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À nos amours



With his raw style of filmmaking, Maurice Pialat has been called the John Cassavetes of French cinema, and the scorching À nos amours is one of his greatest achievements. In a revelatory film debut, the dynamic, fresh-faced Sandrine Bonnaire plays Suzanne, a fifteen-year-old Parisian who embarks on a sexual rampage in an effort to separate herself from her overbearing, beloved father (played with astonishing magnetism by Pialat himself), ineffectual mother, and brutish brother. A tender character study that can erupt in startling violence, À nos amours is one of the high-water marks of eighties French cinema.

Disc Features

- New, restored high-definition digital transfer
- Original theatrical trailer
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- New interviews with Catherine Breillat and Jean-Pierre Gorin
- A 2003 interview with actor Sandrine Bonnaire
- The Human Eye, a 1999 documentary on the film
- Archival interview with Maurice Pialat on the set
- Actor auditions
- A booklet featuring essays by critics Molly Haskell and Kent Jones and interviews with Pialat and cinematographer Jacques Loiseleux

Criterionforum.org user rating averages

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probably the BluRay or HD-DVD collection...

redbill wrote:probably the BluRay or HD-DVD collection...

Or another in a long history of little glitches on Criterion's website. Certainly a hint of things to come tho....

Interesting that Columbia/Tristar released À nos amours on VHS.

Dave Kehr's capsule review from the Chicago Reader

I've never seen a Pialat film, but it sounds well worth checking out (and I like Sandrine Bonnaire).

FilmFanSea wrote:Interesting that Columbia/Tristar released À nos amours on VHS.

I think it's because it's a Gaumont production. They also released And the Ship Sails On on VHS and a couple of others that Criterion have released. I think Columbia lost the North American rights to these films and that's how Criterion got their mits on them.

This is really creeping me out... The mysterious spine 0... What's next? Pi?

Or maybe e

or i? [-o<

how about spine number: square root of -1.

godardslave wrote:how about spine number: square root of -1.

dude, is there an echo?

justeleblanc wrote:

godardslave wrote:how about spine number: square root of -1.

dude, is there an echo?

It's good to know that there are fellow mathletes on the board.

As far as I know, it wouldn't be a first for Criterion to make weird spine numbers... They did it for Brazils individual discs...

Enough about the spine number! The advent of Pialat is major news: one of the most important, if least acknowledged (in the English-speaking world), French directors of the last half-century. I just hope there's more on the way.

Of course, if the two French box sets had English subs, I wouldn't be breathlessly awaiting Criterion to do the right thing.

one of the most important, if least acknowledged (in the English-speaking world), French directors of the last half-century. I just hope there's more on the way.

You are taking into account the fact that the New Wave happened in the last half century? I'm not doubting you, I'm just wondering if you meant it that way.

Actually, yes. If you're talking about influence on the current generation of French filmmakers, I think there's a much stronger direct line back to Pialat and Eustache than to Rohmer, Chabrol, and Rivette. Truffaut's influence on subsequent cinema seems to me strongest in the area of bland mainstream films, and Resnais and Godard are too inimitable to have that many disciples (though isolated tropes have acquired general currency). Pialat and Eustache, on the other hand, have given rise to a fairly robust tradition of personal narrative filmmaking that extends through Denis and Assayas, and I think the latter, at least, has acknowledged that debt.

Unless this has already been touched on, can anyone explain the mysterious "Spine # 0" for this Pialat film? They used to have it listed as such on the Criterion website when ordered them according to spine numbers and I assumed it was a fluke. I tried doing it again and they have taken it down so I'm glad I wasn't hallucinating.

I'm assuming it's a database thing. They probably entered the disc in without entering the number (and it defaulted to zero) and someone forgot to check something and it displayed on the list. I question this design, and if they are reading this, I offer my services as database/web application consultant, for the low price of 5 monthly payments of $19.95 (offer void in Hawaii and Alaska, the freak states)

Amazing list of extras. Looking forward to this one.

Seconded. This may well be the release of the year so far.

Looks like Gorin is Criterion's new pet commentator, which is fine by me. Maybe, if we're lucky, they'll repay him by adding the amazing Poto and Cabengo to the Collection.

ooh, the music is done by Klaus Nomi, that's neat.

zedz wrote:Looks like Gorin is Criterion's new pet commentator, which is fine by me. Maybe, if we're lucky, they'll repay him by adding the amazing Poto and Cabengo to the Collection.

.... or the full Dziga Vertov works.

zedz wrote:Seconded. This may well be the release of the year so far.

I must politely disagree. I'm more excited by Mr. Arkadin, Elevator To The Gallows and (yes) Dazed & Confused. The reviews I've read of this title don't fill me with excitement...the extras however are quite nice.

There's an interesting article comparing Pialat and Cassavetes at Senses of Cinema.

According to Moviecrazed.com, the running time of The Human Eye is 55 minutes.

Just thought that would be worth noting. The comparison to Cassavetes has me sold on the disc.