578 The Complete Jean Vigo

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Paupau
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#26 Post by Paupau » Fri Dec 21, 2007 9:39 pm

Just watched my spanish edition a couple of days ago, and on the extras section, there's a 40 min doc called "Les voyages de L'Atalante", directed by Bernard Eisenschitz, which contains some alternate shots. This "block of ice" scene appears on the doc, for the 1990 retauration. They simply didn't know where to put it. The scene is only 5-6 seconds long, tough.

Another alternate take is shown for the song of the street vendor in the café, quite different. Shot from a high angle, forgetting the main characters completely and just following the vendor trough the café.

No a mention to the wrestling scene.

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Saturnome
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#27 Post by Saturnome » Sat Dec 22, 2007 6:57 pm

I have the original VHS of the movie, the block of ice shot seems out of place: it just pop out of nowhere, I guess shots of Jean walking to the block or something where never found so they cut it, but I kinda like it. The dissolves in the wrestling is also there. Are they the only modifications, other than (I guess) a restoration of the picture and sound? Seeing the post about alternate takes, I wonder if some changed.

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#28 Post by bollibasher » Thu Jan 10, 2008 11:49 am

Paupau wrote:Just watched my spanish edition a couple of days ago, and on the extras section, there's a 40 min doc called "Les voyages de L'Atalante", directed by Bernard Eisenschitz, which contains some alternate shots. This "block of ice" scene appears on the doc, for the 1990 retauration. They simply didn't know where to put it. The scene is only 5-6 seconds long, tough.
Just to note, this documentary is also on the Artificial Eye release...

Chris xx

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manicsounds
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Re: 578 The Complete Jean Vigo

#29 Post by manicsounds » Mon May 16, 2011 7:53 pm

Nice. All the features are transfered over from the French/UK DVD set, plus a lot more. Looks like I'll be upgrading to the BD for this one, and completely worth it.

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zedz
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Re: 578 The Complete Jean Vigo

#30 Post by zedz » Mon May 16, 2011 8:06 pm

This really does look marvellously comprehensive, rendering the previously essential Artificial Eye set obsolete at a stroke.

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prokosch
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Re: 578 The Complete Jean Vigo

#31 Post by prokosch » Mon May 16, 2011 9:18 pm

I'm still in awe that this is being released (at that price point!!), not least because I don't have a region-free player. As pointed out, a wealth of material to absorb. August had better hurry itself up.

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Steven H
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Re: 578 The Complete Jean Vigo

#32 Post by Steven H » Mon May 16, 2011 9:23 pm

Is this the first time a whole episode of Cinéastes de notre temps has been included on a Criterion disc? Nice to see that.

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knives
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Re: 578 The Complete Jean Vigo

#33 Post by knives » Mon May 16, 2011 9:30 pm

No, look to Imamura.

artfilmfan
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Re: 578 The Complete Jean Vigo

#34 Post by artfilmfan » Mon May 16, 2011 10:29 pm

I'm really looking forward to owning "L'Atalante" on Blu-ray. Who would have thought that we'll get "People on Sunday" and "L'Atalante" on Blu-ray in the same year (knocking two films off my most wanted Blu-ray list)? Nice going, Criterion! How about releasing "Partie de Campagne" on Blu-ray, too? This or next year perhaps?

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swo17
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Re: 578 The Complete Jean Vigo

#35 Post by swo17 » Mon May 16, 2011 11:00 pm

Others are probably thinking it but I'll just come out and say it: release of the year. I just wish it were coming out a month earlier so I could see all these in HD before finalizing my 1930s list.

The cover's growing on me.
SpoilerShow
No, seriously, wasn't Dasté's head smaller earlier this afternoon?

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domino harvey
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Re: 578 The Complete Jean Vigo

#36 Post by domino harvey » Mon May 16, 2011 11:14 pm

Surely I cannot be the only one who ran through the AE Vigo set, shrugged their shoulders, and moved on with their life? Am I even allowed to say that Vigo does nothing for me without being placed on some sort of Cinemaphile Probation?

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knives
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Re: 578 The Complete Jean Vigo

#37 Post by knives » Mon May 16, 2011 11:17 pm

No I agree. Outside of Propos I'm not overly fond of him to be honest. If it were more packed I'd likely be getting Cul-de-Sac instead (it's worse than the Vigo's but oh so weird).

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ellipsis7
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Re: 578 The Complete Jean Vigo

#38 Post by ellipsis7 » Tue May 17, 2011 4:24 am

Steven H wrote:Is this the first time a whole episode of Cinéastes de notre temps has been included on a Criterion disc? Nice to see that.
This is shared with the AE Vigo set, which includes the full CdeNT film plus the outtakes of A PROPOS... Shall be interested to see how the transfers of the main features/shorts compare...

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Jun-Dai
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Re: 578 The Complete Jean Vigo

#39 Post by Jun-Dai » Tue May 17, 2011 4:43 am

Probation, definitely.

But in all seriousness, L'Atalante was a bit of a let-down for me. I think Vigo's much more interesting for what he did with the medium than L'Atalante is to watch. Zero is about the right length for his style of filmmaking, on the other hand, and while I haven't seen it in over a decade, I have fond memories of it. The other two I've never seen.

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NABOB OF NOWHERE
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Re: 578 The Complete Jean Vigo

#40 Post by NABOB OF NOWHERE » Tue May 17, 2011 4:52 am

ellipsis7 wrote:
Steven H wrote:Is this the first time a whole episode of Cinéastes de notre temps has been included on a Criterion disc? Nice to see that.
This is shared with the AE Vigo set, which includes the full CdeNT film plus the outtakes of A PROPOS... Shall be interested to see how the transfers of the main features/shorts compare...
The main meat from the AE/Gaumont is on the Criterion but there are a couple of truffles missing. Manuel de Oliveira's piece, Nice a propos. Letters read by Mathieu Almaric. Marc Perrone in concert and numerous photos and poster art. Surprisingly seemingly missing are the pieces by Lindsay Anderson and Bertolucci that you would have thought would be a must given the re-release of 'If'. Also the Gaumont artwork is very nice with original poster work on the inside cover and a well made MoC standard booklet. The biggest bonus in terms of a double or even treble dip is the Blu as Gaumont have no plans to upscale.

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Finch
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Re: 578 The Complete Jean Vigo

#41 Post by Finch » Tue May 17, 2011 7:35 am

Count me among those who prefer the shorts to L'Atalante and admire the film more than love it. Perhaps seeing L'Atalante in HD will make a difference (wouldn't be the first time I found a viewing experience more immersive).

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ellipsis7
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Re: 578 The Complete Jean Vigo

#42 Post by ellipsis7 » Tue May 17, 2011 8:20 am

I fell for L'ATALANTE in 1989, seeing it on the big screen following the major resto then, and never really shifted my position, part of its fascination lies in its unclassifiability... A companion to this set is the Lorrimer book (pub.1983, now OOP) "The Complete Jean Vigo", which contains the scripts and other writings by Vigo relating to all the films...

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HerrSchreck
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Re: 578 The Complete Jean Vigo

#43 Post by HerrSchreck » Tue May 17, 2011 9:43 am

L'Atalante just sends me... lord just the sound of the score-- hell even the thought of it-- sees me levitate.

There's a silliness and a gloominess about the film that is just utterly unique; the silliness of the sense of humor, typified of course by Michel Simon's Pere Jules. From the moment following the wedding when he minces absurdly (running like his feet were tied together with short strings) back to the holy water at the church and with a look on his face like he was about to bust out laughing making the sign of the cross (and "God's deserted us," back on the barge a moment later), the film is filled with a sense of a long running inside joke between he and Vigo. Almost as though the two of them were laughing their way straight thru the film because of the stuff they were putting into it... almost like the silly atmosphere on the old days of the Stern show where Howard Jackie and Fred can barely keep together because of how funny they know the show is and what they're getting away with, a la one of the better Richard Simmons appearances.

I mean the film just had me in tears of hysterics, i e when Jules is going bananas with Parlo's dress while she's trying to pin it, asking Daste over and over and over again if he's going fishing (after jumping in the water looking for his wife). The thief cornered at the train station yelping and whimpering and jumping around like a spastic dog on methamphetamine. The performer at the little cafe (The Poultry Is Inside).

Meanwhile wrapping around all this absurdity is a cloudy, rusty, gloomy, yet sensual atmospheric, thick with fog and a heavy sense of the long ago and far away that for me is just absolutely seductive. When Parlo & Daste are separated from each other but simultaneously longing to jump each other's bones signified by these wonderful superimpositions over one another passing their hands over their own bodies, intercut with the two of them swimming in the canal. . . christ it's just sublime stuff.

Vaguely conjures a feeling not too dissimiliar to Rimbaud, another young poet with a very limited output who merges the intensely beautiful with the out-to-lunch.

I love all of Vigo-- the canon is an endlessly rewatchable series of confections that I periodically go back to to get refreshed by. The late twenties and early thirties were such a magical time in Paris-- Kirsanoff, Vigo, Gremillon, Epstein, Dreyer, Renoir, Cocteau just wonderful stuff. One could go on and on with the names.

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Jun-Dai
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Re: 578 The Complete Jean Vigo

#44 Post by Jun-Dai » Tue May 17, 2011 7:39 pm

I personally thought that the separated/longing superimpositions were over the top and awkwardly done. I was in stitches when Annette Insdorf in the video interview on the New Yorker disc said something to the effect that it was the most erotic scene ever filmed.

The film definitely does have some incredibly touching moments, but I don't really consider that one of them.

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ellipsis7
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Re: 578 The Complete Jean Vigo

#45 Post by ellipsis7 » Wed May 18, 2011 2:57 am

Re. the swimming sequence in L'ATALANTE, it's fascinating to compare the techniques Vigo used in TARIS to those used dramatically here...

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Tommaso
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Re: 578 The Complete Jean Vigo

#46 Post by Tommaso » Wed May 18, 2011 3:13 am

HerrSchreck wrote:L'Atalante just sends me... lord just the sound of the score-- hell even the thought of it-- sees me levitate.
Which reminds me: isn't it a good time now to get your exclusive audiocommentary out to us? ;) I really appreciated your take on "Menilmontant", btw, belated thanks for that.

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Cold Bishop
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Re: 578 The Complete Jean Vigo

#47 Post by Cold Bishop » Wed May 18, 2011 4:49 am

They have to reinsert the ice shot and the wrestling superimpositions!

Grand Illusion
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Re: 578 The Complete Jean Vigo

#48 Post by Grand Illusion » Wed May 18, 2011 7:15 am

Time to get rid of my New Yorker L'Atalante disc?

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A
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Re: 578 The Complete Jean Vigo

#49 Post by A » Fri May 20, 2011 1:57 pm

Cold Bishop wrote:They have to reinsert the ice shot and the wrestling superimpositions!
Don't think that will happen, as these bits were included in an earlier resto (1990), which has for some reasons been "disregarded" by the Gaumont people...

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MichaelB
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Re: 578 The Complete Jean Vigo

#50 Post by MichaelB » Fri May 20, 2011 2:22 pm

I'm firmly in the pro-L'Atalante camp (and agree 100% with everything Schreck says), but I've only ever seen it in 35mm - and the comments above suggest that this makes a significant difference.

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