129-130 / BD 58-59 Le Beau Serge & Les Cousins

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Drucker
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129-130 / BD 58-59 Le Beau Serge & Les Cousins

#1 Post by Drucker » Tue Dec 11, 2012 7:37 am

Le Beau Serge

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Gérard Blain and Jean-Claude Brialy star in the first of their collaborations with the great Claude Chabrol. The director's masterful feature debut—ironic, funny, unsparing—is a revelation: another of that rare breed of film where the dusty formula might be used in full sincerity: Le Beau Serge marks the beginning of "the Chabrol touch."

In this first feature film of the French New Wave, one year before Truffaut's The Four Hundred Blows, the dandyish François (Brialy, of Godard's A Woman Is a Woman, Rohmer's Claire's Knee, and countless other cornerstones of 20th-century French cinema) takes a holiday from the city to his home village of Sardent, where he reconnects with his old chum Serge (Blain), now a besotted and hopeless alcoholic, and sly duplicitous carnal Marie (Bernadette Lafont). A grave triangle forms, and a tragic slide ensues.

From Le Beau Serge onward up to his final film Bellamy in 2009, the revered Chabrol would come to leave a significant and lasting impression upon the French cinema - frequently with great commercial success. It is with great pride that we present Le Beau Serge, the kickstart of the Nouvelle Vague and of Chabrol's enormous body of work, on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK for the first time.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Gorgeous new Gaumont restoration of the film in its original aspect ratio, presented in 1080p HD on the Blu-ray
• New and improved English subtitles
• Original theatrical trailer
• A 56-minute documentary about the making of the film
L'Avarice [Avarice], Chabrol's 1962 short film
• A lengthy booklet with a new and exclusive essay by critic Emmanuel Burdeau; excerpts of interviews and writing by Chabrol; and more.


Les Cousins

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Made barely a year after Claude Chabrol's debut Le Beau Serge, Les Cousins featured the earlier film's same starring pair of Jean-Claude Brialy and Gérard Blain, here reversing the good-guy/bad-guy roles of the previous picture. The result is a simmering, venomous study in human temperament that not only won the Golden Bear at the 1959 Berlin Film Festival, but also drew audiences in droves, and effectively launched Chabrol's incredible fifty-year-long career.

In Les Cousins, Blain's character journeys from the country to Paris to crash at the luxurious flat of his worldly and decadent cousin, portrayed by Brialy, during the study period for an upcoming law exam which both have set out to undertake. It becomes clear soon enough that only one of the cousins is terribly committed to his work; as sexual promises and alcohol intervene, the set-up becomes untenable for the provincial,—and a tragic slide ensues.

A gripping and urbane examination of city and country, ambition and ease, Les Cousins continues to captivate and shock audiences with its brilliant scenario, the performances of Brialy and Blain, and the assuredness of Chabrol's precocious directorial hand. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Claude Chabrol's breakthrough film in a beautiful new Gaumont restoration on Blu-ray and DVD for the first time in the UK.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Gorgeous new Gaumont restoration of the film in its original aspect ratio, presented in 1080p HD on the Blu-ray
• New and improved English subtitles
• Original theatrical trailer
• A 47-minute documentary about the making of the film
L'Homme qui vendit la Tour Eiffel [The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower], Chabrol's 1964 short film
• A lengthy booklet with a new and exclusive essay by critic Emmanuel Burdeau; a new and exclusive translation of a rare text about actress Françoise Vatel provided for this release by its author, the filmmaker and critic Luc Moullet; excerpts of interviews and writing by Chabrol; and more.

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eerik
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Re: MoC Forthcoming, Wishlist and Random Speculation

#2 Post by eerik » Tue Dec 11, 2012 7:40 am

Drucker wrote:Will these be the same print from the Criterion Chabrols or an even newer restoration?
The same Gaoumont restorations that Criterion used.

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TMDaines
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Re: 129-130 / BD 58-59 Le Beau Serge & Les Cousins

#3 Post by TMDaines » Tue Dec 11, 2012 9:15 am

They don't have the commentaries though.

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Gregor Samsa
Joined: Sun Aug 06, 2006 4:41 am

Re: 129-130 / BD 58-59 Le Beau Serge & Les Cousins

#4 Post by Gregor Samsa » Tue Dec 11, 2012 10:03 am

They do have other extras, however. According to the twitter announcement,

Le Beau Serge has:
-A 56 minute doco about the film.
-Chabrol's short L'Avarice
-A lengthy booklet featuring a new and exclusive essay about the film by Capricci head/ex-Cahiers editor-in-chief Emmanual Burdeau.

Les Cousins has:
-A 47 minute doco on the film.
-Chabrol's 1964 short L'Homme Qui Vendit La Tour Eiffel
-A lengthy booklet including another new/exclusive essay by Emmanual Burdeau, writing by Jean Luc Godard, and a previously-unpublished in English essay by Luc Moullet, plus much more.

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domino harvey
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Re: 129-130 / BD 58-59 Le Beau Serge & Les Cousins

#5 Post by domino harvey » Tue Dec 11, 2012 11:09 am

Those two "shorts" (actually portmanteau film entries) are not very good, for what it's worth

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swo17
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Re: 129-130 / BD 58-59 Le Beau Serge & Les Cousins

#6 Post by swo17 » Tue Dec 11, 2012 1:40 pm

Yeah but do the Criterion spine numbers coincide with the years of original release?

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domino harvey
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Re: 129-130 / BD 58-59 Le Beau Serge & Les Cousins

#7 Post by domino harvey » Tue Dec 11, 2012 2:46 pm

It's a shame MoC didn't just release the whole of the World's Greatest Swindlers, because despite Chabrol's lackluster entry, it's one of the best portmanteau films of the sixties, with essential entries by Godard and Polanski. I know it's coming eventually from Olive, but who knows if it'll be on Blu or not

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swo17
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Re: 129-130 / BD 58-59 Le Beau Serge & Les Cousins

#8 Post by swo17 » Mon Mar 04, 2013 6:41 pm

Eureka Facebook wrote:Unfortunately there will be a small delay on the recently announced CHABROL titles. Both titles (LE BEAU SERGE & LES COUSINS) are now set to be released on 8 April 2013

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perkizitore
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Re: 129-130 / BD 58-59 Le Beau Serge & Les Cousins

#9 Post by perkizitore » Mon Mar 04, 2013 7:11 pm

It seems the delays plaguing British labels have started to affect MoC as well :P

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Gregor Samsa
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Re: 129-130 / BD 58-59 Le Beau Serge & Les Cousins

#10 Post by Gregor Samsa » Wed Mar 20, 2013 10:49 am

Blu-ray.com on Les Cousins.

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manicsounds
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Re: 129-130 / BD 58-59 Le Beau Serge & Les Cousins

#11 Post by manicsounds » Thu Apr 18, 2013 9:49 am

BlurayDefinition reviews Les Cousins and Le Beau Serge

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TMDaines
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Re: 129-130 / BD 58-59 Le Beau Serge & Les Cousins

#12 Post by TMDaines » Wed Oct 25, 2017 8:10 am

The documentary on Le Beau Serge disc is really good, Very informative about the origins of the French New Wave and Cahiers, and how these first films stemmed from that. I was on the fence for years about buying this or importing the Criterion for double the price. I am very glad that I went for this!

Why did no-one use the original poster for their Blu-ray cover? It's a beauty.

Image

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domino harvey
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Re: 129-130 / BD 58-59 Le Beau Serge & Les Cousins

#13 Post by domino harvey » Sat Aug 25, 2018 11:26 am

It appears that Le beau Serge is out of print and going for ~80 pounds already. It and Les cousins (which has not yet skyrocketed in price) have also been erased from the MoC site...

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