Give me the DVD!!


When is this film going to be out on DVD? This is a seminal work in film history, and more than deserves to have a good, restored DVD print, with utmost attention to image quality, color and composition.

Luke Joplin

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Yeap! The colors are beautiful in this movie. The shot composition of houses is like a coffee table book. And then there's the autumn scene at the end.

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What I find strange is that Agnès Varda seems to have worked very hard on the restoration of her husband Jacques Démy's "Les Parapluies de Cherbourg". But she's apparently forgetting her own masterpiece. Does anybody know whether she's working on it? And why on earth don't distributors wake up and realize that she's still alive, has some experience doing it, and would be the most appropriate person to do the restoration of "Le Bonheur"?

I've read somewhere that, to get that pastel effect on colour, she had to intentionally overexpose the film. Imagine what damage would an automatic exposure machine do on copying!

The whole film is a sheer visual delight, an eye-candy of the highest order, and that can't be lost! It's kind of a chromatic symphony. Never have I seen such care with color. It's incredible how the official reviews don't mention it very often. For those who haven't seen it, believe me: there's nothing quite like it, before or after. It's a unique experience.

I love the autumn scenes in the end. But I also like, among many others, the scene where François and Emilie are having a conversation in an outside café, and the drinks on the tables have the most fanciful colors: purple, blue...

And then there's the dance of the couples: in time with the music, people keep changing partners, having a small piece of wall to disguise their movements. How it was filmed is a mystery for me...

I would also like to see the sound restored... The rendition of Mozart's Adagio and Fugue in Cm, played by woodwinds, is amazing! I have searched for this arrangement, but couldn't find it. It was originally written for 2 pianos, and then orchestrated for strings. But woodwinds!! Does anybody know who plays it? Or where I could find it?

I do hope Varda herself restores her film. And, while she's at it, perhaps she could also work on "Kung-Fu Master", another small (and unknown) masterpiece. It tells so much about Man-Woman relationship, and about male temperament. It's a perfect and subtle portrait of Man. But also incredibly sad...

Luke Joplin

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Did you see it at the theater? I was fortunate enough to see her personal print (there may be only a few prints period) in Los Angeles last year. The print was in VERY GOOD condition. I haven't heard about the condition of the original camera negatives. My guess is they're damaged, but I certainly hope I'm wrong.

I think her focus on Demy's work is probably just economics. Although I think she's a better director than her husband, I guess it's not everyone's cup of tea.

I don't have any answers to your questions, sorry. Good luck. I haven't seen Kung-Fu Master, but I'll try to catch it.

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Yes, I've seen it at theaters, many times, since it first came out, with good copies and good projections. It's the only way to fully appreciate the film. And also own 2 copies of it: the commercial VHS being sold nowadays, and a SVHS copy which I taped from an Eurochannel satellite broadcast, which manages to be better than the original tape (double the resolution, less noise).
But, somehow, the experience in theaters is much better. Because there's the element of light, which is one of the things the film is about. I remember that during those fades to different colors, the theater gets lit by the images on screen.
Also, something I noticed and that I've never seen mentioned anywhere is how human flesh looks nice in this film. It's sort of ironic, because nowadays we have much more technology, but don't get the same quality. But in this film, made in 1965 in Eastmancolor the skin does look nice. I don't know why that happens: must be the right combination of film, lighting, color temperature and lens resolution...


Luke Joplin

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The DVD is at last available now in France. I don't know how it was done, if the quality is ok, but you can check for it on the label "Ciné-Tamaris".

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Very good news!! You made me very happy, today! Let's hope the transfer is a high quality one, as the film deserves. Has anyone seen the DVD?

Luke Joplin

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I suppose everyone here realizes that Criterion released this as part of their Varda box set.

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http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews34/4_by_agnes_varda.htm and
http://www.artificial-eye.com/film.php?dvd=ART460DVD&plugs&qt= true&wm=true

I have seen the Artifical Eye release(s), and it is/they are VERY good.

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Just watched the Criterion DVD (part of the Agnes Varda boxset) and it looks amazing. Truly one of the most beautifully shot films I've ever seen. The color co-ordination between the architecture, clothing and nature is unreal. Varda obviously spent a lot of effort on the color scheme for the film.

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I don't know if Luke Joplin still posts here, but I'm so glad Luke posted this:

The rendition of Mozart's Adagio and Fugue in Cm, played by woodwinds, is amazing! I have searched for this arrangement, but couldn't find it. It was originally written for 2 pianos, and then orchestrated for strings. But woodwinds!! Does anybody know who plays it? Or where I could find it?
Thank You for saying that it's woodwinds because all I can find is strings. IMO, it sounds so much better on woodwinds, so where is that recording???? Please post if anyone finds it. Thanks.

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