Éric Rohmer on DVD and BD

[GaryC]

From what I can gather, the big set has 30 DVDs along with Blu-Ray editions of the 22 feature films that have been restored in HD ("soit au total 30 DVD accompagnés de leur déclinaison blu-ray pour les 22 films restaurés en haute définition").

Any bets on what 2 features won't be getting the HD treatment? Or should it be obvious?

I don't know what resolution The Lady and the Duke was shot in, but HD video technology has definitely moved on from then.

Other than that, all the features were shot in 35mm or 16mm, so should be suitable for Blu-ray assuming the original materials are in good enough shape - and I haven't heard anything to suggest that they aren't.

So the answer to your question is, I don't know.

[MichaelB]

I'd have thought it was a pretty safe bet that the three major cycles all got a Blu-ray upgrade across the board (even though one or two titles, The Winter's Tale, for instance, arguably look better in SD video, as their grain is pretty overwhelming in a 35mm blowup), so it's most likely to be one of the minor 16mm oddities like The Tree, the Mayor and the Mediatheque. Hopefully not Perceval, as that's Nestor Almendros-shot 35mm, but I'd assume that the Almendros titles would automatically be at the front of the queue for an HD upgrade!

I couldn't find out what resolution The Lady and the Duke was shot in, but since it appears to be analogue HDTV it's likely to be somewhere between SD and modern HD video in terms of resolution - so it could go either way if an upscale was deemed to make it look worse.

[Petaine]

While on this subject, I have recently seen the Japanese trailer for the Contes des quatre saisons (http://www.eiganokuni.com/dvd/rohmer/index.html) and I noticed quite the quality difference between the Winter's Tale and the other 3; it's much softer, darker and grainier. In IMDb however, it says that it was shot in 35mm just like the other 3 films.

In any case I'm quite happy with the quality of the first 3 films in the trailer, especially Summer's tale but I still hope that this release will be even better.

[GaryC]

The opening scenes on the beach holiday do look smoother and less grainy than the rest of A Winter's Tale. However, these two links (both in French) say that it was shot in 16mm: here and here.

[MichaelB]

Having seen The Winter's Tale on the big screen, I'd be astounded if it originated on anything other than 16mm. It's one of the grainiest films I've ever seen, a quality that's also clearly visible on the SD DVD.

In any case, the IMDB is not a reliable source for technical info.

[GaryC]

It's certainly rivalled for graininess by The Green Ray, which was also shot in 16mm. The OAR is 1.66:1 though: most others of Rohmer's 16mm-originated films are 1.37:1, The Green Ray among them.

ETA: I've just submitted an IMDB correction.

[Petaine]

Can someone who knows be kind enough to inform me on which Rohmer films were shot in 16mm or any other format other than 35mm?
That would be great, thanks!

[GaryC]

In HD video - L'Anglaise et le Duc/The Lady and the Duke (2001) - the widest AR of any Rohmer film, namely 1.85:1

In 16mm, in colour and feature-length unless indicated:

Journal d'un scélerat/Diary of a Scoundrel (short, b/w) (1950)
Bérénice (short, b/w) (1954)
La sonate à Kreutzer/The Kreutzer Sonata (short, b/w) (1956)
|La boulangère de Mounceau/The Girl at the Monceau Bakery [Six Moral Tales #1] (short, b/w) (1962)
La carrière de Suzanne/Suzanne's Career [Six Moral Tales #2] (short, b/w) (1963)
Nadja à Paris/Nadja in Paris (short, b/w) (1964)
Place de l'Etoile (short) [segment of portmanteau film Paris vu par...] (1965)
Une étudiante d'aujourd'hui/A Student of Today (short, b/w)
La femme de l'aviateur/The Aviator's Wife [Comedies and Proverbs] (1981)
Le rayon vert/The Green Ray aka Summer [Comedies and Proverbs] (1986)
Quatre aventures de Reinette et Mirabelle/Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle (1987)
Conte d'hiver/A Winter's Tale [Tales of the Four Seasons] (1992)
L'arbre, le maire et la médiathèque/The Tree, The Mayor and the Mediatheque (1993)
Les rendez-vous à Paris/Rendezvous in Paris (1995)
Les amours d'Astrée et Céladon/The Romance of Astrea and Celadon (2007)

Haven't seen, and haven't been able to find out:

Le canapé rouge/The Red Sofa (short) (2005)

I've left out TV work, but the feature-length TVM Catherine de Heilbronn (1980) I've seen variously cited as shot in 35mm and on video.

[Petaine]

Many thanks for this info Gary!

[Zot!]

Kind folks at Potemkine have answered my query:
All films will be in HD except the 3 last Rohmer's films (Les amours d'Astrée et de Céladon / Triple agent /L'anglaise et le duc )
The bonus-DVDs are not in HD.
So my count was off and Bakery girl (I'm guessing) will be an HD short, and 21 HD features (for a total of 22 HD films), and then 3 SD features + whatever number of SD extras, shorts.
Outside of Lady and the Duke, I don't know what the reason might be. Presumably they simply didn't get updated with the rest of the lot. Personally, I can live with it, as none of these are particular favorites of mine.

[ellipsis7]

Piece in today's Guardian re. ER's influence...

[Stefan Andersson]

Full specs, in French, for the box set: http://media.potemkine.fr/film/dossierp ... viewbd.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Optional English subs for main features onl, not for supplemental features; regrettable, really, since the box set includes the Kleist drama Catherine de Heilbronn (apparently a film of a stage performance, don´t know if it was shot live).

[MichaelB]

Then again, can you think of a single distributor in the English-speaking world who'd put French subtitles on its extras?

Fortunately in the case of Catherine von Heilbronn, a text of the play is presumably available somewhere.

[Stefan Andersson]

Good point, MichaelB!



Text in German:

http://www.kleist.org/texte/DasKaethche ... bronnL.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[gselich]

I received the Potemkine set today. It looks beautiful, however if you order this set you'll want to check the discs. About half of the discs in my set were quite badly scratched and/or covered with fingerprints. The set is clearly used. I ordered it directly from Potemkine, so not sure how that would come about.

[Oedipax]

Strange, especially considering it's a new release (Amazon's not supposed to ship mine for another week). Maybe you got someone's review copy?

[Zot!]

I suspect that guy. What number does yours have? I could understand the fingerprints I suppose, but the scratches are unacceptable. I would complain and see what they can do for you.

[gselich]

Hi,
My set is number 3247. I did write them but no response. I've just now sent a second message. Of course, my message is in English, not French, so that probably doesn't help.
Probably this was a review copy. I wonder, though, how difficult it is for a reviewer to hold the discs by the edges and to not toss the discs to his cat to play with and claw......

[criterionsnob]

It would be great to hear your thoughts on the box set when you have a chance. I haven't seen a review anywhere yet. How are the transfers?

[Zot!]

Hi,
My set is number 3247. I did write them but no response. I've just now sent a second message. Of course, my message is in English, not French, so that probably doesn't help.
Probably this was a review copy. I wonder, though, how difficult it is for a reviewer to hold the discs by the edges and to not toss the discs to his cat to play with and claw......

They have responded to me in English previously, so keep at it.

[gselich]

They have responded to me in English previously, so keep at it.

Thank you for the encouragement. I will send a third email to them next week.

It would be great to hear your thoughts on the box set when you have a chance. I haven't seen a review anywhere yet. How are the transfers?

I compared the old DVDs of Tale of Springtime and Perceval with the new blu-rays. I was surprised that a Tale of Springtime showed only moderate improvement. I am guessing that it was filmed in 16mm so there is a limit to how good it can look. The comparison with Perceval showed a truly dramatic improvement. It's truly a beautiful transfer. Doing a spot check of a couple of other films, I was quite impressed. I couldn't be happier in terms of how these films were transferred to blu-ray.
This set is a must have for fans of Eric Rohmer's films! Hopefully they didn't send out too many sets to reviewers.

[MichaelB]

The Four Seasons films always looked pretty grotty on the big screen (one of them in particular - A Winter's Tale? - is one of the grainiest films I've ever seen outside actual Super 8 projections), so I wouldn't expect a huge improvement there.

But the Nestor Almendros-shot films should hopefully be a very different matter.

[Mathew2468]

I found out about this thing the day after I bought the Arrow box and AE's Tales of the Four Seasons.

[Rupert Pupkin]

about the disks being scratched and with fingerprints, it has perhaps something to do with the type of cardboard digipack they use :

each digipack has - at least - 2 disks : 1 DVD and 1 Blu-Ray

since Potemkine use combo I was expecting a digipack like Criterion used for Voyage en Italie boxset Rosselini/Bergman :
http://criterionforum.org/dvd_package.php?dvd_id=1192
I don't like it (because when shipping it can arrive with one disk damaged) : but it's not impossible-mission to take and hold the first disk, and replace the disk in the case after having watching the movie.

here, Potemkine used instead another plastic- to maintain the disk- beware this comes from the mind of someone who wants you to be crazy and sweating while removing the disks...
the disks are not "clipped".
there is one disk on top of each other (the blu-ray is above) and the disk is almost squeeze with some plastic fixing on each side. Thus, you can't just use you thumb and hold the disk like on the Criterion 2 disks slipcase, you have to carefully make the disk turning a little bit and slide.
And beware with each plastic piece which maintain the disk (almost squeezing it) and could scratch the disk (when removing it)
So, it's not "delirium tremens" or parkinson friendly

this was the first time that I've seen such way to hold the disks . Sometimes you wonder why like can be simplier. It's a beautiful box set, the design and artwork is nice, so why fucked it up with last % which will drive you mad each time you want to remove and replace 1 disk ?
(in the end after checking all the disks, the blu-ray goes in a CD slim jewel-case, and I did notice that some DVDs were scratched (not because of the way I removed the disks) but probably during the manufacture process it was not easy to put the disks)

-really I had to drink a glass of vodka before starting the "removing the disks" operation and it was like a scene in the "The Hurt Locker"

the worst being "Les nuits de la pleine lune" - 3 disks were on top of one each other, and the one of the top was completely squeezed between this plastic corners so that the layer inside the disk "cracked".

voila. I did buy (this is not "L'integrale") but "Comédies et Proverbes" at Potemkine shop in Paris...
Just in case of a disk was unplayable or scratched, I thought that it would be easier to go directly to the shop with a single disk to get a replacement (whereas with amazon you have to reship the complete set) - so it was more easy for me...

[domino harvey]

The exchange rate is killing me now: The Potemkine site doesn't take off VAT so with shipping it ends up being 225 Euros-- which is $304 in American dollars! Yikes! I'll wait for some more positive reviews before putting that kind of money into this worthy venture