criterionforum.org

So of course I'm aware of the Criterion HIROSHIMA, MON AMOUR and NIGHT AND FOG, and I'm waiting for the long-promised release of LAST YEAR IN MARIENBAD, but are there any other reasonably acceptable releases of Resnais' other films on DVD? (I'm under the impression that the New Yorker releases have their usual Ceal of Kwalitie, but feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken.)

Also, I'm now dying to track down MELODIE EN SEUS-SOL aka ANY NUMBER CAN WIN aka THE CAPER THAT SANK on DVD. Does anybody know the best extant version out there?

The recently released Not on the Lips looks superb, as do the French On connaît la chanson and five-disc Coffret Alain Resnais, all featuring English subtitles. The region 1 editions of La guerre est finie and Stavisky are lackluster, but perfectly acceptable.

There's no reason not to own all of these.

Hmm, I read that Stavisky and La Guerre est Finie were very good as far as audio and video, but have no extras whatsoever. I've been meaning to get both. In what way are they lackluster?

Average picture quality (they may both be PAL-to-NTSC jobs, but I'd have to double-check that) and no extras are typical ingredients in a lackluster recipe. Still, they're Resnais films, and therefore essential.

Donald Brown wrote:There's no reason not to own all of these.

Actually, it looks like I missed the boat on Stavisky; it's gone out of print.

LAST YEAR IN MARIENBAD is coming on DVD in R2

Gregory wrote:

Donald Brown wrote:There's no reason not to own all of these.

Actually, it looks like I missed the boat on Stavisky; it's gone out of print.

There is a French DVD released by Studio Canal with English subs and a very nice print.

Do you have the Studio Canal version? Nowhere online do I see confirmation of English subs, though a scan of the back of the DVD case on alapage.com shows dubbed English, German, and Spanish audio tracks.

Donald Brown wrote:Do you have the Studio Canal version? Nowhere online do I see confirmation of English subs, though a scan of the back of the DVD case on alapage.com shows dubbed English, German, and Spanish audio tracks.

Yes, I own it. There are English subs, but no dubs at all.

French Films on DVD confirms it, too.

Thanks. Some sites also list it as having a commentary track by Resnais, but the cover scan I mentioned earlier shows a different name that I can't quite make out. Does it in fact have a commentary track, and if so, is it subtitled?

Donald Brown wrote:Thanks. Some sites also list it as having a commentary track by Resnais, but the cover scan I mentioned earlier shows a different name that I can't quite make out. Does it in fact have a commentary track, and if so, is it subtitled?

No, unfortunately, there is not a commentary.

Muriel ou Le temps d'un retour was released on dvd by A-Film here in The Netherlands as part of a box that also included the two films allready released by Criterion. It featured a nice (but not perfect) transfer and a short documentary. I haven't really gotten into the film itself but I will definitly watch it again.

Richard wrote:Muriel ou Le temps d'un retour was released on dvd by A-Film here in The Netherlands

Any subtitles? Link to retailer?

yoshimori wrote:

Richard wrote:Muriel ou Le temps d'un retour was released on dvd by A-Film here in The Netherlands

Any subtitles? Link to retailer?

The (removable) subtitles are unfortunatly Dutch only. Try this or this link for retailers.

I forgot to mention that the documentary I talked about is "Les taches d'encre: interview with François Thomas", a 15 minute featurette about Resnais's biographer (or: that is what I think he is).

So did anybody else buy the Optimum R2 Jean Paul Belmondo boxset to get Stavisky like I did? I paid less for this than buying a used copy of the OOP R1 Image disc, plus I got Chabrol's A Double Tour and the spy thriller Le Professional both of which I had never seen (along with two Godards which I already owned, but the Pierrot Le Fou was a major improvement in quality).

I love Resnais' films as they silently seep into ones consciousness and later reemerge in everyday life during mundane situations. The Optimum presentation of Stavisky is VERY soft, almost impressionistic and from the screen caps I've seen of the R1, they appear almost identical. Whether these releases reproduce faithfully or wildly exaggerate the intentions of Resnais and Vierney, it is tough to say. Stavisky seems to suffer due to comparisons in the press to The Conformist. The reasons for the comparisons are never given beyond surface similarities and I believe are unfair to Resnais. The Conformist is a punch in the gut by a bully, Stavisky is a gentle reprimand by a demanding professor.

Other Resnais notes:
The R1 Muriel I found to be completely acceptable, but others have noted the difference between the film transfer and the included trailer. The trailer is how the film should look apparently.

Going to get The War is Over when the November 20% sales come along.

It's late 2007 and not even a vague unsubstantiated rumor of Je T'aime Je T'aime surfacing anywhere on DVD.

A really spectacular HD mastering of Mon Oncle d'Amerique ran on one of the VOOM networks last month. It did have a Janus logo preceding it. I thought I would see it on the Criterion speculation list, but no, and I see there is a New Yorker DVD from 2000, which might even be OOP?

Petty Bourgeoisie wrote:It's late 2007 and not even a vague unsubstantiated rumor of Je T'aime Je T'aime surfacing anywhere on DVD. :(

This has probably been reported elsewhere - but Je t'aime je t'aime is coming on January 8, from editions montparnasse.

amazon.fr link, and alapage link that indicates, as expected, no subs.

yoshimori wrote:

Petty Bourgeoisie wrote:It's late 2007 and not even a vague unsubstantiated rumor of Je T'aime Je T'aime surfacing anywhere on DVD.

This has probably been reported elsewhere - but Je t'aime je t'aime is coming on January 8, from editions montparnasse.

Wonderful news, even if the lack of english subs will keep me from buying it. Logic would suggest that this release increases the odds of a label in the UK or the US releasing a subbed version. Even if it wasn't a bells & whistles edition, I would still buy it without hesitation. Is anybody at Optimum, AE, Kino, New Yorker, et al listening?

unclehulot wrote:A really spectacular HD mastering of Mon Oncle d'Amerique ran on one of the VOOM networks last month. It did have a Janus logo preceding it. I thought I would see it on the Criterion speculation list, but no, and I see there is a New Yorker DVD from 2000, which might even be OOP?

The New Yorker DVD is in fact out of print, but it was pan and scan. I have a VHS letterboxed version that's been working out pretty well for me.

This should definitely go into random speculation, and I would say it's worth emailing Criterion about this release after the holidays. We could possibly see an Eclipse set of MY AMERICAN UNCLE, PROVIDENCE, and JE T'AIME, JE T'AIME, but I'll save the random speculation for another thread.

MK2 is apparently releasing a new French Resnais box

According to Alapage it will be a 6 disc set with the 5 films from the previous MK2-set plus La guerre est finie.

I hope the five films from the previous box (I want to go home ; L'amour a mort ; Melo ; Mon oncle d'amerique, La vie est un roman) will once again have English subs.

The MK2 I want to go home never had English subs; there's a lot of English dialogue, but the French dialogue goes untranslated.

You're right of course. But I hope the remaining 4 titles will have English subs on this re-release. I'm not expecting English subs on La guerre est finie though, but it's not really important because there is an Image disc of this film.

For US viewers, both 'La Guerre est finie' and 'Stavisky...' are Netflixable. Both are remarkable films, too.

craig.

I've made this image to show how Koch Lorber's Muriel is cropped vs. the trailer on the same disc as suggested by other users here. The red box shows how the film is cropped (quite significantly). Another matter - not visible in this capture - is that there's some vertical stretching on the main film causing persons and object to appear "thinner" than they should.



The transfer could be better but it's not bad when compared with the worst releases from, say, Fox Lorber (Breillat's 36 fillette, for instance, from Fox Lorber was atrocious). I'm actually quite satisfied with Muriel, but probably mainly because I'm used to much less...

martin wrote:MK2 is apparently releasing a new French Resnais box

Can anyone confirm if "La Guerre" in this box has english subtitles, or is it identical to the separate disc? The MK2 site isn't clear on this, it says anglais for the whole box but I wonder.