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Les visiteurs du soir



A work of poetry and dark humor, Les visiteurs du soir is a lyrical medieval fantasy from the great French director Marcel Carné. Two strangers (Arletty and Alain Cuny), dressed as minstrels, arrive at a castle in advance of court festivities—and it is revealed that they are actually emissaries of the devil himself, dispatched to spread heartbreak and suffering. Their plans, however, are thwarted by an unexpected intrusion: human love. Often interpreted as an allegory for the Nazi occupation of France, during which it was made, Les visiteurs du soir—wittily written by Jacques Prévert and Pierre Laroche, and elegantly designed by Alexandre Trauner and shot by Roger Hubert—is a moving and whimsical tale of love conquering all.

Disc Features

- New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
- L’aventure des “Visiteurs du soir,” a documentary on the making of the film
- Trailer
- New English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Michael Atkinson

Kinsayder wrote:Trying and failing to find a DVD release of this film, I came across the news that the rights have been recently reacquired by M6 Video, who (it appears) are undertaking a restoration.

I think this may rank as the greatest French film that has yet to be issued on DVD: a sublime masterpiece with a poetic script by Jacques Prevert and dreamlike direction by Marcel Carné. I can't imagine why it appears to have fallen into neglect for so long, except perhaps for the lack of a decent print: certainly the French VHS version I've seen was in very poor shape. I hope M6 carry through with their intentions on this.

Janus also has the rights to this title. Just in case anyone didn't know.

Kinsayder wrote:I think this may rank as the greatest French film that has yet to be issued on DVD: a sublime masterpiece with a poetic script by Jacques Prévert and dreamlike direction by Carné. I can't imagine why it appears to have fallen into neglect for so long, except perhaps for the lack of a decent print: certainly the French VHS version I've seen was in very poor shape. I hope M6 carry through with their intentions on this.

Does the lack of comments mean that I am not the only one being bored to tears by VISITEURS? I always thought that Carné's films of the thirties are a peculiar mixture of dark realism and (not particularily good) poetry. In the forties under the German occupation, Carné and Prevert retreat into a neverland populated with figures who throw witticisms at each other's head. When after the war they tried to turn back to the thirties with LES PORTES DE LA NUIT it became apparent how harmful the whole poeticism has become and how badly it mixed with the post war situation.

lubitsch wrote:Does the lack of comments mean that I am not the only one being bored to tears by VISITEURS?

I wasn't so much bored by it as I was baffled. Perhaps I just expect one thing when the names Prévert, Carné, and Arletty appear in the credits of a film, and I most certainly got another thing here. It seemed more like something that Cocteau would have dreamed up (not a bad thing), and just completely wrong for the talents involved.

lubitsch wrote:In the forties under the German occupation, Carné and Prevert retreat into a neverland populated with figures who throw witticisms at each other's head.

Well yes, if you want social commentary in your French films, it's probably best to look elsewhere than Les Visiteurs du soir. It is possible to paste Hitler's moustache on Jules Berry's Devil, and to see the beating heart of the statue as the symbol of dormant hope in a petrified nation; but these are incidental aspects of what was intended and commissioned as an escapist fantasy at a time when the French people had good reason to seek escapism from their popular entertainment. (And of course anything more overtly relevant to events in France at the time would never have got past the censor of Continental Films.)

There are many things I admire about this picture. Arletty is like a chameleon as she shifts from cynical mistress to child-woman to vamp - whatever works best to ensnare the man she happens to be with. Jules Berry is, I think, perfect. The "special effects" are simple (as they had to be, due to budget constraints) but very effective: a bear is resurrected by showing its chain rise and tauten; a dance slows and stops so that the lovers can "step out of time"; a duel (the only real action in the film) is shown through the ripples of a pool which darkens with drops of blood when the final blow is struck. The whole film has a dreamlike quality which intensifies the otherworldliness that David mentions (and which is no doubt why some people do find it boring).

In particular, the central love story is told with great economy and poeticism. As an example... when the lovers first meet, Anne's "coup de foudre" is conveyed by having Marie Déa rise slowly, almost imperceptibly, from her seat. It's an unnatural movement, yet it conveys the strangeness and intensity of the moment in a unique and highly effective way.

It's odd, but I wasn't expecting to need to defend this film. Maybe it's just one of those movies you need to be on the right wavelength for...

David - LA NUIT DU CARREFOUR isn't perchance a sharefile that I could view?

Interesting that the new Carne is priced at $39.95 with only one bonus feature.

Maybe it's a long bonus feature.

Can't be too long - the DVD release is also just one disc.

They did the same thing with Vanya on 42nd Street and Les Cousins. If it's more than just a short interview, it's priced at $40.

It's apparently a 37 minute long doc.

swo17 wrote:It's apparently a 37 minute long doc.

While watching, keep in mind that each minute is valued at twenty-seven cents

that better be an awfully good documentary to warrant the higher price point. sad to see a month without a $29.95 title on blu.

I'm pretty cool on the film. This should have been a $29.95 companion to Children of Paradise a la Summer Interlude (but there were probably high restoration costs, in which case this had better look fantastic).

HistoryProf wrote:that better be an awfully good documentary to warrant the higher price point. sad to see a month without a $29.95 title on blu.

I agree. This would have been an auto-buy at 29.95 without the documentary. However, the documentary might be fantastic or they might add features ala Certified Copy.

Jenny or Gates of the Night would be ideal extras, as they're generally considered the least of Carne's 30s and 40s films, and not likely to get individual releases. Gates of the Night, being a film about the Occupation, might be a particularly auspicious pairing with the film in question.

What A Disgrace wrote:Jenny or Gates of the Night would be ideal extras, as they're generally considered the least of Carne's 30s and 40s films, and not likely to get individual releases. Gates of the Night, being a film about the Occupation, might be a particularly auspicious pairing with the film in question.

Why would it be auspicious? Is it considered controversial?

I don't know why I used the word "auspicious". I'm a little drunk, and its a tasty word.

What I mean to say is that a film about the Occupation would make a great extra feature for another film which was made during, and is subtly (vaguely? I haven't seen the film, I just know of its reputation) about, the same Occupation.

Admittedly I could be dense, but I can't tell it saying anything about the occupation or even referencing it.

Absolutely marvellous news! This is a wonderfully enchanting film, one of Carné's very best. It should have been stacked with extras (unless that documentary is an extensive one), but the fact that it's now officially available with English subs should be cause for celebration in any case.

Tommaso wrote:Absolutely marvellous news! This is a wonderfully enchanting film, one of Carné's very best. It should have been stacked with extras (unless that documentary is an extensive one), but the fact that it's now officially available with English subs should be cause for celebration in any case.

Echo the sentiments about this coming in blu, however unfortunately it doesn't include the other supplements from the M6 version that David has done the captures of, namely an almost hour long doco on the relationship between Carne and Prevert and also an overview of the 'fantastic' in french film that is also nearly as long.
There are also so many supplements to be had re Carne both from the Pathe editions in France, the Lautner presents series of director bios and the BBC's interview with Carne that in many ways it's a shame that these haven't been exploited. Perhaps they will show in the Quai des brumes re-issue but somehow I doubt it. Similarly there is so much material available re the French Cinema under the occupation that the Gremillon set could have been a bumper package but I suppose we shouldn't look the proverbial gift-horse in the mouth.

Great screenshots, thanks for those. Ditto for being excited and surprised about this one -- I haven't seen it in ages.

Disappointing not only that licensing issues reduced the ported-in extras, but also that Criterion didn't go out and generate some new ones. How many film academics out there would jump at the chance to contribute an introduction, a commentary, a dossier of materials on 1940s French cinema...? It's not like adding these kinds of things breaks the bank, is it?

Tommaso wrote:It should have been stacked with extras (unless that documentary is an extensive one)

As I've pointed out elsewhere, the internet says it's 37 minutes long.

NABOB OF NOWHERE wrote:Perhaps they will show in the Quai des brumes re-issue but somehow I doubt it.

Remember though that Criterion lost the rights to this film. (Possibly this is what spurred them on to add another Carné to the Collection.)

swo17 wrote:

Tommaso wrote:It should have been stacked with extras (unless that documentary is an extensive one)

As I've pointed out elsewhere, the internet says it's 37 minutes long.

NABOB OF NOWHERE wrote:Perhaps they will show in the Quai des brumes re-issue but somehow I doubt it.

Remember though that Criterion lost the rights to this film.

I could be a smart ass and say that's why I doubted it but in fact I had forgotten that fact.
At least with the Second Sight re-issue you get Ginette Vicendeau who in francophile circles has become somewhat of the thinking man's bit of crumpet in the wake of Joan Bakewell, who will be known to UK residents d'un certain age.

jouvet wrote:Disappointing not only that licensing issues reduced the ported-in extras, but also that Criterion didn't go out and generate some new ones. How many film academics out there would jump at the chance to contribute an introduction, a commentary, a dossier of materials on 1940s French cinema...? It's not like adding these kinds of things breaks the bank, is it?

Dudley Andrew has written extensively on the period so it's a wonder they don't offer him a commission or just provide an excerpt from an earlier book. I guess that paying Atkinson for his essay is the cheaper route.