Essential Art House: Le jour se lève

Discuss releases in the Janus Contemporaries, Eclipse, and Essential Art House lines and the films on them.
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
Jeff
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:49 pm
Location: Denver, CO

Essential Art House: Le jour se lève

#1 Post by Jeff » Tue Jun 16, 2009 1:18 am

Le jour se lève

[img]http://criterion_production.s3.amazonaws.com/release_images/2338/EAH4_JourSeLeve_box_348x490_w128.jpg[/img]

The culmination of Poetic Realist cinema of the 1930s, Le jour se lève was Marcel Carné’s third collaboration with screenwriter and poet Jacques Prevert. A story of obsessive sexuality and murder—in which working class everyman François (Jean Gabin) resorts to killing in order to free the woman he loves from the controlling influence of another man—Le jour se lève cemented the enormous reputations of Gabin and Carné.

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: Essential Art House: Le jour se lève

#2 Post by domino harvey » Tue Jun 16, 2009 1:53 pm

Given that Mamet talks about this film on his House of Games commentary, surely they could have brought this over to the mainline with some kind of appreciation from him? I mean, it's a fairly popular film to just be dumped in the budget line

User avatar
Jeff
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:49 pm
Location: Denver, CO

Re: Essential Art House: Le jour se lève

#3 Post by Jeff » Tue Jun 16, 2009 2:37 pm

domino harvey wrote:Given that Mamet talks about this film on his House of Games commentary, surely they could have brought this over to the mainline with some kind of appreciation from him? I mean, it's a fairly popular film to just be dumped in the budget line
Agreed. This seemed like a sure bet for the main line. I wonder if it had less to do with not wanting to produce supplements, and more to do with the extant elements not meeting Criterion's standards. That was one of the initial reasons that they said a film might be put in the Eclipse line. I wonder if the same applies here?

User avatar
reno dakota
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2008 11:30 am

Re: Essential Art House: Le jour se lève

#4 Post by reno dakota » Tue Jun 16, 2009 2:45 pm

Given that my only viewing of this film so far was on an old, worn VHS with terrible sound and at least half of the dialogue unsubbed, I'm happy to see it given a stand-alone release (even though my one viewing made me long for some contextualizing supplements).

User avatar
zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: Essential Art House: Le jour se lève

#5 Post by zedz » Tue Jun 16, 2009 3:57 pm

Might as well put in a plug for Kino's disc of the American remake The Long Night (by Anatole Litvak, of Essential Arthouse fame), which does have minimal extras, as I recall, in the form of a comparison with this film. A good case study for the connection between film noir and poetic realism.

The aged transfer was so-so and the standalone disc is expensive, but it can also be found in their much better value Film Noir box set.

User avatar
Tribe
The Bastard Spawn of Hank Williams
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 7:59 pm
Location: Toledo, Ohio
Contact:

Re: Essential Art House: Le jour se lève

#6 Post by Tribe » Tue Jun 16, 2009 4:21 pm

zedz wrote:Might as well put in a plug for Kino's disc of the American remake The Long Night (by Anatole Litvak, of Essential Arthouse fame), which does have minimal extras, as I recall, in the form of a comparison with this film. A good case study for the connection between film noir and poetic realism.

The aged transfer was so-so and the standalone disc is expensive, but it can also be found in their much better value Film Noir box set.
The Long Night is how I became familiar with Le jour se leve in the first place (which I still haven't seen). Yes, as Zedz notes there are some relatively minor issues with the disc, but the film is pretty compelling. The Long Night is why I've been anxious to see Le Jour se leve...how different is The Long Night from Le jour se leve?

User avatar
HerrSchreck
Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:46 am

Re: Essential Art House: Le jour se lève

#7 Post by HerrSchreck » Tue Jun 16, 2009 7:32 pm

Jeff wrote:
domino harvey wrote:Given that Mamet talks about this film on his House of Games commentary, surely they could have brought this over to the mainline with some kind of appreciation from him? I mean, it's a fairly popular film to just be dumped in the budget line
Agreed. This seemed like a sure bet for the main line. I wonder if it had less to do with not wanting to produce supplements, and more to do with the extant elements not meeting Criterion's standards. That was one of the initial reasons that they said a film might be put in the Eclipse line. I wonder if the same applies here?
No, the film is in fine enough shape-- I have the R2 Studio Canal disc, and you can see from the Beev caps of the Essential Arthouse disc that the film itself is really in no worse shape than say Quai des Brumes or Pepe Le Moko, both made approx the same time in France.

User avatar
zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: Essential Art House: Le jour se lève

#8 Post by zedz » Tue Jun 16, 2009 9:46 pm

david hare wrote:Certainly it's watchable and Im not usually someone who's bothered by minor print damage, tears, tramlines etc (because it's all part of FILM) but this is one Carne badly in need of a full scale resto I think, as is Les Visiteurs du Soir. Niether of them is in line for one, and given the budget cuts this year from the French government, Richard Suchenski says there is literally zero in the till for any more resto work into the forseeable future! The best we could hope for is a purely superior digital clean up.
This is a good point. It might have been that Criterion were holding out for a restoration of this film, since it's an obvious contender for that treatment, and have decided to put it out in this form now since there's nothing on the horizon.

User avatar
HerrSchreck
Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:46 am

Re: Essential Art House: Le jour se lève

#9 Post by HerrSchreck » Tue Jun 16, 2009 9:52 pm

I do. Look at the caps-- the CC looks fine enough to me. Certainly nothing worse than most films of this age or pedigree.

In other words-- and this is the crux of the biscuit here-- I don't think "shoddy elements" are the reason CC is "relegating" (as is the perception above) this to the budget line. The elements are in no worse shape than Pepe or Brumes.

User avatar
What A Disgrace
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 10:34 pm
Contact:

Re: Essential Art House: Le jour se lève

#10 Post by What A Disgrace » Wed Jun 17, 2009 1:55 pm

:( Should have at least been a Carne Eclipse set, since its obvious Port of Shadows was a fluke, and otherwise we're not getting his work into the main line.

User avatar
CSM126
Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2004 8:22 am
Location: The Room
Contact:

Re: Essential Art House: Le jour se lève

#11 Post by CSM126 » Wed Jun 17, 2009 4:53 pm

What A Disgrace wrote:Should have at least been a Carne Eclipse set, since its obvious Port of Shadows was a fluke, and otherwise we're not getting his work into the main line.
Don't forget Children of Paradise. But yeah, other than bubkiss.

User avatar
Le Samouraï
Joined: Mon May 08, 2006 6:51 am
Location: Denmark

Re: Essential Art House: Le jour se lève

#12 Post by Le Samouraï » Thu Jun 18, 2009 8:45 am

I have been waiting for this ever since I bought 'Port of Shadows'. But since it's just going into the budget line, I was wondering whether to buy the UK R2 instead. I have a hard time finding any reviews of that disc, though. Anyone here have it and want to share their thoughts of it?

Jonathan S
Joined: Sat Jun 07, 2008 3:31 am
Location: Somerset, England

Re: Essential Art House: Le jour se lève

#13 Post by Jonathan S » Thu Jun 18, 2009 9:10 am

It's a while since I watched my UK Optimum disc all through but I remember being reasonably pleased with it. I've just checked a few passages: there are plenty speckles, slight if frequent flicker and unsteadiness (none of which bothers me) but to my eyes the sharpness and especially the contrast look superior to the middle four or so of the Beaver's captures of the EAH. Of course, I haven't seen the latter and it may look better on a different system and in motion. Based on those captures, I wouldn't expect the Criterion to be an upgrade for me. Optimum's English subtitles are optional, by the way.

zone_resident
Joined: Thu Jan 05, 2006 1:33 pm

Re: Essential Art House: Le jour se lève

#14 Post by zone_resident » Sat Sep 12, 2009 7:44 pm


User avatar
Tommaso
Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 10:09 am

Re: Essential Art House: Le jour se lève

#15 Post by Tommaso » Sun Sep 13, 2009 6:49 am

DVDBeaver wrote: As the other single-disc Essential Art releases have been duplicates of those found in the Essential Art package - we will assume the same here.
With all due respect to Gary, this really isn't helpful. He could at least have given the disc a quick spin to make sure about it, and also to update the edition details. "Loose-leaf slip holder inside binder" hardly seems to be the correct description for this individual release.

User avatar
Tribe
The Bastard Spawn of Hank Williams
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 7:59 pm
Location: Toledo, Ohio
Contact:

Re: Essential Art House: Le jour se lève

#16 Post by Tribe » Thu Sep 17, 2009 4:05 pm

I finally had the opportunity to see this and it's brilliant, I think! The best Carne effort I've seen and emotionally more powerful than The Long Night. I love the design "look" of this...no wonder the French took to American noir as they did. the height of French poetic realism, if you ask me. Gabin is riveting to watch, as usual.

I'm really surprised this didn't receive a CC release...the transfer, as others have noted above, looks very good.

User avatar
HistoryProf
Joined: Mon Mar 13, 2006 3:48 am
Location: KCK

Re: Essential Art House: Le jour se lève

#17 Post by HistoryProf » Fri Feb 05, 2010 12:14 am

not sure why this one didn't get the bump, but just for formality's sake:

Going Out of Print by the End of March

User avatar
Cinephrenic
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:58 pm
Location: Paris, Texas

Re: Essential Art House: Le jour se lève

#18 Post by Cinephrenic » Fri Feb 05, 2010 3:10 am

I'm wondering if the reason why this didn't get the full treatment because of a rush to get it out before the rights ended.

User avatar
Svevan
Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2004 7:49 pm
Location: Portland, OR

Re: Essential Art House: Le jour se lève

#19 Post by Svevan » Fri Feb 12, 2010 10:51 pm

That's my impression. There was a lot of confusion when Criterion threw out these one-offs straight to the EAH line, and most if not all of them are now going OOP. (There's a few others that were in the giant gift set but have not been released individually as well). We all thought it was a new trend, for Criterion to use EAH as the "budget" line and I guess that could still happen; rather, the rights issue seems to be the main impetus. The next time we see EAH-only titles on the horizon, I think we're all going to be checking who owns the rights.

edit: which gets me thinking about Kapo...

hangman
Joined: Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:33 am

Re: Essential Art House: Le jour se lève

#20 Post by hangman » Wed Mar 03, 2010 8:23 pm

Got arround to watching this early morning, around 4:50 (surpised the alarm clock at the film ended at the same time as my own alarm clock at 6:20). Well I'm still gathering my thoughts but I couldn't help but think the liner notes regarding "working class everyman François (Jean Gabin) resorts to killing in order to free the woman he loves from the controlling influence of another man" couldn't be more off putting for the film. Sure he kills and the reason was for love of a woman, but that of rage or jealousy rather than to "free" Francoise.

Even worse I didn't really see the whole "free the woman he loves from the controlling influence of another man". Rather it seemed in the film that she'd end up from one controlling man to another, Francois himself was rather controlling from the early onset of their relationship. Gesture that especially comes to mind:
SpoilerShow
was when he took the teddy bear which had sentimental value, and obviously from the early part of the film we know he never seemed to have bothered giving it back
I actually see Francois and Valentin to be from the same mould, only that one is a working class man and the other a dreamer/performer (or the brute and the brains). Through out the film it just seems Valentin is always just one step ahead of Francois, who in turn usually gets the left overs of Valentin. Look at the relationship of Francois with the two women, Clara and Francoise, and even by the last part of the film.
SpoilerShow
where again the intent to kill was actually thought out of by Valentin before Francois, only that Francois in that one instant able to take action though it wasn't a particularly rewarding act so much so that the words by the end "and look where its gotten you now" takes on a pretty ironic meaning
Both men generally liked the same thing and acted the same more or less, Francois was a smooth operator in his own right much like we can presume Valentin to have been. Ironically both men seemed to hate the same thing, one another as well as reflections of themselves. Though perhaps the key difference is precisely as Valentin said about Francois and himself, "women love you but they're attracted to me" (can't recall word for word but definitely along that line) and you do end up "liking" Francois more than Valentin. If only that Francois always getting the left overs appears as the "loser" though in the end they're both "losers" with the situation they're in.

I was definitely caught off guard by this film, and I loved it!

User avatar
teddyleevin
Joined: Fri Feb 23, 2007 8:25 pm
Location: New York City
Contact:

Re: Essential Art House: Le jour se lève

#21 Post by teddyleevin » Mon Nov 24, 2014 11:48 am

Just saw at Film Forum in the "most complete version since 1939." It was 3 minutes longer than the EAH DVD (which I've seen before), and for all I could tell, there were only 3 new scenes, all of which were noticeably washed-out and a little damaged. I may have missed some little things, but the most notable restored shot (which Film Forum is sure to mention) is Arletty's nude scene: a single shot of her, totally nude, but covering her lower regions with what I guess was a shower poof. The film has a lot of explicit references to sex and even some breast-grabbing, which always made me ask, "How'd this get made?" but I am really blown away by the casual, and frankly sex-less, inclusion of the nude scene.

I'm not sure who has the home video rights to this "extended" cut.

User avatar
tenia
Ask Me About My Bassoon
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:13 am

Re: Essential Art House: Le jour se lève

#22 Post by tenia » Mon Nov 24, 2014 11:53 am

This cut is the one which has been released by Studio Canal in Europe.

Robespierre
Joined: Mon Apr 17, 2017 5:31 pm

Re: Essential Art House: Le jour se lève

#23 Post by Robespierre » Thu Feb 08, 2018 3:20 am

Does anyone know if the blu rays released in Europe are region free? I'm not against breaking down and buying the OOP EAH, but it is of inferior quality and DVD only.

Kauno
Joined: Sun Dec 18, 2011 4:01 am

Re: Essential Art House: Le jour se lève

#24 Post by Kauno » Thu Feb 08, 2018 3:29 am

Robespierre wrote:Does anyone know if the blu rays released in Europe are region free? I'm not against breaking down and buying the OOP EAH, but it is of inferior quality and DVD only.
It's Region B, sorry.

Robespierre
Joined: Mon Apr 17, 2017 5:31 pm

Re: Essential Art House: Le jour se lève

#25 Post by Robespierre » Thu Feb 08, 2018 3:33 am

Shoot, alright thanks. Studio Canal once again deprives me of a Region friendly great French movie. They've become my nemesis.

Post Reply