.

I'm not one to usually get wrapped up in these things but that packaging makes buying this over waiting for the inevitable UK or US releases very enticing but like Domino said by the time it gets over here there won't be much packaging left.

Arrow said a few months ago that they didn't like the HD masters provided to them for the Comedies and Proverbs films. I wonder if that was before or after this latest prospect.

domino harvey wrote:The exchange rate is killing me now: The Potemkine site doesn't take off VAT so with shipping it ends up being 225 Euros-- which is $304 in American dollars! Yikes! I'll wait for some more positive reviews before putting that kind of money into this worthy venture

Not that it's cheap, but my Amazon France order comes to about €175 which is around $236 U.S.

But, that having been said, the shipping date has as of today moved back yet again to November 27.

Did Amazon.fr clear up their undeliverable package system for stateside orders? It's not up on Amazon.it yet

It's on Amazon.es, but it costs significantly more there than at Amazon.fr at present.

domino harvey wrote:Did Amazon.fr clear up their undeliverable package system for stateside orders?

It seems that way. My order of a Pialat's A Nous Amours which I bundled with my Rohmer Box was pre-shipped due to the delay, and already recieved. Others have indicated the same. Hopefully my Rohmer arrives intact.

Yeah, I haven't had any issues with Amazon.fr outside of one undeliverable package in 2011.

I only bought "Comédie et Proverbes" box set, so I can't tell about the others...

the packaging is nice, beautiful... nice digipack....
The major problem is that they choose a "plastic "thing" (I try to stay polite) to hold and squeeze the disks which is ](*,)
had they use the same type than the Criterion "Voyage en Italie" :
http://criterionforum.org/dvd_package.php?dvd_id=1192
then their digipack would have been as thin and as beautiful. It's sad to fuck-up the last % with such annoying things...

I will try to take a photo this morning so that you can see this type of plastic way to hold the disks and make your own mind about this. This is the first time I've seen such "thing"...

well, some comments about the blu-ray :

on "Comédies et Proverbes" :
these blu-ray are in 1080p24 :

- les nuits de la pleine lune
- l'amie de mon amie

these blu-ray are in not in 1080p24 (1080p instead) (while the Potemkine intro is in 1080p24) :
unless my stand-alone blu-ray player (Oppo) give me some false informations
- Loup y es-tu aka Pauline à la plage
- La femme de l'aviateur (which I saw in theatres)
- Le rayon vert

I watched Pauline à la Plage with my videoprojector and I was so happy to see it at last in 1:33 (I've always seen it in 1:66 in theatres).
1:33 means with all those scenes in 1 piece swimsuit, more raies du cul...
I had a good laugh with several Arielle Dombasle ("Pierrrrre !........") scenes...
I enjoyed the Frank Zappa/Captain Beefheart "Bongo Fury" vinyl LP artwork cameo...

Nestor Almendros photography is stunning. Colors are magnificient. This is real HD with fine grain. I was very pleased with this transfer.
I think that you won't be disappointed with this transfer.

by the way, you have to see Féodor Atkine in "Les Milles Merveilles de l'Univers" (a very special S.F movie with Julie Delpy )


then I watched "Les Nuits de la Pleine Lune" (which is in 1080p24) :
I completely rediscovered this movie. I saw it in theatres and HD is a good way to "transcribe" this radically different photography by Renato Berta (au revoir les enfants) soft, with some beautiful night scenes, cold day scene in la "ville nouvelle", and those subtles colors pastel (mauve, the blue and mauve neon on the top of the column deco in Pascale Ogier's appartement in Paris) - when it was intended to- those colors are vivid (Fabrice Luchini red scarf) (there's a lot of Mondrian references, and that the color theme in mind was "violet" (I think) when Pauline was red-blue-white)
There is some natural grain, and the restoration is obvious.

I loved Jacno's music/ and the beautiful Elli Medeiros cameo...
and the lovely Pascale Ogier...

well, I can't say I was disappointed.

my guess is that movies which are not in 1080p24 comes from a HDTV (TV collaboration) source.

I really hope that "Les contes moraux" are in 1080p24. This wouldn't be acceptable if those movies were not available in 1080p24
So, until I don't have feedback about this set. I prefer to stop the "adventure" here...
After all, Criterion put out a fantastic DVD box set several years ago and there is chances - I hope - that they upgrade it in blu.

about the region thing :

I did a test - locking my blu-ray player in region A - then loading the disks. It loads, then stop. No "region error" message on screen, just stopped.
I did try with another disk. Same things happens. You press "Play" and it stops again.
I re-set back my region player to region B and the menu loads immediately...

but I found a way to bypass the loading problem : press "menu" and it will load the menu. I can not confirm that it will work on every region A player. I have a multiregion player (region B native) so please take this information only like a "simulation of region A" - try to contact Potemkine about this
please note that on the back of each digipack of each movie there is a region B logo. (which makes me wonder then about the presence of English subtitles... unless a UK release is on its way ? (Artificial Eye perhaps ?)

I confirm the English subtitles. (nice font)
on main feature/ movie only- no subtitles on the extras.

On "Pauline à la plage", I already knew the first extra (a great documentary) which was on a previous DVD I owned... the Amanda Langlet interview on the other hand is new (2013) and was done for this Potemkine box set.

Rupert Pupkin wrote: these blu-ray are in not in 1080p24 (1080p instead):
.

Do you mean 1080i? Blu-Ray can only output progressively at either 23.976fps or 24fps, the difference between which is insignificant.

Calvin wrote:

Rupert Pupkin wrote: these blu-ray are in not in 1080p24 (1080p instead):
.

Do you mean 1080i? Blu-Ray can only output progressively at either 23.976fps or 24fps, the difference between which is insignificant.

I can't tell so far (I have to test with another blu-ray player or read it with my computer) :

when thing is sure : some movies are not in 1080p24
when a blu-ray is either 23.976fps or 24fps my blu-ray player shows 1080p24

here my blu-ray player shows instead 1080p (because it automatically tries to play it in "p")
all I can say is that it doesn't look jerky at all...

for instance if I put a movie which I know for a fact it is 1080i (and there are a lot in France), my blu-ray won't show 1080i but 1080p (unless I desactivate the "cinema" mode)

[quote="Rupert Pupkin"
I watched Pauline à la Plage with my videoprojector and I was so happy to see it at last in 1:33 (I've always seen it in 1:66 in theatres).[/quote]

The UK DVD is in 1.66:1 and that is the intended aspect ratio, as per Nestor Almendros's book A Man with a Camera. It's the only one of Rohmer's films that he photographed which does not have an OAR of 1.37:1.

yes I know Nestor's book and I was really suprised to discover it in 1:33 format. That makes a lot of more details on top and bottom (and talking about bottom... you've probably guessed what the 1:33 allow us to see now...)
I've always seen in theatres in 1:66 and the French DVD I had bought several years ago was in 1:66 I think (I just checked the DVD- yes the old French DVD was the "theatrical" 1:66 ratio) - so it's a strange choice from Potemkine.

There's no booklet in the box set "Comédies and Proverbes" or bonus on this blu-ray which explains why the 1:33 has been chosen over the 1:66.

In the exclusive interview with Amanda Langlet, Amanda doesn't talk at all about this, and all photos from the movie shown during the interview are in 1:66 frame. And the Rohmer interview bonus is from Cinéastes de notre temps by Janine Bazin and André S. Labarthe with Jean Douchet (1994) (so the video excerpts from the movie are certainly in 1:66) (I didn't rewatch this documentary which I already knew...)

so, if Rohmer changed his mind recently and decided to "reframe" Pauline to 1:33 there's no clue on this box set and blu-ray (there's no booklet) (perhaps Potemkine has some notes from Rohmer in the booklet of "l'intégrale") (the latest video interview of Rohmer that I've seen was on the Criterion Moral Tales - interview with Barbet Shroeder)

here's a photo of the digipack of Les nuits de la pleine lune, so you can see how the disks are squeezed :

here's there's only the easier disk to remove (the last one - when you have removed the 2 others disks). But believe me, when there are 3 disks- one above another it's very difficult to remove each disk (in fact this digipack is too tight for 3 disks) :


click on the link below then you can reclick on the image to see it bigger :
http://nsa33.casimages.com/img/2013/11/ ... 637648.jpg

Not sure if this has been discussed, but does anyone know what short films are included on the Integrale set?

Thank you Rupert for your review; I've been waiting for a while to learn something about this release.

It's great to know that both Pauline à la Plage and Les Nuits de la Pleine Lune received a good transfer. The fact that you mentioned how you "rediscovered" the 2nd film is very encouraging for me, as this is the primary experience I seek when watching 'dated' films on blu-ray.

Thanks again friend.

Rupert Pupkin wrote:
click on the link below then you can reclick on the image to see it bigger :
http://nsa33.casimages.com/img/2013/11/ ... 637648.jpg

The Mekas set has this exact lineup so I assume that's just how they always order multidisc.

Is that an original poster on the inside cover? If so, it's worthy of our "worst covers evah!" thread. A very ugly way to promote a very beautiful film.

EDIT: The full poster reveals a bit of saving symmetry, but: still pure eighties fugly:

But that's how the film looks, right? Eighties fugly?

Well, Pascale's hair is BIG, but otherwise it just looks like a nice, ordinary Eric Rohmer film.

knives wrote:

Rupert Pupkin wrote:
click on the link below then you can reclick on the image to see it bigger :
http://nsa33.casimages.com/img/2013/11/ ... 637648.jpg

The Mekas set has this exact lineup so I assume that's just how they always order multidisc.

sorry but what's the Mekas set ?

what I don't understand is why they also did use this type of way to handle the disks even for the digipack which have only 2 disks (1 DVD / 1 Blu-Ray) whereas they could have used this kind of digipack :

http://criterionforum.org/dvd_package.php?dvd_id=1192" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
had they use the same type than the Criterion "Voyage in Italy" it would have been much more easy to pick up the disks.

Sorry, I was referring to an essential set they put out of some of Jonas Mekas' films. One of the films takes up two discs and they are set up that same way.
http://www.amazon.es/Coffret-jonas-meka ... onas+mekas" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;