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Van Gogh



One of the greatest films by one of the finest directors of the second half of the 20th century, Maurice Pialat's Van Gogh represents an ambitious and crowning achievement in its portrayal of the master painter's final weeks of life, almost exactly one-hundred years earlier.

Van Gogh, depicted by the remarkable actor/songwriter-singer Jacques Dutronc (Godard's Sauve qui peut (la vie)), has arrived at Auvers-sur-Oise to come under the care of Dr. Gachet (Gérard Séty) for his nervous agitation. Soon after the arrival of Vincent's brother Théo (Bernard Le Coq) and his wife, plein air portraiture and conviviality give way to the more crepuscular moods of brothels and cabarets, and the painter's anguished existence, tossing between money worries and an impassioned relationship with the doctor's teenage daughter, finally meets its terminal scene.

With its loosely factual and wholly inspired treatment of the last period of Van Gogh's life, Pialat's film applies an impressionist touch to the biographical picture - indeed, the filmmaker was himself an accomplished painter, and the personal resonance of the subject matter results in an epic, major late work. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Maurice Pialat's Van Gogh on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK.

SPECIAL BLU-RAY AND 2-DISC DVD EDITIONS

• Gorgeous new restoration of the film, appearing in 1080p on the Blu-ray
• New and improved optional English subtitles
• Van Gogh (1965) - a short, early documentary about the painter, by Maurice Pialat
• A 10-minute video interview with Pialat from 1991
• A 50-minute video interview with Pialat from 1992
• Video interviews with actors Jacques Dutronc and Bernard Le Coq; director of photography Emmanuel Machuel; and editor Yann Dedet
• Deleted scenes
• Original theatrical trailer
• 56-PAGE BOOKLET containing a new and exclusive essay by critic Sabrina Marques; Jean-Luc Godard's letter to Pialat after seeing the film, followed by Godard's tribute to Pialat upon the director's passing in 2003; copious newly translated interviews with Maurice Pialat; images of Pialat's canvasses; rare imagery; and more!

I will gladly triple dip if they port over (and translate) the bountiful extras from the French release.

This is one of the greatest films of the last fifty years: a truly major acquisition for MoC.

What were those extras? I've only seen the American release which was lacking to say the least. I hope this does well enough for a release of La maison des bois or at least his last film. Also hope that this will be region free.

The Gaumont extras (none of which have English subtitles) are listed in the Blu-Ray.com review. Hopefully MoC port them across and add in something extra, like the Resnais short.

Having just acquired the Gaumont disc two days ago, this remains thrilling news. Hopefully this will at least be on par with MoC's take on Gaumont's release of La città delle donne, with a lovely booklet and translated extras.

Coming in September:

MoC Twitter wrote:In Blu-ray and DVD editions, in new restoration, Maurice Pialat's supreme masterpiece VAN GOGH, chock teeming full of extras.

Holy shit, what excellent news. Especially since my Sony copy is in storage too far away to retrieve. I'm looking forward to what extras MOC will add or replicate from that Gaumont edition. Again, those PIalat booklets from the DVDs were invaluable sources for me.

zedz wrote:This is one of the greatest films of the last fifty years

Of course, it's my least-favorite Pialat film \:D/

domino harvey wrote:

zedz wrote:This is one of the greatest films of the last fifty years

Of course, it's my least-favorite Pialat film \:D/

As I recall, our Pialat tastes are almost completely complementary.

Nevertheless, any release featuring nearly an hour-long interview with the cranky bastard is worth purchasing.

The Pialat short film about Van Gogh from 1965 is excellent too. I saw it when it was showing on a loop on a small TV in the Zadkine museum in Paris when the museum held a themed exhibition of Zadkine's Van Gogh-influenced sculptures. My then ten year old stepson was transfixed by it, even though he didn't understand much of it, and afterwards kept repeating 'Pauvre Vincent' for the rest of the day.

Specs added to the first post. It's not clear that the "Maurice Pialat peintre" feature is being ported over, but it looks like everything else is.

Beaver

Loaded.

Mathew2468 wrote:Beaver

Loaded.

And I think it's missing Maurice Pialat peintre.

Any word if this (like the previous Pialat) is region free?

According to Gary's review, it's Region B locked.

Dang it, I really wish MOC would get better luck on this or at least do dual releases again.

knives wrote:Dang it, I really wish MOC would get better luck on this or at least do dual releases again.

I wish they would go back to the dual format releases as well. Hopefully, the BFI will continue with them at least.

Criterion going Dual Format is a massive shot in the arm for those labels who have been bravely on the side of Dual Format all along.

MoC goes all in with viral marketing: Newly identified Van Gogh painting