83 La Tête contre les murs

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peerpee
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83 La Tête contre les murs

#1 Post by peerpee » Sat Jul 18, 2009 3:40 am

La Tête contre les murs

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An intense study of the clash between medical ideals, Georges Franju (Les yeux sans visage, Judex) made his debut feature a gripping examination of postwar psychiatric care, featuring a memorable cast, including Pierre Brasseur, Anouk Aimée, Charles Aznavour, and Jean-Pierre Mocky.

Mocky plays François Gérane, an aimless young man whose delinquent tendencies cause his father to have him committed to a psychiatric ward. There, under the cold command of Dr. Varmont (Brasseur), he finds himself fighting for his dignity, sanity, and freedom, barely holding on through the new-found love of his girlfriend Stephanie (Aimée) and the promise of rival Dr. Emery's (Meurisse) more humane techniques.

Compassionate yet unflinching, La Tête contre les murs is a bold precursor to the likes of Samuel Fuller's Shock Corridor and Milos Forman's One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, revealing Franju's poetic gift for creating images both concrete and evocative, and an ominous hint of the clinical horrors yet to come in Les yeux sans visage. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present the debut feature of a late-flowering, great filmmaker.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• New high-definition transfer from pristine restored materials
• Newly translated optional English subtitles
• Original French theatrical trailer
• A new video interview with Jean-Pierre Mocky filmed in 2008
• A new video interview with Charles Aznavour filmed in 2008
• 48-page booklet containing writing by Jean-Luc Godard, Georges Franju, and Raymond Durgnat.

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Zazou dans le Metro
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Re: 083 - La Tête contre les murs

#2 Post by Zazou dans le Metro » Sat Jul 18, 2009 5:26 am

So this would appear to be a port of the Pathe released earlier this year,the extras being the same. Shame that this couldn't have been lifted into the stratosphere with some shorts but I will double -dip (how I hate that expression !) for the presentation and booklet. I am still clinging to the wreckage of a hope that more Franju will surface and that some miracle will provide us with a collection of french shorts (Gremillon,Franju,Epstein et al) that will rival the BFI GPO sets. A boy can dream can't he?

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Re: 083 - La Tête contre les murs

#3 Post by peerpee » Sat Jul 18, 2009 5:49 am

Going after the shorts would have made this a more expensive 2-disc set and pushed it into 2010. We've spent our available resources on the subtitling and the booklet. Sorry to disappoint.

btw. pics here: http://eurekavideo.co.uk/moc/catalogue/ ... -les-murs/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Zazou dans le Metro
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Re: 083 - La Tête contre les murs

#4 Post by Zazou dans le Metro » Sat Jul 18, 2009 6:20 am

It's only a relative disappointment and certainly you won't lose a sale here. When you say 'going after the shorts' (I'm still clinging to hope here). Does that mean that there is a glimmer of more Franju in the future - The flesh is willing but the pound is weak ??

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Re: 083 - La Tête contre les murs

#5 Post by peerpee » Sat Jul 18, 2009 6:58 am

We're going after all we can get, all the time.

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Tommaso
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Re: 083 - La Tête contre les murs

#6 Post by Tommaso » Sat Jul 18, 2009 7:27 am

I'd surely buy a collection of Franju shorts even if they came as a stand-alone release; or you could indeed do a 2-disc set with, say, "Thomas l'Imposteur" as the main film (as "Yeux sans visage" is already out in the UK from Second Sight). But meanwhile, I'm looking very much forward to see "Tête".

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Person
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Re: 083 - La Tête contre les murs

#7 Post by Person » Sat Jul 18, 2009 11:54 pm

An underappreciated gem from a great and unique filmmaker.

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Tommaso
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Re: 083 - La Tête contre les murs

#8 Post by Tommaso » Sun Jul 19, 2009 2:09 pm

david hare wrote: In the last twenty years, apart from Sang des betes, Ive only been able to see the sublime Hotel des Invalides via the Cin. Francaise - one hopes the rest of their Franju shorts are in similarly fine conidition. A copy of the late (1958) short Premiere Nuit turned up on the fileshare sites - from Spanish TV and ragged as guts, but it still looks completely wonderful.
David, no idea about the rights situation. But recently I was lucky enough to get hold of a bad-looking divx of a German broadcast from the 80s which contained precisely these three shorts plus the effective, though comparatively 'conventional' Franju segment of the 1965 omnibus film "Les rideaux blancs" (dubbed into German); they all looked fine printwise, as far as I could make out from the blurry image. And I would agree: nothing short of sublime, especially "Premiere Nuit". It's not as abrasive as "Sang" and "Hotel", but it's amazing to see how Franju transforms nighttime Paris and its metro stations into realms which are at once places of terror and places of utter lyricism and beauty (also of the beauty of technology). But that lyricism is of course also there even in "Sang des betes" and "Yeux sans visage". Perhaps it's this uncanny combination of decidely unromantic 'horror' and beauty which accounts for Franju being so much at odds with any trend of his time, and which probably led to his neglect in the history books of cinema.

And I'm looking very much forward to see Resnais' "Chant du Styrene" (I took advantage of the Barnes & Noble CC sale and just ordered the new "Marienbad"); "Tout la memoire du monde" I've already seen on one of the BFI's Rivette discs, where it rather inexplicably ended up. But fabulous it is indeed.

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Cinetwist
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Re: 083 - La Tête contre les murs

#9 Post by Cinetwist » Mon Jul 20, 2009 1:27 pm

david hare wrote:Tom I wonder what the rights issues are with the shorts, and their availablity.

In the last twenty years, apart from Sang des betes, Ive only been able to see the sublime Hotel des Invalides via the Cin. Francaise - one hopes the rest of their Franju shorts are in similarly fine conidition. A copy of the late (1958) short Premiere Nuit turned up on the fileshare sites - from Spanish TV and ragged as guts, but it still looks completely wonderful.

I agree with you a disc of Franju shorts would be one of the best things MoC could ever manage to assemble, and they've got Craig to do his usual wonderful translations!! And subject to copyright permission they could do no better than reprint Ray Durgnat on them.

Given the recent inclusion of the two fabulous Resnais shorts on the Marienbad BluRay - both of which look pristine - maybe these things are easier to obtain than we think.

David, I take it you've seen his Melies film on the Flicker Alley set and are forgetting? If not, you should get hold of it. A wondeful short film and it looks really really gorgeous. Reminds me of Vigo.

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Hopscotch
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Re: 83 La Tête contre les murs

#10 Post by Hopscotch » Sun Jul 26, 2009 12:35 pm

Pre-order page is up already on amazon.co.uk, with this cover art:
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Re: 83 La Tête contre les murs

#11 Post by MichaelB » Sat Aug 22, 2009 4:13 am

I've seen a checkdisc, and the transfer is absolutely fine - a couple of minor visual glitches are almost certainly inherent in the original materials, but otherwise it's fully up to MOC's usual stellar standards.

The same goes for the interviews and booklet - just to flesh out the description a little, the Durgnat piece is the entire chapter on La Tête contre les murs from his long-OOP book on Franju, while the other two pieces are both from Cahiers in the late 1950s - Godard's original review of the film, plus an interview with Franju.

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Zazou dans le Metro
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Re: 83 La Tête contre les murs

#12 Post by Zazou dans le Metro » Sun Aug 23, 2009 3:21 am

david hare wrote:I'm glad they're using the Durgnat chapter. I don't think there's a better writer on Franju or Bunuel in English.
His book on Renoir is the most sublimely written filmography I have ever read too.

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Tommaso
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Re: 83 La Tête contre les murs

#13 Post by Tommaso » Sun Aug 30, 2009 7:25 am

Beaver.

Looks wonderful indeed, not least the menus.

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Re: 83 La Tête contre les murs

#14 Post by denti alligator » Sun Aug 30, 2009 12:10 pm

Looks a tad soft to me. Is these caps representative or is the image actually sharper in the flesh (I only ask because prior MoC caps on the Beaver site have been shown to be softer than they should be)? Buying the disc either way. Thanks, MoC!

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MichaelB
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Re: 83 La Tête contre les murs

#15 Post by MichaelB » Sun Aug 30, 2009 12:22 pm

I had no problem with the sharpness, though admittedly I watched it on a laptop.

peerpee
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Re: 83 La Tête contre les murs

#16 Post by peerpee » Sun Aug 30, 2009 12:36 pm

Again, the Beaver grabs do not look as good as our grabs. They are softer and there is some pretty major artefacting.

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MichaelB
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Re: 83 La Tête contre les murs

#17 Post by MichaelB » Sun Aug 30, 2009 12:52 pm

I'm very happy to endorse those as accurate - I'm playing it on a big telly now, and there's nothing wrong with the sharpness.

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Finch
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Re: 83 La Tête contre les murs

#18 Post by Finch » Sun Aug 30, 2009 1:41 pm

Too bad that Gary is too stubborn to change his capturing methods even though the Beaver caps of MoC discs very nearly dissuaded people from buying them on previous occasions (the Nosferatu and La Vie de Jesus debacles), if it hadn't been for Nick's last minute interventions.

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Tommaso
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Re: 83 La Tête contre les murs

#19 Post by Tommaso » Sun Aug 30, 2009 2:13 pm

Sure, but at least "Nosferatu" was far more erroneous on Gary's side, I think. The main difference on my screen (admittedly not up to date) is that Nick's caps are slightly sharper, but also a little brighter (which is a good thing). But even Gary's caps wouldn't dissuade me from buying the MoC, rather on the contrary. I can't see the artifacting Nick describes in the Beaver caps, for instance. But again, it is most likely my screen which keeps me from seeing these differences, though in the case of "Nosferatu" they were really obvious.

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Tommaso
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Re: 83 La Tête contre les murs

#20 Post by Tommaso » Fri Sep 25, 2009 2:59 pm

Have received the "Tete" disc now, and as expected, another stunning release from MoC. The image is excellent throughout, very little damage, magnificent greyscale; in short: flawless.

As to the film itself: while this is perhaps not quite as good as "Yeux sans visage" and "Judex", I must say that I really, really liked it, and Franju is quickly becoming more and more a favourite of mine. Perhaps there's a little bit too much put into the film for its 93 min.: it's a love story, a film about social injustice, a critique of mental instititutions, and also has a very brief take on the twilight world of Paris, all of which I would have wanted to be a little bit more fleshed-out. Also, the scenes with the 'lunatics' seemed to be surprisingly tame to me for the most part (with one obvious exception); perhaps this was Franju's intention, though, if the whole point of the film was indeed to show that the system incarcerating these people is no less dangerous than its victims.

But these criticisms seem minor points given how memorable the images are;
SpoilerShow
the initial motor-bike ride (plus that Jarre music!), the moment when Mocky and Aimée try to wander out of the asylum, the night scenes in Paris, for instance.
Some of the film, especially the last ten minutes, had a distinct Fritz Lang feeling to it; whether this is due to Schüfftan's camerawork alone is a guess. But you can certainly feel (as in all Franju films I was able to see, even "Nuits Rouges") a very strong influence from silent filmmaking, as far as the use of light and shadow and the sheer poetry of the images are concerned. Great acting all around, Aznavour being almost as good here as in "Shoot the piano player", though somehow I couldn't help immediately thinking of "Les Diaboliques" in any scene with Paul Meurisse in it. Sometimes it's difficult if an actor is so very much associated with such an iconic role.

Anyway, definitely highly recommended; and if the film might have some minor flaws, it still stands way above the vast majority of other films produced in France at the time (this is not yet 'nouvelle vague'-time). A truly delightful release.

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Florinaldo
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Re: 83 La Tête contre les murs

#21 Post by Florinaldo » Tue Sep 29, 2009 10:10 am

Very nice package as usual. But I almost gasped when I noticed a mistake in the spelling of Paul Meurisse's name on page 2 of the booklet, a truly atypical typo on the part of MoC. They have gotten us used to almost-perfection, so little slip-ups like that become very noticeable.

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Re: 83 La Tête contre les murs

#22 Post by domino harvey » Sat Apr 24, 2010 3:11 pm

Finally pulled this out of the unwatched pile and thought it to be a very minor film. The picture is at its best when Brasseur's doctor is onscreen, as he brings the only real sense of unease to the proceedings. One of those individuals for whom every answer is wrong, he sells the interminable nature of the institutionalization more than anything else Franju brings to the table-- this lowkey film simply pales in comparison both to the earlier the Snake Pit and the later Shock Corridor, despite the promising hyperbole of the back cover. It's never unpleasant or boring, but it's certainly not "bold" either.

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