Éric Rohmer on DVD and BD

[Aunt Peg]

Another update on the Rohmer boxset:

Tried to watch My Night at Mauds in my preferred player and just like Pauline at the Beach it would not play. This is not a case of a machine 'not liking a disc or vice versa' like I thought may be the reason Pauline at the Beach wouldn't play either because I watched The Aviators Wife & The Green Way less than 6 months ago.

I did check My Night at Mauds (just like Pauline at the Beach) in two other players and it played fine. And of course I watched the film without any problems using one of the other players.

All my Rohmer Blu Rays have a dark ring forming around the central ring. The ring is not as bad as Danton and other films from 2011 that have now completed failed (mainly Gaumont releases - all pressed by QOL).

Anyway, I've ordered the Arrow set and will continue to watch the rest of the collection (over the years I have watched a number of the films) and at least I'll still have the DVDs.

I'll report any further problems I find with the boxset.

[domino harvey]

I watched my copies from the set of Été, Automne, Hiver, Rendez-vous, Duc, and Triple Agent earlier this year and all played fine, if that's any reassurance for you going forward. I didn't bother to play any of the titles replicated in the Arrow set though

[soundchaser]

Is there a good set out there right now that collects the Four Seasons films? The Potemkine Blu-Ray set appears to be OOP; there’s a German set that may not have English subtitles. Should I just go with the Artificial Eye DVDs, as much as it would pain me?

[fmea]

Is there a good set out there right now that collects the Four Seasons films? The Potemkine Blu-Ray set appears to be OOP; there’s a German set that may not have English subtitles. Should I just go with the Artificial Eye DVDs, as much as it would pain me?

According to the Potemkine website, the blu/dvd dual format box set is not OOP (€39.90). Shipping (assuming you're in the U.S.) is really expensive, currently.

The German blu box set (ArtHaus) only has German subtitles, according to the StudioCanal website.

Potemkine released a dvd-only box set in Oct. 2019, which I'm guessing has better pq than the 2006 Artificial Eye box.

(The Tale of Four Seasons is essential Rohmer, as far as I'm concerned.)

[Rupert Pupkin]

Do you have by any chance some links to some captures for the ArtHaus Rohmer German blu-ray box which has just been released ?
I have read at amazon.de a positive post regarding the transfer and bitrate.

I wonder what is the master used for this box set... a duplicate of the Potemkine master or a new restoration ? (like Arrow did for their "incomplete" Blu-Ray box set (which more HD details, better grain, and sometimes different ratio).
By the way, is there some hope that Arrow release their own box set with their own restoration for "The Tale Of Four Seasons" aka les Contes des Quatre saisons. (I agree, IMHO this is as essential as the Morale Tales. Always a joy to see the solar "Conte d'été" (which is almost on the verge (not a French play-on-words) to switch into Mektoub my love; or when Rohmer did ahead of his time the MTV-clip and the unforgettable digital camera opening of "A Winter Tale" with the lovely Charlotte Véry (she is also in "Blue" by K.Kielowski)

could it be the Potemkine master ? (the transfer for the 4 movies were great IMHO (I had bought a long time ago the Potemkine box set)
I'm intrigued by the StudioCanal logo on the German box set. I don't remember a StudioCanal on the German box set.
As far as I can remember, regarding the "Contes des Quatre Saisons" transfer, Potemkine did not mess up with the picture ratio and the encoding was good.
And there was before the Potemkine release a Japanese release on blu-ray (official, not bootleg) but probably digitally remastered because the picture was far to be as good as the Potemkine blu-rays.

[fmea]

No, don't have any additional information regarding the Arthaus blu-ray box for 4 Seasons. If that set had English subs, I probably would have purchased it from Amazon de. What's a little curious is that Arthaus released 4 Seasons in both blu and dvd format, but for Comedies and Proverbs and 6 Moral Tales, only dvd editions. (There's no StudioCanal trademark on the box, but the Arthaus brand is owned by StudioCanal.)

[Rupert Pupkin]

apparenly there is a new restoration around ? with the German box set of "Contes des Quatre Saisons" :

here is "A Tale of Autumn" - so far "A Tale Of Summer" and "A Tale Of Winter" (my 2 favorite movies from this quatuor are not on caps-a-holic)

I'm really surprised by the color grading which is significantly different and above all by the zoom in for the StudioCanal version.
What happened? Did they change the ratio ? it's still 1:33 but it's zoom in (not like, let's say, Pauline à la plage which was a 1:33 transfer (thus, more on the top and bottom (no pun intended) on the Potemkine box set, whereas Arrow release the proper theatrical ratio 1:66)

https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?d1=15930&d2=15929&c=6051

I would be curious and a bit frightened to see the ratio for "A Summer's Tale" which should be 1:66.
Did someone already saw the Janus Criterion via streaming ?
I had resell my Potemkine box set and rebought the Arrow box set, then the Moral Tales Criterion box set.
I saw the German box set of the "Contes des quatre saisons" last year, but thought it was just a Potemkine re-release through this StudioCanal/German box set.

[Cardiffian]

I couldn't see this mentioned anywhere else on the forum: The Four Seasons in a region free Blu Ray set. World Cinema Library WCL MLIFE DISK KINO.

I can't find any details on this other than the ebay listing. Anyone know anything about this release / distributor?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334054489720 ... Swcy1gROEv

[mhofmann]

I got the German box set today, and it looks like at least three, maybe all four films are contained in their recent new restorations.

A Tale of Springtime and A Tale of Winter are in 1.66:1, while A Summer's Tale and An Autumn Tale are in 1.33:1.

A Tale of Winter looks the roughest of the four, with fairly chunky (and somewhat managed/reduced) grain even though it was shot on 35mm according to IMDb. It makes me doubt whether it's actually a new restoration. At least the color scheme is warmer compared to the Potemkine release.
The other three films are clearly coming from new restorations.

[soundchaser]

I'm almost positive Conte d'hiver was shot on 16mm, or at the very least a mix of 16mm and 35mm. That grain you mentioned is just far too thick otherwise.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

I couldn't see this mentioned anywhere else on the forum: The Four Seasons in a region free Blu Ray set. World Cinema Library WCL MLIFE DISK KINO.

I can't find any details on this other than the ebay listing. Anyone know anything about this release / distributor?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334054489720 ... Swcy1gROEv

This is a Chinese company that puts out crazy expensive limited editions with lavish packaging and booklets (in Chinese); there's a dedicated thread for them here. I bought this set not knowing that Janus had acquired these for U.S. distribution and that Criterion will no doubt be doing their own set with a lower price and English-friendly extras. I haven't watched any of them yet, but I'm sure they're the same restorations that Janus used.

(To give an idea of what "lavish packaging" means in this case: all four films come in individual plastic cases with separate slipcovers, which are in turn enclosed in a sturdy outer case that even has artwork printed on its interior surface.)

[MichaelB]

I'm almost positive Conte d'hiver was shot on 16mm, or at the very least a mix of 16mm and 35mm. That grain you mentioned is just far too thick otherwise.

It was insanely grainy in cinemas.

[yoloswegmaster]

This is hardly definitive proof but according to this article by Sean Burns, he states that Conte d'hiver was shot on 16mm.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

This is from the Rohmer entry in the "Conversations with Filmmakers" series:

A Winter's Tale was filmed in Super 16mm, because it was winter and we needed a grey tone, and also because of ease: we were shooting in a lot of different locations (streets, buses, crowds, cars, in the suburbs, in Paris, in Nevers, in small flats, and at the theatre).

[mhofmann]

This is from the Rohmer entry in the "Conversations with Filmmakers" series:

A Winter's Tale was filmed in Super 16mm, because it was winter and we needed a grey tone, and also because of ease: we were shooting in a lot of different locations (streets, buses, crowds, cars, in the suburbs, in Paris, in Nevers, in small flats, and at the theatre).

Makes sense - I know Rohmer has been shooting various of his films on 16mm.
Then I think it's very possible they also used a new restoration for the German disc, which kind of makes more sense than to re-grade an older master.

[Cardiffian]

This is a Chinese company that puts out crazy expensive limited editions with lavish packaging and booklets (in Chinese); there's a dedicated thread for them here. I bought this set not knowing that Janus had acquired these for U.S. distribution and that Criterion will no doubt be doing their own set with a lower price and English-friendly extras. I haven't watched any of them yet, but I'm sure they're the same restorations that Janus used.

(To give an idea of what "lavish packaging" means in this case: all four films come in individual plastic cases with separate slipcovers, which are in turn enclosed in a sturdy outer case that even has artwork printed on its interior surface.)

Thanks for the info. It's a little out of my price bracket right now, but looks like an amazing collection.

I've opted for the Potemkine 'Contes des Quatres Saisons' French Region B set which I found at a reasonable price. That, along with Arrow's 'The Éric Rohmer Collection' covers most of his later output; now hoping the earlier ones get a UK Region B release. Criterion UK are yet to release 'Six Moral Tales' in their UK collection.

[GaryC]

Criterion UK are yet to release 'Six Moral Tales' in their UK collection.

Criterion may not have the rights - Artificial Eye's 2010 Moral Tales DVD box set is still in print. God knows if they will ever put it out on Blu-ray.

[Black Hat]

Have problems ever been reported with the blurays in the old Potemkine box set? Put on The Marquis of O blu for the first time and it freezes at the Agnes B. screen. Tried two others and it worked fine.

Also, what's the correct runtime on Marquise? It's listed everywhere as 102 but, on the Potemkine DVD it's 98 minutes.

[Rayon Vert]

It's supposed to be 102 on the Arrow.

[mhofmann]

Have problems ever been reported with the blurays in the old Potemkine box set? Put on The Marquis of O blu for the first time and it freezes at the Agnes B. screen. Tried two others and it worked fine.

Yes, they're hit-and-miss and there seem to be quite a few problematic discs in circulation in these sets. Low-quality pressing, maybe. Who knows.

I also had a few discs that didn't read correctly a few years back, so while the set was still in stock, I ordered another one from Amazon, picked a working set of discs, and sent the other set back. I first tried reaching out to Potemkine, but they never reacted to my email (plus reminder) to customer support.

[Matt]

Re: problems with the set — there are several reported upthread from starting about 5 years ago. Start with dominoharvey’s post from 5/5/18 (#391)