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Two Films by Marguerite Duras



Marguerite Duras had already established herself as one of the major figures of postwar French literature when she launched an equally fascinating and unclassifiable career in cinema, translating her elliptical, experimental style to the screen through an unprecedented fusion of hypnotic, highly stylized imagery and radically disjunctive sound. Boldly reimagining the possibilities of dialogue, music, silence, and architectural space, the tantalizing, sphinxlike evocations of soul-deep female malaise India Song and Baxter, Vera Baxter embody Duras’s singular multisensory approach, with each opening up new spaces for the expression of women’s interior worlds.

India Song
Marguerite Duras’s most celebrated work is a mesmerizing, almost incantatory experience with few stylistic precedents in the history of cinema. Within the insular walls of a lavish, decaying embassy in 1930s India, the French ambassador’s wife (Delphine Seyrig) staves off ennui through affairs with multiple men—with the overpowering torpor broken only by a startling eruption of madness. Setting her evocatively decadent visuals to a desynchronized chorus of disembodied voices that comment on and counterpoint the action, with India Song Duras creates a haunted-house movie unlike any other.

Baxter, Vera Baxter
Marguerite Duras reunited with India Song collaborators Delphine Seyrig and composer Carlos d’Alessio for Baxter, Vera Baxter, a hypnotically unsettling journey into one woman’s existential emptiness. Ensconced in a sprawling rental villa, the world-weary Vera Baxter (Claudine Gabay) receives visits from two women, including a mysterious stranger (Seyrig) to whom she recounts a shocking story about her marriage, the way she lives, and the reasons for her malaise. Setting her languid images to d’Alessio’s incongruously breezy, endlessly looping score, Duras fashions a quietly shattering portrait of marriage as a kind of prison.

SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• New 2K digital restorations, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks on the Blu-rays
• Marguerite as She Was, a 2003 portrait of director Marguerite Duras
• Interview from 1977 with Duras
• Excerpt from a 1977 documentary on actor Delphine Seyrig
• New English subtitle translation
  PLUS: An essay by film scholar Ivone Margulies

I would have imagined India Song paired with Son nom de Venise dans Calcutta désert.

Good time to mention that Les mains negative is streaming on lecinemaclub right now for those who want an early taste of her genius.

Wow, great news. One of the more challenging (and exciting, for me) filmmakers Criterion has taken on in a while. I actually just picked up the French blu ray of India Song a few weeks ago, but I might still get this release for Baxter, Vera Baxter, which I haven't seen yet. The only downside to this announcement is that the combo approach probably means it will be a while before more Duras films get released in the US, despite the wealth of intriguing possibilities.

Saturnome wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 6:25 pm I would have imagined India Song paired with Son nom de Venise dans Calcutta désert.

That really is a weird omission. Oh well, at least half of it is on this release!

This release is really crying out for some academic extras. India Song is an iconic feminist film as well as a formal Pandora's Box. So many things to say about this film, and so many people to say it.

And where's John Waters? Shouldn't Criterion have had to beat him off with a stick?

Interesting that they only kept two of the three Duras films that were on the channel recently, dropping Le navire Night (from the channel as well). Would have been nice to have them all.

zedz wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 7:14 pm This release is really crying out for some academic extras. India Song is an iconic feminist film as well as a formal Pandora's Box. So many things to say about this film, and so many people to say it.

And where's John Waters? Shouldn't Criterion have had to beat him off with a stick?

John Waters on Duras-- now that would have been a fantastic extra! As would really anything else. As you say, India Song is a film that really demands proper contextualization in order to make any sense for most viewers.

While we're throwing out complaints, I would have loved to see Nathalie Granger as the second film in this set. As such I'll probably pass on picking it up, much as I admire India Song.

fdm wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 8:02 pm Interesting that they only kept two of the three Duras films that were on the channel recently, dropping Le navire Night (from the channel as well). Would have been nice to have them all.

Le navire Night got a recent DVD/digital release from Icarus. An incredible film.

zedz wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 7:14 pm This release is really crying out for some academic extras. India Song is an iconic feminist film as well as a formal Pandora's Box. So many things to say about this film, and so many people to say it.

And where's John Waters? Shouldn't Criterion have had to beat him off with a stick?

Or, even more obviously, a booklet with some of Duras' writing on the films or other matters. Still, I'm glad to have this release and I look forward to the discussion (and exasperation) that will come with the films' increased profile.

I've had both of these (especially Baxter, Vera Baxter) high on my queue for a while, was holding off til the 70s project before it was unexpectedly delayed, so glad to have these releases muster up some motivation to get to them sooner

One of the most exciting Criterion releases of the year for sure – Duras is a filmmaker who's long overdue for a high-profile release like this, and it's great to see the more celebrated India Song being paired with a somewhat lesser known work from her oeuvre.

furbicide wrote: Wed Nov 16, 2022 4:01 am it's great to see the more celebrated India Song being paired with a somewhat lesser known work from her oeuvre.

I feel like they've simply paired her two best known films. Only maybe Le Camion comes near Vera Baxter. Must be some sort of attempt at maximizing sales.
My feeling being is that this will be Criterion's only attempt at Duras. They're not really caring about India Song's value as a film here it seems, this is more like their "Marguerite Duras" release about Duras look we have a Duras. I'd love to be wrong! I want L’homme atlantique in a boxset.
Still, now the Criterion Collection has twice as many Marguerite Duras as Chantal Akerman!

(Criterion has released six films by Akerman.)

Seven actually with Saute ma ville

There haven’t been many writers who turned to directing films. Duras, Robbe-Grillet, Kluge, Mailer, Garland. Anyone else?

I think the reason for pairing these two films is simply a rightholders thing, since both are Stéphane Tchalgadjeff / Sunchild productions.

A really "complete" edition of India Song would've included not just Son nom de Venise..., but her previous La femme du Gange.

As far as 2K-ready Duras features, there are also Le camion (Gaumont, out in blu-ray in France) and Le navire Night (Les Films du Losange).

Mr Sausage wrote: Wed Nov 16, 2022 2:22 pm There haven’t been many writers who turned to directing films. Duras, Robbe-Grillet, Kluge, Mailer, Garland. Anyone else?

I assume by ’writers’ you mean novelists? Several more pop authors have directed films (King, Crichton, Barker), though Gordon Parks and Ousmane Sembène are probably more in line with what you’re looking for

ETA: Maya Angelou!

DarkImbecile wrote:

Mr Sausage wrote: Wed Nov 16, 2022 2:22 pm There haven’t been many writers who turned to directing films. Duras, Robbe-Grillet, Kluge, Mailer, Garland. Anyone else?

I assume by ’writers’ you mean novelists? Several more pop authors have directed films (King, Crichton, Barker), though Gordon Parks and Ousmane Sembène are probably more in line with what you’re looking for

Can’t believe I forgot Barker.

I was thinking broadly of fiction writers, I guess. Hopping from one imaginative form to another.

Broadly you also have Miranda July, Jean Genet, Alex Garland, William Peter Blatty, Pasolini, Stephen Chbosky, Murakami, and I’m sure many others.

Jean Cocteau as well.

Mishima!

Lee Chang-dong was a successful novelist before turning to film, as was Neil Jordan. China alone has produced a good amount: Zhu Wen, Han Han, Li Hongqi, Zhang Lü, Yin Lichuan, Xu Haofeng, Guo Xiaolu, Dai Sijie, Hu Bo, and Guo Jingming, among others.

Pagnol, whose book adaptations written after his Ugolin films ended up more popular and lasting than the films themselves— most people who know the Berri remakes don’t even know the lineage goes further back than the novels

Worth mentioning that Fran said on the Radiance discord channel a few weeks ago that UK rights were available to Duras' films, so it seems unlikely that this will be released by Criterion in the UK.

zedz wrote: Wed Nov 16, 2022 7:53 am (Criterion has released six films by Akerman.)

I know, I just meant the main line! Though yeah, I forgot Saute ma ville
I view Eclipse as it's own thing, maybe I shouldn't?