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well, you could order them from fnac.com with a credit card/debit card. shipping is expensive though (of course).

Jeff LeVine wrote:well, you could order them from fnac.com with a credit card/debit card. shipping is expensive though (of course).

Yowzas! They'd been out of stock every time I looked! It's a bit steep, but for two movies, not so horrible. It's bought!

fred wrote:I don't know if it's in print

I bought a *copy*of Japanese Le Cicatrice Interieur DVD off ebay from "gogococonut0930" for $10 + $5 international shipment. He is a very reliable seller, i have bought at least 5 DVDs from him up to now without a single problem. Just send him a message via ebay and he will list Garrel's film again.

And, in a reply to my e-mail, re-voir says that Garrel's Le Lit de la Vierge(1969) [The Virgin's Bed] will absolutely have English subs.

Gropius wrote:I saw it as well, and thought it was about as tedious as Bertolucci's 'The Dreamers': short on political substance, long on photogenic youthful poseurs smoking opium for hours on end.

I haven't seen The Dreamers, but surely this is the point of Les Amants reguliers, an entropic film about the illusory nature of those supposedly galvanising political ideals? Garrel's characters (with one exception, who leaves the film as soon as he sees through his compatriots), away from the barricades, simply indulge in the most superficial tokens of youth revolt and drift apart into narcissistic self-regard. This is probably a much more accurate depiction of the times than any of the DVG works: history surely supports Garrel's argument in this film.

After the action of the first chapter, that slow, languid dissolution over the next two hours isn't exactly satisfying, but it's not intended to be. Anyway, you can always just soak up what might be Lubtchansky's most gorgeous work yet (against some extremely stiff competition).

A few minutes ago I received an e-mail from Artificial Eye stating the following:

Artificial Eyes release of ‘Les Amants Reguliers' will contain the subtitled feature and the Venice Film Festival's press conference.

So it sounds like AE is not including the doc on the Zanzibar Group that is on the French edition... too bad.

A pretty interesting review of this is up at DVD Times.

I'm a little suspect of the reviewer, however, as he continues to perpetuate a false understanding of Bertolucci's The Dreamers:

Much as Bertolucci's ludicrous film badly needs some balance and correction in its perspective, dwelling with airbrushed artificiality over the sexual awakening of a group of young film buffs, walking around a bohemian Parisian apartment naked like models out of a fashion magazine while listening to the hippest music of the 60s and quoting lines from New Wave films while the real revolution was happening out on the streets, Garrel's film is told firmly from his own perspective and his own experience as a youth on the barricades. Quite simply, while Bertolucci was merely referencing Hendrix and Godard to have some of that coolness rub off on his film, Garrel's film is Hendrix and Godard, working on the same artistic level.

For God's sake, how many times does it need to be said that Bertolucci's film was about characters who had a superficial engagement with their own passions. That was his point. Even Jonathan Rosenbaum got it wrong when he argued that Bertolucci used the clips of Mouchette in a way that trivialized their significance. But of course he was linking those moments to a specific consciousness, one that did trivialize them by finding in them a comparable tragedy to their own circumstances.

For God's sake, how many times does it need to be said that Bertolucci's film was about characters who had a superficial engagement with their own passions. That was his point.

Ah! but so is this film (if memory serves correctly)...

For God's sake, how many times does it need to be said that Bertolucci's film was about characters who had a superficial engagement with their own passions.

That is not how I understood it. For me it trivialised the events in France in 1968. The final scene, which used violent street riots as a backdrop to its stupid narrative, was embarrassing. Bertolucci isn't the first director to have lost it at some point in his career.

I don't understand how one can be superficially engaged with one's passion. How does that make sense?

Le Feu Follet wrote:I don't understand how one can be superficially engaged with one's passion. How does that make sense?

It happens all the time. It happens more often than not. It happens when passions aren't scrutinized or considered, when they are only fashionable imitations or when they mask hollow motivations or facile reactionism. And, of course, this is especially true when they act as a retreat from a messy reality. It's preference for pure aesthetics over substance.

Please take a look at this excellent piece on The Dreamers, the best and most thoroughly considered which I've yet seen.

An excerpt which speaks to my point:

If Bertolucci's goal is to create a mere nostalgia piece for the glory days of student activism in May 1968, why does the film focus on these three particular protagonists, these committed cinephiles who spend their days watching old films in the Cinémathèque Française, then, after it closes, talking and arguing about films, vexing the relative merits of Keaton and Chaplin and challenging each other to identify re-enactments of memorable scenes from their favorite movies, even as Bertolucci interpolates the treasured objects of their imitation into his mise-en-scène? In fact, The Dreamers is (and not trivially) as much or more about cinema as an art and an obsession — and more generally the attachment to images and the way they act as both a means of access to the world outside and a shield from it — as it is about “the revolution.â€

Does anyone know if Coffret Philippe Garrel: J'entends plus la guitare - Les Baisers de secours has English subtitles? It should be out now and I have not been able to track down any subtitle details.

Just about a year after my order I just received this email re: "Le Lit de la Vierge"

"Le Lit de la Vierge" is now available. Please confirm your order so
I can send it to you asap.

Thanks for your interest.
Best regards,

Gloria Morano
Re:Voir

David Ehrenstein wrote:

What makes it more twee/fey/nostalghic than, say, Garrel's Regular Lovers?

Regular Lovers is an overwhelmingly serious film about May 68 and its immediate aftermath by Someone Who Was Fucking THERE!!!!!

Yeah, I was just pointing out that that was another drive by criticism tossed in the mix which wasn't given its time. I love the Garrel film to death and wouldn't dream of attacking it, but I'm just looking for maybe a bit of info on the who, what, when, where, and why concerning the applause worth review.

I guess you just did at least give a few reasons in your LA Times column, which by the way has been really interesting.

Merci, M. H!

Garrel started making films around 1966 with Anemone, starring his then girlfriend Anemone -- who went on to film career of considerable interest. After that came several films with his next girlfriend, ZouZou -- who went on to star in Rohmer's Chloe in the Afternoon. His most import films until recently were of course with Nico -- their masterpiece being La Cicatrice Interieure.

Godard got to meet Garrel during May '68 when they were both out on the streets in the midst of all the action. They made the Cine-Tracts together. Godard went towards politics as never before in the wake of May '68 while Garrel moved away from it. Les Amant Reguliers deals with people who were involved in "the events of May" for personal rather than political reasons and were at loose ends once it was over. He doesn't sentimentalize their confusion and irresponsibility -- as exemplified by the fact that his son Louis (who's the spitting image of Dad) dies in the last reel. It's Garrel's way of burying his 60's self.

The gravity of Garrel's vision is quite beyond Wes Anderson. In my LAT column I provide a link to the dance sequence to "This Time Tomorrow" -- one of the high points of Garrel's film -- which is up on YouTube. The comparison to Anderson's use of the same song in The Darjeeling Limited is rather stark.

David, have you seen any of his more recent films like The Birth of Love or Wild Innocence? And i'm in total agreement with you about the use of the Kinks song, could you post a link to your LAT column?

Yes. I have them both on DVD. He is a Master. Here's a link to the entire LAT spectacular. The Friday posting contains links to the Garrel sequence and other things

David Ehrenstein wrote:The gravity of Garrel's vision is quite beyond Wes Anderson. In my LAT column I provide a link to the dance sequence to "This Time Tomorrow" -- one of the high points of Garrel's film -- which is up on YouTube. The comparison to Anderson's use of the same song in The Darjeeling Limited is rather stark.

I'll be sure and refresh the Garrel my memory before seeing Darjeeling, but it sounds like they're both going for completely different things. I'll have to see. I wonder if Anderson's aversion to using songs from the more political Kinks album Arthur or the Decline and Fall... has more to do with not wanting to make such a statement, or he just likes the Lola... songs better. For what its worth, I like Arthur more than anything else by them, with Lola coming in at a close second with only "Apeman" holding me back. one who knows The Kinks is seeing the light to God

A bit off topic, but anyone interested in Garrel should pick up the Re:Voir disc of The Virgin's Bed from 1969 no less (with english subtitles) which is available in France. Its a fantastic film, though I need more time to wrap my head around it.

You know, other than Les Amants Reguliers, which I think this thread has finally convinced me to go and check out, I can find so little info about his films, I can't help but ask about more info on Le lit de la vierge.

And as someone who desperately wants to see his work with Nico, can we please get back onto the topic of Wes Anderson or create a new thread or something. All this talk of films it may take years for me to see is quite depressing.

Oh Le Lit de la Vierge is excellent. it was the fist Garrel I saw. Pierre Clementi, Zouzou, and Tina Aumont with songs by Nico.

David Ehrenstein wrote:Oh Le Lit de la Vierge is excellent. it was the fist Garrel I saw. Pierre Clementi, Zouzou, and Tina Aumont with songs by Nico.

but whats the film "about"?

If you can find a copy (it's long out of print), my book Film: The Front Line -- 1984 (Arden Press) has a chapter devoted to Garrel.

I do believe it's available through my library, so I may just do that.

but whats the film "about"?

About 90 minutes. Clementi is Christ. Sort of. I'm not sure who ZouZou and the others are supposed to be.

David Ehrenstein wrote:

but whats the film "about"?

About 90 minutes. Clementi is Christ. Sort of. I'm not sure who ZouZou and the others are supposed to be.

Clementi as Christ? It's as if Garrel has plagiarized my dreams... say no more.

I also think I can get my hands on a vhs of La Cicatrice intérieure and Le Revelateur through my library. I'm guessing these are also a recommendation from you. But where to find a vcr these days?