French DVD & Blu-ray Recommendations

[Calvin]

Some accounts will be eligible for 5 off 15EUR at Amazon France. There's also a 3 for 2 offer on that has most Gaumont titles and some Pathe included in the selection.

[Stefan Andersson]

Serge Bromberg of Lobster Films stands trial in France, Nov. 22/23, due to a 2020 nitrate fire (two deaths). Several pages of discussion in French here, including a mention (source: Lobster insider Emile duhomard) that Lobster plans to stop releasing blurays:
https://www.dvdclassik.com/forum/viewto ... &start=555

[Red Screamer]

I have ordered the Pierre Clementi Integrale set from Potemkine without knowing much about it, anyone else considering it? It’s Region ABC and appears to be English-friendly.

We need to start a Watch Buddy program here to help people work through these niche releases together.

I picked up the Clémenti set out of sheer curiosity as well, and I was immediately taken with the first film, Visa de censure no. X. It's like watching Anger and Mekas projected on top of each other, but it's more inspired than that sounds because the everyday, documentary setting grounds the psychedelic freakout, and the psychedelia brings a fresh attention and intensity to the diary material. So strobing lights and bizarre imagery are revealed to be neon storefronts and knickknacks on a friend's wall, while scenes of smoking cigarettes and casual goofing around become curious glimpses into alien rituals. I thought it was a short film when I pressed play so I was amazed for multiple reasons when the film kept ramping up and kept getting more ambitious stylistically (as well as more self-assured). A major reason why the film has that great sense of escalation is the music, which seems to be a collage cut together from some droney jam sessions. It coheres remarkably well even as the bands switch up styles and speeds, and the synthesis between the frenzied music and the rapid-fire double imagery creates a really effective "come up."

Which, speaking of, if you're allergic to anything hippie-adjacent, I don't think this will be a film that changes your mind—I feared the worst when it began with a nude Clémenti emerging from a cave to attend a witch's fireside ceremony, but the film quickly leaves these allegorical scenes behind and gets to the good stuff. But I loved it, impressed with Clémenti's filmmaking chops from the get-go, and I get the feeling that the rest of his filmography will not disappoint.

[Matt]

I concur with everything you’ve said. I had to put the set aside to attend to other things, but hope to get back to it soon.

I like these kinds of acid-damaged-style hippies, though. Lots of crossover appeal for fans of Anger’s Lucifer/Demon Brother/Pleasure Dome period.

[Red Screamer]

La révolution n'est qu'un début. Continuons le combat. This one kinda feels like it’s channeling Len Lye, if Lye made political home movies. Its layered imagery that fuses unwieldy documentary footage with poster-style text and makeshift icons is something like the radical 60s equivalent of Trade Tattoo. It's pretty great. From what I gather, the film's original version was silent, with this soundtrack of music, voiceover, and (non-diegetic) sound effects added for the new restoration. Normally I would prefer to leave silent films silent, but I found the addition here worthwhile. Sure, the voiceover might be aping Godard to some degree but it’s well done, and they brought back one of Clémenti’s original collaborators to compose the music, which turned out perfect. I am curious where the text of the voiceover is coming from though and haven’t been able to figure out who wrote it or who’s performing it. I don't discount the possibility that I'm overlooking something obvious.

Antoine Barraud says in the booklet that all of Clémenti’s superimpositions were done in-camera. I'd guessed that from how they looked, and from Clémenti’s rowdy artistic ethos, but still: that’s kind of astonishing given the range of effects he gets out of the technique. Especially if you’ve ever tried to do one on a 16mm camera yourself. There's a great one in this film where the superimposition creates a swirling orb effect on a portrait of a woman standing in a garden in the bottom corner of the frame while above that, there's another juxtaposition taking over the focal point of the shot. I'm not able to do it justice in words, but it was a really cool moment that had me asking myself the rest of the night afterward, "How did he do that?" Now it's even more magical.

[Also the booklet basically begins with a comparison combining Anger and Mekas similar to the one I made above, i.e. so much for my brilliant originality.]

[Stefan Andersson]

"L´An 01" (1972) by Doillon, Resnais and Rouch; restored in 4K, now on French Blu and dvd:
https://www.dvdfr.com/dvd/f170713-an-01.html

[Stefan Andersson]

Lobster Films releases La Viaccia, restored in 4K, in a blu/dvd combo; extras include a sequence from the original sepia version:
https://www.lobsterfilms.com/en/evenement/49
https://shop.lobsterfilms.com/fr/products/la-viaccia

[Stefan Andersson]

Lobster Films is in receivership; they will restructure:
https://www.nitrateville.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=34408

[soundchaser]

Lobster Films is in receivership; they will restructure:
https://www.nitrateville.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=34408

Not surprising given Serge Bromberg's ongoing legal troubles.

[Stefan Andersson]

Spectrum Films, France, to release King Hu vol. 2 box set:
https://www.spectrumfilms.fr/prochainem ... 71785.html
Contains Come Drink with Me (UHD and Blu-ray), Sons of Good Earth, Four Moods, The Wheel of Life et The Painted Skin
French subs only.

Spectrum´s King Hu vol. 1:
https://www.lemagducine.fr/sorties-dvd- ... -10038903/

On their FB, Spectrum says they are interested in The Valiant Ones, but rights are blocked until 2023 if I read it correctly:
https://www.facebook.com/spectrumfilms. ... 753595617/

Also from Spectrum, a box with The Soong Sisters (145 min. version) + Eight Taels of Gold:
https://www.spectrumfilms.fr/prochainem ... 71723.html

[Stefan Andersson]

La Rabbia/Jokers in France to release a Kenji Misumi trilogy: Kiru, Ken and Ken ki, starring Raizo Ichikawa. Discussion seems to indicate the first Zatoichi film will be included:
https://www.dvdclassik.com/forum/viewto ... &start=450

[MichaelB]

I saw all three Misumi films in Bologna last year, and would definitely be up for this. I’m assuming they’ll at least have French subtitles!

[Stefan Andersson]

Vie privée (Malle), test by tenia:
https://testsbluray.com/2023/10/09/test ... ie-privee/

A Woman of Paris, two versions with different music scores, tested by tenia:
https://testsbluray.com/2023/10/08/test ... -publique/
Relevant info about the music of one of the versions:
https://festival.ilcinemaritrovato.it/e ... f-paris-2/

[Stefan Andersson]

Test of a new French René Clair box, from Tamasa:
https://digitalcine.fr/4k-bluray-dvd/te ... ez-tamasa/

[hearthesilence]

Test of a new French René Clair box, from Tamasa:
https://digitalcine.fr/4k-bluray-dvd/te ... ez-tamasa/

Thrilled by this, I've been waiting for Clair upgrades for well over a decade now! I recall someone (or some people) claiming that Criterion's edition of À Nous la Liberté doesn't include the original cut of the film, or at least as it was originally shown - supposedly the deleted scenes presented on their disc should've been reinstated in the feature itself. Anyone know anything about this and how it's presented on this new reissue?

[Calvin]

Shellac are releasing a Paul Vecchiali Blu-Ray box set containing:
- L’étrangleur (1970)
- Femmes femmes (1974)
- Change pas de main (1975)
- Corps à coeur (1979)
- En haut des marches (1983)
- Rosa la rose, fille publique (1986)
- Once more (1988)
- Le Café des Jules (1989)

Sadly, it won't have English subtitles. Shellac say that "considered it for a time but [they] don’t have the international right for all the films and some subtitles files are unfortunately not in [their] possession".

Altered Innocence have picked up L’étrangleur for the US but the others are still unaccounted for as far as I'm aware.

[Stefan Andersson]

King Hu´s The Valiant Ones, restored from OCN by HK Film Archive, is up for release by Spectrum Films, France in a UHD/Blu/DVD box set:
https://www.spectrumfilms.fr/prochainem ... 71969.html

Plus another box set with rarities like Four Moods and The Wheel of Life:
https://www.spectrumfilms.fr/prochainem ... 71785.html

HK Film Archive released a bluray of Valiant Ones, including burnt-in English and Mandarin subs. This disc is out in Germany, a bootleg (?) of the HK blu, with burnt-in subs cropped, plus English and German subs:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=365403
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.ph ... st21668267

[Stefan Andersson]

Delphine Seyrig bluray box, with Le jardin qui bascule (Guy Gilles), La Musica (Duras), Aloïse (Liliane de Kermadec), and more:
https://www.dvdfr.com/dvd/f171569-delph ... femme.html

[Stefan Andersson]

La passion de Dodin Bouffant (Tranh An Hung), Gaumont blu w/ English subs:
https://www.esc-distribution.com/accuei ... 02033.html

DVD:
https://www.esc-distribution.com/accuei ... 02026.html

[Stefan Andersson]

Then new 4K Coin de mire cinema release of Classe tous risques has deleted scenes as a bonus. Interesting for fans of the film. BD now OOP ("indisponible/épuisé") at CdC website but stock remains at online sellers according to info on DVDClassik forum. UHD/BD combo still in print:
https://www.coindemirecinema.com/collections/nouveautes

Upcoming from CdC: Retour de Manivelle, from a James Hadley Chase novel:
https://www.coindemirecinema.com/produc ... anivelle-1