The Jacques Rivette Collection might not be the most loaded of Arrow Film’s releases as there are only a few featurettes, but the films included here are quality work and well worthwhile especially for fans of French cinema, or at least unique pieces of films.
The Jacques Rivette Collection
(1976-81)
Genre(s): Drama
Arrow Films | NR – 415 min. – $79.99 | May 23, 2017
Date Published: 06/30/2017 | Author: The Movieman
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ABOUT THIS RELEASE
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In 1975, Jacques Rivette reunited with Out 1 producer Stephane Tchal Gadjieff with the idea of a four-film cycle. He would create a quartet of interconnected films, each in a different genre. One was to be a love story, another a Western, and there was to be fantastical thriller and a musical comedy starring Anna Karina and Jean Marais too. Ill health intervened, and only two of the films were completed. Duelle (une quarantine) sees Rivette in fantasy territory, cross-pollinating Val Lewton, Jean Cocteau and film noir as the Queen of the Sun (BULLE OGIER) and the Queen of the Night (JULIET BERTO) search for a magical diamond in present day. Its ‘parallel film’, Noroit (une vengeance), is a pirate tale – and a loose adaptation of The Revenger’s Tale – starring Geraldine Chaplin. A third film began production – Marie et Julien starring Albert Finney and Leslie Caron – but Rivette succumbed to nervous exhaustion and shooting was abandoned. When he did return to filmmaking, Rivette borrowed some of the elements of Duelle and Noroit and came up with Merry-Go-Round. Joe Daliesandro and Maria Schneider are summoned to Paris, which leads to one of the most surreal and mysterious tales in a career that was dominated by surrealism and mystery. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.5/5 |
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This 6-disc set (3 BDs, 3 DVDs) comes housed in 3 separate keep cases which side slides into a sturdy outer case. Also included is a nice 58-page booklet. Duelle (Une Quarantaine) Merry Go Round Rosenbaum on Rivette (22:25; HD) – Critic Jonathan Rosenbaum talks about the director and recounts his time on the sets for both Duelle and Noroit. |
VIDEO – 4.5/5 |
| Duelle and Noroit were presented with a 1.85 widescreen aspect ratio while Merry Go Round in 1.37 full frame. In all three cases, culled from the original camera negative and scanned in 2K, these look great showcasing bright, but natural looking, colors and skin tones and I didn’t notice obvious ailments like dust marks, scratches, etc so it’s apparent some nice restoration work was done. |
AUDIO – 4.0/5 |
| Each film comes with a well balanced French-language PCM 1.0 track, all providing clear dialogue levels and obvious discernible instances of hisses, pops or other flaws, though depth is a bit limited. Although not perfect, considering these were sourced from the original optical sound negatives and in some instances digital Betacam tapes from the 1990s. |
OVERALL – 3.5/5 |
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Overall, The Jacques Rivette Collection might not be the most loaded of Arrow Film’s releases as there are only a few featurettes, but the films included here are quality work and well worthwhile especially for fans of French cinema, or at least unique pieces of films. The video and audio transfers are well done across the board while those features give some insights although commentaries would’ve been nice. |
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.