GaryC wrote:Props55 wrote:Not really sure about AVIATOR'S WIFE but as it was shot in 16mm I'd think 16x9 would be wrong. (Unless it was shot in Super-16)
PAULINE AT THE BEACH I saw on first U.S. release and I'm sure it was projected at 1.85. I believe Nestor Almendros has been quoted as approving this ratio and it looks OK to me. However I have the Arrow disc (1.85) and in the accompanying featurette the clips are 4x3 and I actually think it looks better that way. It was obviously designed to look good at both but I liked the extra context that the 4x3 image gave to the characters in their environment. Also it's a French movie and I liked seeing that cuisine on their plates!
Hey, check back a page or two and I believe GaryC has provided a complete listing of format/ratio for all Rohmer shorts, features and television/video productions!
I have the Arrow DVD of
Pauline and it's anamorphic 1.66:1. I didn't see that in the cinema but 1.66:1 is the OAR according to Nestor Almendros's book
A Man with a Camera, making it the only Rohmer feature shot by Almendros not to be in 1.37:1, I believe it was shot open-matte though, so you could show it in 4:3.
The Aviator's Wife was shot in 16mm. Back at University I projected a 35mm print. Artificial Eye's reel cans said "1.33:1" on the labels and that's what I showed it in.
Presumably intentionally, as Props55 says, Rohmer's 4:3 features can be shown in 1.66:1 (no wider though) without being too unduly cropped as they're not too tightly composed. I suspect that was deliberate, as he and his DPs would certainly be aware that many cinemas could no longer show Academy Ratio. I saw
The Green Ray on its UK cinema release and
My Night at Maud's on its UK reissue in 1992 and both were shown in 1.66:1. I only noticed a couple of shots in each being cropped and I'm in no doubt that the majority of people in the audience wouldn't have noticed.
yes I agree with you.
Here's my point of view. I don't think that Pauline à la Plage in 1:33 is a sacrilege since 1:33 was Rohmer's prefered ratio since years.
I was suprised with this change of ratio since this is not what I've read in Nestor's book. Moreover, I own an old DVD (French, which is in 1:66++ too) so the 1:33 was a surprised for me. And there is no explanation about this change of ratio in the box set.
Perhaps Rohmer would have leaved a note about changing the ratio of Pauline ?
I don't think so, he was not a "let's do a redux" man...
I saw "
Les Nuits de la Pleine Lune" in theatres and it was projected in 1:33 as it was intended (I've always seen so far Pauline in 1:66 in theatres)
Les "Nuits de la pleine lune" came after Pauline, so even if in French theatres it was not easy to get a 1:33 projection they did project this film in 1:33 in theatres.
In Criterion box set "
Moral Tales" there is this fantastic interview exclusive with Rohmer and Barbet Shroeder. He talks about the ratio, securing the 1:66; explaining that "beyond 1:66" the head/hair are "cut" and that it doesn't work. But Eric Rohmer said in this conversation with Barbet Shroeder that he saw "Le Genou de Claire" in theatres and at the French TV in 1:66 and he found that it looks "okay" and nice.
But in the end, Barbert reminds that with the DVD- now- it's possible to see the movie in its original ratio (1:33) and they were both happy that it is possible now to see in 1:33 "The Moral Tales" on DVD (Rohmer recognized that the picture quality of DVD was very pleasant and that he prefered for many reasons to watch DVDs at homer rather than going to cinema)
So perhaps Moral Tales have been projected in French theatres in 1:66 (it probably has been done), but I can't see Moral Tales in another ratio than 1:33. Just look at the opening of "
La Collectionneuse"; how the picture is cut; it's done for 1:33
The "funny thing" is that when
Elephant came out (Gus Van Sant) I saw it in theatres in 1:33, the sublime and gorgeous
Wuthering Heights (Andrea Arnold) as well as
Fish Tank in 1:33 too.
So now, the irony is that French theatres can project a movie in 1:33 and perhaps will do it more than in the past. Because 1:33 is "coming back" for some cinematographer (I also think about "Meek's Cutoff")
So, when it's blu-ray : I want the original ratio intended.
If they wanted to release an alternate ratio I would like to know why. and I also would like to have the theatrical ratio for
Pauline à la Plage (1:66).
I'm happy to see these movies on blu-ray. But it's not the definitive box set.
(with a little DNR touch (slight)
for a Criterion blu upgrade of "The Moral Tales" :
