Beim australischen Label Madman Films steht am 17. März die Veröffentlichung dreier Filme von Jean Renoir auf DVD an. Besonders die Ausstattung von “Partie de campagne” – Renoirs unvollendetem Film – kann überzeugen. Dieser Film ist 2003 in Großbritannien vom BFI inklusive eines Audiokommentars von Philip Kemp veröffentlicht worden. Die anderen beiden Filme sind bei Criterion auf DVD erhältlich.
17. März 2010
“Eine Landpartie / Partie de campagne” [F 1936, Jean Renoir]
Jean Renoir’s heralded masterpiece Une Partie de Campagne almost never saw the light of day. Now, Renoir’s adaptation of Guy Maupassant’s short story is recognised as one of the filmmaker’s finest creations.
On an idyllic day in the country, a family, consisting of a father, mother, their daughter Henriette and her fiance Anatole gather for a restful picnic. Against all her best judgement, Henriette finds herself succumbing to an all-too-brief romantic encounter which leaves her subtly yet undeniably changed.
In Une Partie de Campagne, Renoir creates a lyrical and bittersweet hymn to the beauty and majesty of nature.
DVD Special Features
- Un Tournage à la Campagne – a feature length documentary on the making of the film
- La Direction d’acteur par Jean Renoir – a revealing demonstration of Renoir’s working method
- Audio Commentary by Anna Dzenis, Lecturer in Cinema Studies, La Trobe University and Rick Thompson, Senior Lecturer in Cinema Studies, La Trobe University
- Insert booklet by Ian Johnston, film writer whose work has appeared in THE FILM JOURNAL and BRIGHT LIGHTS FILM JOURNAL
17. März 2010
“French Can Can / French Cancan” [F / I 1954, Jean Renoir]
Jean Renoir takes a look back at the formation of Paris’ iconic Moulin Rouge dance hall in this colourful and light-hearted romp.
French superstar Jean Gabin plays Henri Danglard, a theater producer burdened with a flailing cafe in which the star attraction is his belly-dancing mistress, Lola. Desperate to turn his finances around, Danglard ventures into Montmartre, where the old-fashioned cancan is still danced. Here he happens upon a lovely washerwoman, Nini, in whom he sees a star on the rise…and a conquest. But as Lola’s jealousies mount and Nini’s emotional dependence becomes almost overbearing, the opening performance of the Moulin Rouge is threatened. Will the show go on?
DVD Special Features
- Audio commentary by Anna Dzenis, Lecturer in Cinema Studies, La Trobe University and Rick Thompson, Senior Lecturer in Cinema Studies, La Trobe University
17. März 2010
“Weiße Margeriten / Elena et les hommes / Elena and her Men” [F / I 1956, Jean Renoir]
Renoir’s classic comedy of spectacle and political hijinks stars the gorgeous Ingrid Bergman as Elena, a Polish princess who drives the men wild.
Elena believes she was born to be the guardian angel of great causes and great men who are yet to be discovered. It is only when men need her that she is interested in them, abandoning them when they have accomplished their career goals. After encountering the dashing Henry de Chevincourt, to whom she feels an attraction, Elena is introduced to General François Rollan, who has just been appointed Minister of War. But the General is bait for some conniving politicians who wish to turn the hero into a dictator, and so Elena must put her feelings for Henry aside in order to come to the aid of the General…and France.
Bergman has never been so luminous and charming than in this, Renoir’s classic farce of politics, romance and patriotism.
DVD Special Features
- Audio commentary by Adrian Martin, Senior Research Fellow, Film and Television Studies, Monash University and co-editor of ROUGE magazine www.rouge.com.au
