|
|
 
|
Jean Renoir /Jean-Luc Godard collections
Two fantastic box-sets of titles from two
distinct, legendary filmmakers. Both are out on June 4th 2007.
COMPETITION NOW CLOSED
|
In Alphaville who rules the planet
a) Von Braun
b) Von Trapp
c) Von Schaun
Use the answer form at the bottom of the page to send laterlife your
answer and Good Luck!
The competition will run until 30th June 2007.
For
other competitions click here
JEAN RENOIR BOXSET
====================
LA GRANDE ILLUSION
LA BÊTE HUMAINE
And the UK Premieres of:
LE DÊJEUNER SUR L’HERBE
LE CAPORAL ÊPINGLÊ
LA MARSEILLAISE
ÊLÊNA ET LES HOMMES
LE TESTAMENT DU DOCTEUR CORDELIER
====================
“France’s greatest film-maker” THE TIMES
OUT TO OWN ON DVD 4 JUNE 2007
REMASTERED
Born in Paris in 1894, Jean Renoir
was the son of the famous Impressionist painter Pierre Auguste
and enjoyed an idyllic childhood. After fighting in WW1, where
he won the Croix de Guerre, he made the move from screenwriter
to filmmaker, wanting to make a star out of his then wife
Catherine Hessling. Le Crime de Monsieur Lange was his first
real success, and became a template from which his most
accomplished films would be drawn –beautifully accurate
observations on the nuances of human behaviour, with wit, irony
and poignancy; absolutely effortless in execution and timeless
in their relevancy. As Renoir himself put it: "My dream is of a
craftsman's cinema in which the author can express himself as
directly as the painter in his paintings or the writer in his
books." Having been nominated once previously for Best Director,
Renoir won an honorary Oscar in 1975 for his contribution to
cinema.
This collection brings together an overview of Renoir’s work
spanning over 25 years, including his anti-war masterpiece La
Grande Illusion which is often voted one of the greatest films
ever made. Funny, moving, true and still as fresh now as when
they were made, Jean Renoirs films are essential viewing.
With all titles digitally restored, this box-set also marks the
DVD premiere of all titles apart from La Grande Illusion and La
Bête Humaine.
EXTRAS>>> see individual titles
Cert: PG
Total Feature Running Time: 706 mins approx
Region 2
Colour PAL & B&W / PAL
Mono
French and German with English Subtitles
Catalogue No: OPTD0867
RRP: £44.99
LA GRANDE ILLUSION (1937)
Jean Renoir’s La Grande Illusion is a poetic and poignant
meditation on class, the nature of war and the death of the old
European order. Aristocratic Captain de Boeldieu (Pierre Fresnay),
mechanic Lieutenant Marechal (Jean Gabin) and wealthy Jewish
banker Rosenthal (Marcel Dalio) are all thrown together, despite
their vastly different backgrounds, as prisoners of the Germans
in World War I. Separated by a successful escape, they are
recaptured and reunited in an imposing fortress commanded by
German aristocrat Van Rauffenstein (Erich Von Stroheim).
Boeldieu and Rauffenstein strike up a friendship that reflects
their belonging to a cultural and social elite that they both
know is on the way out. However this rapport soon confuses
loyalties and threatens Boeldieu’s allegiances to the others
with tragic consequences. La Grande Illusion was nominated for
Best Picture in 1939.
EXTRAS>>> Intro by Ginette Vincendeau / 2 shorts by Jean Renoir:
Sur Un Air De Charleston & La Petite Marchande D’Allumette
Running time: 110 mins approx
Aspect ratio: 4:3 Full Frame
B&W PAL
Audio: Mono
French language with English subtitles
LA BÊTE HUMAINE (1938)
Made in the year between La Grande Illusion and La Règle du Jeu,
La Bête Humaine is based on the novel by Emile Zola and furthers
illustrates Renoir’s pre-occupation with the human condition.
Jacques Lantier (Jean Gabin), becomes the lover of Severine
(Simone Simon), deputy station master Roubaud’s (Fernand Ledoux)
wife. Roubaud overlooks the affair because he rightly believes
that Lantier knows he killed his wife’s previous lover. However
Lantier cannot separate his attraction to a woman from his
desire to kill her, so for how long will their happiness last
before his murderous intent overpowers his feelings of love?
Cert: PG
Feature running time: 96 mins approx
Feature Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
B&W Pal
Audio: Mono
French language with English subtitles
LE MARSEILLAISE (1938)
Jean Renoir’s carefully woven tapestry of the French Revolution
depicts the turbulent events of July 15th 1789 to August 10th
1792 – from the storming of the Bastille by an undisciplined
rabble to the defeat of the mighty Prussian infantry by a
unified nation. The film traces the adventures of Arnaud and
Bornier, two members of the peoples’ army whose fight for the
principles of Liberte, Egalite and Fraternity represents that of
the nation itself, and whose anthem, a song newly adopted from
the Rhineland, would become known as La Marseillaise.
EXTRAS>>> Documentary on La Marseillaise (30 mins)
Cert: PG
Feature running time: 125 mins approx
Feature Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
B&W Pal
Audio: Mono
French language with English subtitles
ÉLÉNA ET LES HOMMES (1956)
Ingrid Bergman stars as Elena, a Polish countess, who falls in
love with men on the cusp of greatness who need her support,
then leaves them when their life’s goals have been achieved: her
mission also then fulfilled. Her passion for great
(undiscovered) men extends to great causes, and leads her to
fall in with a group of conniving plotters who plan a coup
d’etat, after which they will install war hero General Francois
Rollan (Jean Marais), as dictator. Rollan lets himself be used
as a pawn because he is in love with Elena and matters are
further complicated by Henri (Mel Ferrer), a friend of the
General’s who is also in love with the Countess.
Cert: U
Feature running time: 94 mins approx
Feature Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Colour PAL
Audio: Mono
French language with English subtitles
LE TESTAMENT DU DOCTEUR CORDELIER (1959)
Le Testament Du Docteur Cordelier is Renoir’s take on Robert
Louis Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde story, switching the action to
1950s France. Jean-Louis Barrault stars as Dr Cordelier, whose
strange experiments on research patients have resulted in a
vicious brute named Opale, seemingly responsible for a wave of
terror sweeping the Paris suburbs. When a friend of Cordelier’s
– Monsieur Joly (Teddy Bilis) - discovers that the doctor
intends to leave everything he has to Opale, his interest is
piqued and begins to delve into the mystery that surrounds the
doctor and his strange work…
EXTRAS>>> Trailer
Cert: PG
Feature running time: 92 mins approx
Feature Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
B&W Pal
Audio: Mono
French language with English subtitles
LE DÉJEUNER SUR L’HERBE (1959)
Dr Etienne Alexis (Paul Meurisse) is a scientist involved in a
radical program pioneering the use of artificial insemination.
Coming from a coldly formal intellectual upbringing, Alexis’
invention aims to remove passion from reproduction as he
perceives it to be unnecessary complication; and in doing so he
will bring further wealth to his family via their
chemical-making corporations. To celebrate both the invention
and his engagement to a German cousin, Alexis and some friends
hold a picnic where the unexpected interruption by a windstorm
coupled with the appearance of young and beautiful servant
Nenette (Catherine Rouvel) serve to radically re-educate Alexis’
beliefs about the nature of love and class. Inspired by his
father’s paintings, the film is visually stunning whilst
cultivating a playful air of satire and romance.
EXTRAS>>> Documentary on Le Dejeuner Sur L’Herbe (38 mins)
Cert: PG
Feature running time: 88 mins approx
Feature Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Colour PAL
Audio: Mono
French language with English subtitles
LE CAPORAL ÉPINGLÉ (1962)
Revisiting the prison camp setting he first exploited in La
Grande Illusion almost 30 years before, Renoir directs
Jean-Pierre Cassel as an aristocratic French Corporal who is
captured by the Germans shortly after their invasion of France
in 1940. Helped by a variety of different characters – both
French and German, the Corporal repeatedly escapes and is
re-captured, sometimes making it barely a mile, sometimes all
the way to the French border. Nominated for the Golden Bear at
Venice.
EXTRAS>>> Documentary on Le Caporel Epingle (29 mins) / Trailer
Cert: PG
Feature running time: 101 mins approx
Feature Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Colour PAL
Audio: Mono
French and German language with English subtitles
JEAN-LUC GODARD BOXSET
VOLUME 1
====================
ALPAHAVILLE
PASSION – UK DVD Premiere
A BOUT DE SOUFFLE
MADE IN THE USA
BONUS DISC
====================
“The filmmaker of the Sixties”
Independent on Sunday
OUT TO OWN ON DVD 4 JUNE 2007
Cinema’s original enfant terrible,
one of the leaders of the French New Wave, a key influence on
the American cinema of the 1970s and one of the few true auteurs
still making movies: Jean-Luc Godard is all of these and more. A
maverick force from the beginning, when his debut film A Bout de
Souffle (1959) tore up the cinematic rulebook, Godard has
continued to inspire and challenge moviegoers throughout a
career that spans more than four decades.
Born in Paris in 1930, Godard came from a bourgeois Franco-Swiss
family, where he attended school until his parents divorced in
1948 and he moved to Paris. A contemporary of Francois Truffaut,
Eric Rohmer and Jacques Rivette, Godard first became involved in
cinema through literary criticism, writing several articles
under the pseudonym Hans Lucas. After supplying funding to films
by Rivette and Rohmer, with whom he had also founded a ‘Gazette
du Cinema’ for their writing, Godard’s family withdrew their
financial support, and he took to living a Bohemian lifestyle,
often stealing food and money when necessary. After becoming a
scriptwriter and having made several short films, Godard made
his memorable directorial debut in 1959 with A Bout de Souffle,
cementing his reputation (earned from his articles and
screenplays) as being at the forefront of La Nouvelle Vague.
The most influential of French directors, Godard was a key
figure of New Wave cinema. From his 1959 debut feature A Bout De
Souffle, “the film which epitomised the iconoclasm of the early
Nouvelle Vague” (Time Out) Godard has remained controversial and
intriguing throughout his lengthy film career. This collection
also contains Passion, Alphaville and Made in the USA, as well
as a comprehensive bonus disc of special features. All the
extras in this set are new to UK DVD.
EXTRAS>>> see individual film titles
Cert: 15
Total Feature Running Time: 365 mins approx
Region 2
Feature Aspect Ratios: 4:3
Colour PAL & B&W / PAL
French with English Subtitles
Catalogue No: OPTD0824
RRP: £39.99
A BOUT DE SOUFFLE (1959)
‘Seminal, a film to see and see again’ The Observer
Stylish and sexy, Breathless [A Bout De Souffle] is the epitome
of cinematic cool. A fast tale of a young man on the run in
Paris at the end of the 50’s, Breathless shook up the film world
upon its release and has made a lasting impression on cinema
history. Starring Jean Paul Belmondo, the film was produced by
Godard from an original treatment by François Truffaut in a
production that united the four initiators of the ‘nouvelle
Vague’ - Claude Chabrol acted as artistic director while
acclaimed director Jean Pierre Melville appeared in front of
camera.
EXTRAS>>> Chambre 12, Hotel de Suede about the genesis of A Bout
de Souffle (80 mins) / Trailer / Posters / Stills / Introduction
by Colin MacCabe, author of the book Godard: A Portrait of the
Artist at Seventy
Cert:
Feature running time: 115 mins approx
Feature Aspect ratio: 4:3
B&W PAL
Mono
French language with English subtitles
ALPHAVILLE (1965)
Written and directed by Godard, Alphaville is the strangely
beautiful futuristic tale of Lemmy Caution, an American private
eye sent to a planet ruled by Von Braun, a malevolent scientist
who has outlawed human emotions in favour of logic. The film
deals with the fight between indivualism in face of inhumanity
and blind conformity, and won the Golden Bear award of the
Berlin Film Festival in 1965.
EXTRAS>>> Trailer / Posters / Introduction by Colin MacCabe,
author of the book Godard: A Portrait of the Artist at Seventy /
Alphaville, Peripheria, documentary on the film (29 mins)
Running time: mins approx
Feature Aspect ratio: 4:3
B&W PAL
Mono
French language with English subtitles
MADE IN THE USA (1966)
A Classic New Wave crime thriller, Made in USA is inspired by
the American Noir thrillers of previous decades but, as ever,
Godard colours the old traditions with his own distinctive
style. Anna Karina stars as the questing anti-hero searching the
murderer of her lover, and the film features a cameo by Marianne
Faithful.
EXTRAS>>> Introduction by Colin MacCabe, author of the book
Godard: A Portrait of the Artist at Seventy / Anna Karina
interview / trailer / Poster / Les Cahiers du Cinema
Feature running time: tbc mins approx
Feature Aspect ratio: 4:3
B&W PAL
Mono
French language with English subtitles
PASSION (1982)
Godard’s 1982 film Passion is a fascinating musing on the nature
of life love and art, in a world seen through the eyes of
disoriented Polish film director Jerzy and his partner Laszlo.
Staying at the hotel where he is filming, Jerzy becomes involved
with the hotel owner Hanna and Factory worker Isabelle and
reality and art mingle as he searches for the story he wishes to
tell. To the displeasure of his financial backers, Jerzy has no
script to speak of, and hopes instead to live the narrative as
he films it. A UK DVD premiere.
EXTRAS>>> Posters / Stills Gallery / Press Kit / Introduction by
Colin MacCabe
Running time: tbc mins approx
Feature Aspect ratio: 4:3
B&W PAL
Mono
French language with English subtitles
BONUS DISC
Includes:
The Dinosaur & The Baby, classic interview between Fritz Lang
and Jean-Luc Godard (60 min)
Jean-Luc As Seen By Luc, Short film by Godard’s long time friend
and director Luc Moullet (8 min)
Godard, Love, Poetry, Exploring how Godard’s relationship with
Anna Karina has fed Godard‘s cinema (52 min)
Feature running time: 120 mins approx
Feature Aspect ratio: 4:3 / 16:9
B&W / Colour PAL
Mono
French language with English subtitles
Prizes
Prizes : 1 Boxset of each:
Terms and
Conditions of Entry
The draw is open to UK residents only and
entrants must be aged over 18. Only 1 entry is allowed per person/email address. Entries
must be received by the 30th June 2007. The winner will be
drawn at random from all correct entries received by laterlife.com during the term of the
competition. No correspondence will be entered into. laterlife.com accepts no
responsibility for any entries that are late, incomplete, unintelligible, misdirected,
lost due to disconnection, telephone systems or computer equipment or software failure or
data loss. The winners will be notified personally by email, to the email address provided
in the entry, within one week from the closing date. No cash alternative is
available and the prize is not transferable. Winners names may be published on the
website. Submission of an entry will be taken as acceptance of the rules. Please note the competition
is not open to laterlife.com employees,
contributors, their families or anyone connected with the competition. Laterlife reserves the right to amend these terms and conditions
at any time.
Visit the laterlife Competitions Page
to see the other
current competitions
Visit our
Pre-retirement Courses
section here on laterlife or our
dedicated Retirement Courses site
|
