Jacques Rivette

[domino harvey]

Jonathan Rosenbaum said in his Reddit AMA a few months ago that we shouldn't expect to see his extras and that he hadn't heard anything about the release and assumed it abandoned

[MichaelB]

Who would have imagined that we'd see a day where Céline and Julie would be the only 1971-83 Rivette film not available on English-friendly Blu-ray?

[justeleblanc]

Jonathan Rosenbaum said in his Reddit AMA a few months ago that we shouldn't expect to see his extras and that he hadn't heard anything about the release and assumed it abandoned

Well that's sad.

[feihong]

It's sad that New Yorker still gets to hang onto these rights. They really need to go to a company that can make a blu-ray of the film happen.

[bearcuborg]

If memory serves from past conversations I've had with Jonathan, he also didn't think much of the project he worked on for the DVD release. So it appears to be of no loss, at least from an extras perspective.

[kekid]

Who would have imagined that we'd see a day where Céline and Julie would be the only 1971-83 Rivette film not available on English-friendly Blu-ray?

Who owns the rights to Celine and Julie in UK?

[domino harvey]

BFI

[MichaelB]

Assuming they haven't expired - that disc came out nearly a decade ago.

[kekid]

BFI

Hoping for New Yorker to do something about this item seems futile.
Hence my hope is that its cause will be taken up by someone in Region 2.
If the rights are still with the BFI, why have they not shown interest so far?
If the rights have expired, who has them, or who can acquire them?

[justeleblanc]

Does anyone remember exactly what happened during the supposed auction of NYer's catalog about 10 years ago? My recollection was that sometime in 2009 NYer announced that it was going to sell of its ownings in bundles, and several small distributors showed up to the "auction" expecting to buy the distribution rights to many films in their 40-year catalog... but because the contracts were in such disarray, Technicolor came in and purchased the entire lot in some form of a bail out. Was this in fact what happened, or have I misremembered/misheard the story?

In any event, I agree it seems more likely that a nice blu of Celine & Julie would see a BFI release long before it sees a stateside release.

[Gregory]

My understanding was that New Yorker had been acquired by a company called Aladdin Media Group, cofounded by Christopher Harbonville of New Yorker, which announced plans to release My Dog Tulip, Octubre, Turn Me On Dammit!, Céline and Julie, and others, six to eight titles a year. The first three of those came out with the New Yorker brand, but then apparently nothing else the past few years.

[MichaelB]

If the rights are still with the BFI, why have they not shown interest so far?

Is there an HD master out there? Because creating one from scratch would most likely be prohibitively expensive, given the running time - and funding it would be a challenge as it arguably wouldn't be within the BFI's current cultural remit (which for the last decade or so has been to focus on British cinema and its own holdings.

[Calvin]

If the rights are still with the BFI, why have they not shown interest so far?

Is there an HD master out there?

Presumably - the CNC funded a restoration in March 2013

[MichaelB]

In which case I suspect the answer is that the DVD was never a bestseller and that the BFI has other priorities right now - especially since their funding has been steadily reduced over the last five years or so.

[Noiretirc]

I can see from this thread that it will be very unwise of me to admit that I was riveted (ba dum tsssh) by the long improv scene conducted by Thomas's group in Episode 1. These guys are good! Perhaps having an extended scene of this, filmed very thoroughly and energetically, in what seems to be a narrative film, is shocking all by itself. (And now I'm learning about Aeschylus, thank you very much.) I thought the first 90min of this flew by. I'm thrilled to have Out 1 in my life.

[Newsnayr]

I saw Out 1 in a 13-hour screening on Sunday, and it was an absolutely incredible experience, if strongly exhausting. The film (my first Rivette) is without a near-masterpiece for me, and utterly mysterious and lovely.

[Luke M]

Jacques Rivette has passed away at 87

[Ted Todorov]

Wasn't Celine and Julie restored? I know it played Film Forum a few years ago.

It played as part of the Lynch/Rivette festival at the Walter Reade (Lincoln Center) last month and looked fine.

Also, the Walter Reade is showing http://www.filmlinc.org/films/love-on-the-ground/ next week.

I hope that Rivette's passing will make Criterion as interested in him as so many of New York City's movie theaters have consistently been, including the Film Society of Lincoln Center; Museum of Moving Image; Film Forum; Anthology Film Archives, etc.

[furbicide]

Jacques Rivette has passed away at 87

Very sad news. Cinema won't be the same without him.

[domino harvey]

He also gave one of my all-time favorite bits of film criticism, one I think of all the time (far more than the film he's discussing, to be sure): "Of all the recent American films that were set in Las Vegas, Showgirls was the only one that was real - take my word for it. I who have never set foot in the place!"

[Michael Kerpan]

... take my word for it. I who have never set foot in the place!"

I never could figure out just how much leg pulling Rivette was doing in that (very funny) interview.

[How rude!]

Jacques Rivette has passed away at 87

While we wait, desperate, longing for the shiny new boxset, his soul departs.

It will arrive now, not as a delivery, but an offering.

I plan to light a candle and watch Out 1 in it's entirety, until the candle burns down, flickering spasmodically for the briefest moment before the room is plunged into darkness.

[Noiretirc]

Did anyone ever tabulate the number of cigarettes smoked in Out 1?

Seriously though, I'd like to know if the brief black and white segments which begin episodes 2-8 of Out 1, which are flashbacks to the previous episode, were included in the original film, please and thanks.

[cinemartin]

What do you mean by original film?

[justeleblanc]

Those black and white segments were included in the print that I saw in 2007, so I assume they were included in the original film.