Patrice Chéreau on DVD

[Gregory]

Online reviews of his films' DVDs are very sparse, for whatever reason.

I have the R1 releases of Intimacy and Gabrielle and picture quality seemed excellent, especially on the latter.
There is a review of the R2 Arte release of Son Frère here, which has only minor quibbles. I would be interested to know how the R1 looks.
I also would like to find out about the picture quality of Kino's release of Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train. For example, is it anamorphic?
I know there is an excellent Artificial Eye release of it but would prefer to just get the Kino unless there is a big difference in quality.
Queen Margot (R1 and R2) and The Wounded Man (R2) are two more I have not yet seen.
If anyone has comments on these discs, please post.

[kaujot]

Beaver review of Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train. (Bah, nevermind the Beaver link. I thought they compared both the Kino and AE discs. It's just the AE shown.)

I think someone here (Ehrenstein, perhaps) thinks the film is the best ever made. I haven't seen it, but both the title and premise are very intriguing. I'd love to here more about it from him (or whoever made the statement).

Addendum: I thought Queen Margot was disappointing. Very disjointed, hard to follow, though sumptuously photographed. Worth seeing, but I wouldn't buy it.

[pro-bassoonist]

I won practically everything Chareau has made that has been put on DVD.

1. Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train- the AE disc is without a doubt the one to own. The R1 is improperly converted and about the only compain I have with the UK disc is, as noted by Beaver, the size of the subs. Enormous.

2. Gabrielle- The French disc is English friendly and one of the best packages in my collection. I have submitted a review for it.

3. Son Frere- The R1 is a mess. Improper conversion again, plenty of issues to report. The English friendly disc to own is the UK one (French one does not offer subs).

4. Wozzeck - I own a Polish disc of this film which does appear to be a boot. It is widely available in the Polish videostores in Chicago. I would recommend only if you are a completist.

5. Queen Margot - My favorite Chereau (not Train...). To address an earlier comment one of the reasons why this film looks so disjointed is because it has been a subject of numerous edits/cuts. I would recommend picking up the Aussie and British releases, both slightly different, perhaps the newer unsubbed longer cut, and avoiding the non-anamorphic R1.

6. Intimacy - my least favorite Chereau. The R2 disc comes recommended due to conversion issues, as expected, with R1.

7. L'Homme blessé - the French disc is untypical. It is rather shaky in terms of video quality and unsubbed. I would recommend having a pass on this one in hope of having a stronger release some time in the future.

Pro-B

[Gregory]

Thanks for the run-down. I went ahead and ordered the AE release of Those Who...
What are the problems with the R1 Son Frère other than conversion issues? My player almost never seems to have any issues with bad PAL-NTSC conversions.

[pro-bassoonist]

Thanks for the run-down. I went ahead and ordered the AE release of Those Who...
What are the problems with the R1 Son Frère other than conversion issues? My player almost never seems to have any issues with bad PAL-NTSC conversions.

Amongst other issues it is not anamorphic.

Ciao,
Pro-B

[Kinsayder]

La Chair de l'orchidée (one of my favourite Chéreaux) is on a Japanese DVD. For some reason they've packaged it as a soft porn movie with nudie cover art: "Enslaved body takes affection. A smell of a woman had been ruined a man. The man was distructed by the woman. no-revision & no-omit version." (sic)

The transfer is poor (looks like a VHS copy) and it has burnt-in Japanese subs. Amazon.co.jp link.

Also: Chéreau's 2003 production of Phèdre with Dominique Blanc is available on a French DVD (no subs).

[Fiery Angel]

Chereau's mesmerizing production of Janacek's masterpiece From the House of the Dead finally makes it to the Met.

For those who haven't seen it, the DVD is spectacular, if no substitute for seeing it live.