THE JACQUES DEMY COLLECTION: COMPLETE WORKS
complete 12-disc boxset
http://www.amazon.com/Jacques-Demy-Collection-Umbrellas-Indifferent/dp/B002RG6DRO
http://www.mondo-digital.com/demy.html
http://www.daaveedee.com/product_info.php?products_id=111361
http://www.arteboutique.com/detailProduct.action?product.id=322266
DVD Release Date: November 5, 2008
DVD Studio: Gaumont / Arte
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0218840/
ABOUT THE BOXSET:
Still one of the most overlooked and misunderstood directors of the French New Wave, Demy has always been regarded as more artificial and lightweight than many of his contemporaries like Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut. Fortunately time has proven his light-as-air, whimsical, and often fantastic universe to be far ahead of its time, perhaps one of the most complete, fascinating cinematic worlds created by one filmmaker.
An avid film fanatic and filmmaker from an early age, Demy quickly caused an international splash with his third and most beloved film, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, while most of his other output received only nominal theatrical releases outside France (if at all) and became maddeningly difficult to find even on home video or television.
Demy passed away in 1990, and by the end of that decade, his widow and fellow filmmaker, AGNES VARDA, undertook the restoration of some of his key films, beginning with a major overhaul and worldwide release of Cherbourg.
However, even today with occasional retrospectives popping up, his work after 1973 suffered from a lesser reputation and took an insane amount of effort to see, usually in poor copies without any English translation. Fortunately the dream task of compiling all of Demy's films in one handy package with English subtitles was finally undertaken in France by Arte Video, who somehow managed to untangle the endless licensing issues around his later films and presented the complete body of work in immaculate transfers as the Integrale Jacques Demy box set. And yes, they finally all have English audio and/or subtitles.
CONTENTS
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DISC ONE: FIVE SHORTS
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LE SABOTIER DU VAL DE LOIRE (1956, 26 min.)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048575/
ARS (1959, 18 min.)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0132683/
LA LUXURE (1962, 14 min.)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056467/
LES HORIZONS MORTS (8 min.)
no imdb link
3 PREMIERS COURTS METRAGE D'ANIMATION
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133111/
BONUS:
# Page Cinema : interview de J. Demy sur Les Sept peches capitaux (1962)
# L'univers de Jacques Demy. D'Agnes Varda (88 min.)
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DISC TWO
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LOLA (1961, 90 min.)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055093/
Black and White | 2.35:1 | French with optional English subtitles
A young man, Roland Cassard (Marc Michel) is letting his life waste away until he has a chance encounter with Lola (Anouk Aimee), a woman he used to know as a teenager before World War II and who is now a cabaret dancer.
MODEL SHOP (1969, 93 min.)
Color | 1.85:1 | English with optional French subtitles
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064679/
Within a 24-hour period a weary young architect drifts around LA, meets a beautiful French model, falls in love with her, and then helps her get back to France (with Anouk Aimee & Gary Lockwood).
BONUS:
# Les films vus par B. Jacquot, cineaste
# Cineastes de notre temps: J. Demy a propos de Lola (1964).
# Chronique cinema: J. Demy a propos de Model Shop (1969).
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DISC THREE
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LA BAIE DES ANGES (Bay of Angels; 1963, 90 min.)
Black and White | 1.66:1 | French with optional English subtitles
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056846/
Stars Jeanne Moreau as a middle-aged Parisian gambling addict who leaves her husband and children and heads for the roulette tables of Nice. There she meets young and handsome Claude Mann--a meeting which coincides with Moreau's first winning streak. She latches onto Mann in the belief that he's a good luck charm, and remains with him even when she starts losing heavily.
BONUS:
# Le film vu par Mathieu Demy.
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DISC FOUR
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LES PARAPLUIES DE CHERBOURG (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg; 1964, 91 min.)
Color | 1.66:1 | French with optional English subtitles
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058450/
Madame Emery and her daughter Genevieve (Deneuve) sell umbrellas at their little boutique in the coastal town of Cherbourg in Normandy, France. Genevieve is in love with Guy (Castelnuovo), a handsome young auto mechanic. Subsequently, though, Guy is drafted, and must leave to fight in the Algerian War.
BONUS:
# Extrait du documentaire "Il etait une fois les parapluies de Cherbourg".
# Presentation du film par Virginie Ledoyen, actrice.
=============
DISC FIVE
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LES DEMOISELLES DE ROCHEFORT (The Young Girls of Rochefort; 1967, 120 min.)
Color | 2.20:1 | French with optional English subtitles
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062873/
Musical of the romance of twin sisters in a provincial town who take part in a visiting fair.
BONUS:
# Le film vu par O. Ducastel et J. Martineau, realisateurs.
# Les demoiselles ont eu 25 ans d' Agnes Varda.
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DISC SIX
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PEAU D'ANE (Donkey Skin; 1970, 90 min.)
Color | 2.20:1 | French with optional English subtitles
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066207/
Based on a fairy tale by Charles Perrault (of Cinderella fame), the bizarre story concerns the king (Jean Marais) of a strange, enchanted land. Catherine Deneuve plays the dual role of the king's wife and daughter.
BONUS:
# Le film vu par R. Varda, J.P. Berthome
# La princesse en chemise
# Le petit Peau d'Ane illustre.
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DISC SEVEN
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LE JOUEUR DE FLUTE DE HAMELIN (The Pied Piper; 1972, 90 min.)
Color | 1.66:1 | English with optional French subtitles
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069086/
Depiction of the 14th century as a muddy, backward, superstitious, disease-ridden, vermin-infested era transforms this fable into a squalid tale of revenge. Starring Donovan, Donald Pleasance, John Hurt.
BONUS:
# Le film vu par V. Vignet, petit fils de J. Demy.
# Documents INA – Le journal du cinema: Jacques Demy Le joueur de flute.
=============
DISC EIGHT
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LADY OSCAR (1979, 124 min.)
Color | 2.35:1 | English with optional French subtitles
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077827/
The costume epic based on a Japanese comic book, directed by a noted French filmmaker, and features a primarily British cast. Oscar (Catriona MacColl) is a young woman whose father, a career military man, wanted a boy. Rather than surrender to his disappointment after she was born, Father took to dressing Oscar in boy's clothes and raising her in a masculine fashion.
BONUS:
# Le film vu par E. Lever, historienne.
# Sur le tournage de Lady Oscar, A. Coiffier, directeur de production du film, raconte.
=============
DISC NINE
=============
LE BEL INDIFFERENT (The Indifferent Lover; 1957, 29 min.)
Color | 1.33:1 | French with optional English subtitles
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0132722/
A very personal adaptation of the play Cocteau had written for Edith Piaf in the early years of WWII, about an obsessional woman pining for her love.
LA NAISSANCE DU JOUR (Break of Day; 1980, 90 min.)
Color | 1.33:1 | French with optional English subtitles
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133113/
Based on Colette's autobiographical novel, concerning her gradual acceptance of growing old.
BONUS:
Les films vus par A. Varda
=============
DISC TEN
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UNE CHAMBRE EN VILLE (A Room in Town; 1982, 90 min.)
Color | 2.20:1 | French with optional English subtitles
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084843/
In the style of an operetta, like director Jacques Demy's more famous film the Umbrellas of Cherbourg, this melodramatic story is set in Nantes in 1955 and centers around the tragedies of three or four intertwined lives.
BONUS:
# Le film vu par G. Vaugeois, critique et producteur.
# Autour de la sortie du film par G. Vaugeois.
# Document INA - Cinema, cinemas: J. Demy tourne une chambre en ville.
=============
DISC ELEVEN
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L'EVENEMENT LE PLUS IMPORTANT DEPUIS QUE L'HOMME A MARCHE SUR LA LUNE
(A Slightly Pregnant Man; 1973, 92 min.)
Color | 1.66:1 | French audio or English audio with optional French subtitles
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070960/
Marcello Mastrioanni plays the title character, and, yes, he's in "the family way."
PARKING (1985, 91 min.)
Color | 1.85:1 | French with optional English subtitles
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089775/
Jacques Demy's homage to Jean Cocteau's 1948 masterwork Orpheus. Now a rock'n'roll sensation (instead of the poet of the Cocteau film) Orpheus falls in love with Eurydice, who in this version is a sculptress rather than a princess.
BONUS:
# L'evenement... vu par M. Colmant, journaliste.
# Parking par J.P. Berthome, auteur d'un livre sur Jacques Demy.
# Documents Ina - Alsace Soir FR3: tournage du film Parking.
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DISC TWELVE
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TROIS PLACES POUR LE 26 (Three Seats for the 26th; 1988, 98 min.)
Color | 2.35:1 | French audio or English audio with optional French subtitles
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096309/
Yves Montand, playing himself, arrives by train in the city where he spent his adolescence to star in an autobiographical musical.
BONUS:
# Le film vu par A. Varda, R. Varda et M.Demy.
# Jacques Demy et l'arbre gemeau, documentaire.
===========================
Format: PAL
DVD Size (total): 71.8 GB (12xDVD9) - Exact Untouched Copy
Time (total): 1800 minutes
Type: Black and White | Color
Aspect Ratio: various (all OAR)
Sound (main features): French | English
Subtitles: optional English | French
===========================
Posted in: a.b.dvd.classics
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