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I saw India Song in a Fnac last time I was in Paris, and it didn't look like the film itself has English subs, but the supplement 'La couleur des mots (1984). Postface vidéographique, was labeled as having English subs. I got a bit puzzled and didn't purchased it.

jonah.77 wrote:Numerous films by Duras, including "India Song" available on DVD w/English subtitles

As far as I can see, these are VHS-SECAM and not DVDs. And where do you see the Engl. subs?

Benoit Jacob Video have indeed just published a DVD of India Song. You can buy it from FNAC. As stated by Arn777 above, the main feature is not subtitled. The 63-minute documentary on Marguerite Duras has English and Spanish subtitles.

This page has some more information about the DVD (in French).

From remarks on the Benoit Jacob site, it would appear that DVD editions of other films by Marguerite Duras will be available "bientôt".

For UK dwellers, this is showing on BBC4 on Wednesday night (28 Feb).

I tried to buy that new short films DVD from FNAC earlier this month. They told me it was unavailable and cancelled the order, so I'd be interested to hear if anyone has actually managed to obtain it.

Also, any information on the films included (Cesarée - Les Mains négatives - Aurélia Steiner Melbourne - Aurélia Steiner Vancouver) would be useful. IMDb has nothing.

No English subs, I presume.

Barmy wrote:That happened to me too. But then a few weeks later it showed up on fnac as "available in 24 hrs". I now have it in my hot little hands--it just arrived a few minutes ago.

I've seen Cesaree and at least one of the Aurelia Steiners. They are just Duras voiceover with a statue in a park and a boat on a river, respectively. Les Mains is also a "voiceover" film. That's why I say this is for completists only. Even for Duras, there is not much going on.

Barmy, really, please tell us something more about these films... Are they really just static shots of statues and boats? What are the texts that Duras is narrating? Stories of hers, or original texts for these films? Duras is wonderful! Surely this could be fascinating viewing even without subtitles.

Thanks Barmy! The texts by Duras' in your link are in themselves intrigueing and heartbreaking, even without the benefit of being able to see the films. The one about "Aurelia" especially so.

From Duras' really beautiful use of the language, and her tragic world view in the novellas that I have read, Hiroshima Mon Amour, and the book and film of "The Soutch China Lover," I would expect her films to be something very deeply personal and literary. From the descriptions it sounds like these films (even if you can understand French) can really only be understood on an intuitive level. I am sure that I would like these films very much...

Thanks again for the info.

Scharphedin2, I don't know how much you'd enjoy reading Duras in Swedish, but the texts for all these films, plus that of a third Aurelia Steiner that never got made, were published here last year in a small volume called "Fartyget Night".

And while I'm talking about local affairs, might as well mention that there will be two screenings of India Song at Cinemateket in Copenhagen next month.

ola t wrote:a small volume called "Fartyget Night".

That's my new favourite book title.

ola t wrote:Scharphedin2, I don't know how much you'd enjoy reading Duras in Swedish, but the texts for all these films, plus that of a third Aurelia Steiner that never got made, were published here last year in a small volume called "Fartyget Night".

And while I'm talking about local affairs, might as well mention that there will be two screenings of India Song at Cinemateket in Copenhagen next month.

Excellent! Thank you so much for posting this... I do not follow Cinemateket as closely as probably I should these days. But, I will do my best to make it to one of these screenings.

Thank you also for the book recommendation... I have never actually read any literature in Swedish, but this may be a worthy first. If nothing else, this would definitely be a help in viewing the films described by Barmy above.

EDIT: For anyone else interested, here is a link to Cinemateket's info page on India Song (in Danish only I am afraid).

Barmy wrote:"Nathalie Granger" (with subs) and "Les Enfants" (without) now available.

This one, I presume?

Kinsayder wrote:For UK dwellers, this is showing on BBC4 on Wednesday night (28 Feb).

Aha! Now I recall watching this at the beginning of the year. I'll feely admit to not being up to the task of discussing it in any depth, but I'll give it a try. What definately left an impression (beyond the aching sadness) was how concise the whole thing was, the lack of orientation, explanation kept on the fringes, spoken out of sight. Notably a single location, a French mansion in India, but quite apart from it (seems fitting that it was filmed in France) a single room was filmed for large parts of it.

The self imposed limitations were expertly used to initially disorientate the viewer, the extended sequence of the wife and two lovers lying on the floor, how the camera lingers as they do, also crucial is the mirror in the centre, a focal point, how it distorts view of the stairs.

The way the actors are directed with regards to space and distance in these few rooms, intent to prowl and encircle, drawn and repulsed from one another as relationships are. Another scene I remember (poor memory) was the esemble motionless save for cigerette smoke, beginning as silouettes but fleshed out with the passage of time.

I really need to seek out the novel from which India Song was adapted from, it was her own writing yes? All the more reason to investigate, to learn more about how she adapted her writing to a visual medium, the narration among other things. And finally because I find the premise itself engaging on its own merit..

Did Barmy delete all his posts or what?

I guess he quit.

I saw India Song in Copenhagen earlier this year. It was an amazing experience even though the projection and print wasn't too good.

It's a masterpiece by my standards. The film keeps haunting me (in the good way), and I'd love to get India Song on DVD. Facets has it with English subs, but $70? For a probably less-than-good transfer? No way!

The DVD of "India Song" that Facets is offering might be the one Intermedio is (supposedly) coming out with, although I thought Intermedio DVDs generally didn't have English subs.

Nathalie Granger is coming out in R1 from Blaq Out in DVD-only and DVD/Book(?) sets May 27.

domino harvey wrote:Nathalie Granger is coming out in R1 from Blaq Out in DVD-only and DVD/Book(?) sets May 27.

The actual discs will almost certainly be identical to the ones in BlaqOut's French set, which are NTSC, region-free, with optional English subs and English menus.

Facets is distributing this: have they fucked up any other BlaqOut releases?

Werckmeister Harmonies was BlaqOut PAL R2 anamorphic in France, and Facets NTSC R1 letterboxed in the US, but I don't know if there was any connection between the companies in that case.

I'm a little surprised to see an apparently new dvd release of India Song in stock at Amazon.com? Region 1? English language (doubt it!)? Release date September 2009?

What is this?

Looks like a Canadian release

We get a ton of these "Olivi" label dvds at work here in Montreal (India Song & Rivette's Noroit included) but I suspect that the quality is catastrophic. Have any fellow Canadians picked these up?

Ashirg wrote:Looks like a Canadian release

Guido wrote:We get a ton of these "Olivi" label dvds at work here in Montreal (India Song & Rivette's Noroit included) but I suspect that the quality is catastrophic. Have any fellow Canadians picked these up?

Thanks to both of you! I've never heard of this label before but judging from the logo at the lower right corner of the cover it seems like you're corrcet (like on the Noroit release and this Gabin box).

I would also like to hear about the quality of the India Song-disc if anyone has picked it up. The only reason I don't pick it up as a blind buy is that I'm living in Denmark, which makes this title quite expensive (duties, taxes, and a $30 'handling fee').

I have Olivi's India Song DVD (NTSC) released in 2009. It's not the best quality but for me it's quite fine. The film was never restored for any release so we can't expect much. Baxter Vera Baxter was also released at the same time, and an edition with both films also exists.
http://www.archambault.ca/india-song(1975" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)-ACH002483702-fr-pr
http://www.archambault.ca/coffret-marguerite-duras(2dvd" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)-ACH002493703-fr-pr
http://www.archambault.ca/baxtervera-baxter(1977" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)-ACH002483701-fr-pr

PAL dvds of India Song, Les Enfants, Détruire dit-elle, Césarée (et autres courts métrages), Agatha exist (fnac.com).