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Z



A pulse-pounding political thriller, Greek expatriate director Costa-Gavras’s Z was one of the cinematic sensations of the late sixties, and remains among the most vital dispatches from that hallowed era of filmmaking. This Academy Award winner—loosely based on the 1963 assassination of Greek left-wing activist Gregoris Lambrakis—stars Yves Montand as a prominent politician and doctor whose public murder amid a violent demonstration is covered up by military and government officials; Jean-Louis Trintignant is the tenacious magistrate who’s determined not to let them get away with it. Featuring kinetic, rhythmic editing, Raoul Coutard’s expressive vérité photography, and Mikis Theodorakis’s unforgettable, propulsive score, Z is a technically audacious and emotionally gripping masterpiece.

Special Features

- New, restored high-definition digital transfer, approved by cinematographer Raoul Coutard
- Audio commentary featuring film historian Peter Cowie
- New interviews with Costa-Gavras and Coutard
- Archival interviews with Costa-Gavras; producer-actor Jacques Perrin; actors Yves Montand, Irène Papas, and Jean-Louis Trintignant; and Vassilis Vassilikos, author of the book Z
- Theatrical trailer
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Armond White

Criterionforum.org user rating averages

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bfackler wrote:How is the quality of the Region 1 edition of Z?

The picture has been very nicely restored, and there's also a decent commentary from Costa-Gavras, along with an interview. Can't ask for more than that.

Wellspring did a good job with this one. There's even a feature that shows some of the restoration process--looks like they started with a pretty poor print but worked wonders. If only all of Wellspring's releases were this good.

It has my official Seal of Approval.

According to the DVDTalk OOp page, this went OOP.

Let the Criterion speculation begin.

Wellspring titles go out of and back in print with the seasons

Although this release is perfectly fine, a Criterion treatment for several Costas-Gravas films would gladly be welcomed to my collection. Specially Missing.

I got excited when I saw that the Costa-Gavras I'd most like to find, Section Spéciale, has a listing at Amazon.com. But it turns out to be one of those "sign up to be notified" stubs.

Does anyone know if this film has ever had a DVD release?

Hasn't it gone OOP once before?

Criterion did release this on laserdisc years ago in a ok print but the Wellspring version has a better but not perfect copy of the film. It would be nice to see Criterion release it....Also i noticed another movie Criterion released on laserdisc.. Diva (1982) is coming out as a special edition by Lionsgate on June 3rd.

This is getting a limited theatrical run starting this weekend. Could this be a preview for a new DVD release?

dx23 wrote:This is getting a limited theatrical run starting this weekend. Could this be a preview for a new DVD release?

Rialto is handling the reissue of the film and it has Janus logos on it, so it is a fair bet that Criterion will be releasing it in 2010.

Film Forum Q & A with Costa-Gavras and editor Françoise Bonnot. Leonard Lopate interview with Costa-Gavras.

Truth vs. Power, 40 Years Later

Andrew O'Hehir wrote:Although "Z" was pilloried as anti-American in some circles, it broke United States box-office records for foreign films and piled up five Oscar nominations in 1970, including best picture and best direction. (It won the foreign-language and editing awards.) To commemorate the film's 40th anniversary, Rialto Pictures is releasing a spectacular new 35mm print, which also ought to mean that a Criterion Collection DVD edition lies somewhere in the near future.

And video interview here.

An essay by Armond White? Sheeeeit... [-(

They really need to give some other writers a chance and ease of with this bullshit with White. Reminds me of the excessive use of the fucking boys club of silent film score arranger-composers being limited to a tiny handful of mediocrity.

I had no idea that Coutard was the DP. With Trintignant in the film as well this is a must for me to buy now.

The one film I find most Blu-worthy this month is the only one not being released that way.

Great film, but a missed opportunity for BluRay. Thankfully the film is worth the purchase, but they could have licensed the Costa-Gavras commentary and put in a better booklet.

Oggilby wrote:Great film, but a missed opportunity for BluRay. Thankfully the film is worth the purchase, but they could have licensed the Costa-Gavras commentary and put in a better booklet.

Agreed. Something I just noticed right now while looking at the back cover of the Wellspring edition is that it says the anamorphic 16:9 was taken from a new hi-def transfer. Has this film been released on BD on any other region? Criterion sure missed the boat by not releasing this on Blu-ray.

Jean-Luc Garbo wrote:I had no idea that Coutard was the DP. With Trintignant in the film as well this is a must for me to buy now.

Coutard also makes an acting appearance and agreed about the mistake of not having this as a Blu-ray edition.

Not sure they quite missed the boat by not releasing this on BR, there are still quite a few people out there who still pick up the SD releases.

psufootball07 wrote:Not sure they quite missed the boat by not releasing this on BR, there are still quite a few people out there who still pick up the SD releases.

I'm sure there are many people who will buy it, but they're definitely losing some sales here, including one to me. Since there has previously been a special edition on the market, releasing this in Blu-ray would seem like an obvious way to distinguish this disc from its predecessor. It's such a major film, I'm just really surprised they decided to skip it. I expect they'll rectify that decision within a year, and I plan to hold out until then.

Count me in as one of the people who won't be buying this on SD and is entirely confident that it will be given the Blu-ray treatment soon enough, because it's clear from their BR track record that they have no hesitations about double and even triple-dipping, even on relatively recent releases.