578 The Complete Jean Vigo

[Michael]

The Complete Jean Vigo



Even among cinema’s greatest legends, Jean Vigo stands alone. The son of a notorious anarchist, Vigo had a brief but brilliant career making poetic, lightly surrealist films before his life was cut tragically short by tuberculosis at age twenty-nine. Like the daring early works of his contemporaries Jean Cocteau and Luis Buñuel, Vigo’s films refused to play by the rules. This set includes all of Vigo’s titles: À propos de Nice, an absurdist, rhythmic slice of life from the bustling coastal city of the title; Taris, an inventive short portrait of a swimming champion; Zéro de conduite, a radical, delightful tale of boarding-school rebellion that has influenced countless filmmakers; and, of course, L’Atalante, widely regarded as one of cinema’s finest achievements, about newlyweds beginning their life together on a canal barge. These are the endlessly witty, visually adventurous works of a pivotal film artist.

DISC FEATURES

• New high-definition digital restorations of all four of Jean Vigo's films, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks on the Blu-ray edition
• Audio commentaries featuring Michael Temple, author of Jean Vigo
• Score for À propos de Nice by Marc Perrone, from 2001
• Alternate edits from À propos de Nice, featuring footage cut by Vigo
• Episode of the French television series Cinéastes de notre temps about Vigo, from 1964
• Conversation from 1968 between filmmakers François Truffaut and Eric Rohmer on L'Atalante
• Animated tribute to Vigo by filmmaker Michel Gondry
• Les voyages de "L'Atalante," film restorer and historian Bernard Eisenschitz's 2001 documentary tracking the history of the film
• Video interview from 2001 with director Otar Iosseliani on Vigo
• New and improved English subtitle translations
• PLUS: A booklet featuring new essays by critics Michael Almereyda, Robert Polito, B. Kite, and Luc Sante

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[Gregory]

What was the original title for L' Atalante when it was released in 1934 shortly after Vigo's death? Was it L' Atalante or Le Chaland Qui Passe? Or was the title changed after the film was butchered and released the second time?

According to the P.E. Salles Gomes biography of Vigo, L'Atalante was previewed one morning in April 1934 for studio representatives, cinema owners, distributors and critics. Vigo had already agreed to one significant change in the version shown at that screening: substantial cuts in the scenes of Pere Jules looking for Juliette. Nevertheless, the cinema owners and distributors disliked the film. A few reviews, one good but others extremely harsh, appeared following the screening.
This, combined with Vigo's failing health meant that the studio could do whatever they wanted with the film. They cut it to bits, inserted a song that was a popular hit at that time ("Le Chaland qui Passe") and changed the title accordingly. It began its first run in September '34 in that form, and was still a commercial failure. Vigo's death fueled the argument over what had been done to L'Atalante and there was increased interest in seeing the controversial filmmaker's final work as he had intended it. Thus the film was reconstituted for its second run (which was its Paris premiere) as L'Atalante, and was also shown in England, and elsewhere.
In the Filmmakers of our Times episode on Jean Vigo there's a very moving (to me) part in one of the interviews when one of the people who worked on L'Atalante tells of visiting Vigo in the hospital after seeing Le Chaland and felt the right thing to do was to tell him what had been done to their film. Vigo, who knew he was dying by then, said (paraphrasing) "I suppose it was stupid of me to have given so much of myself for this film." His tireless work on L'Atalante had hastened his death. It was also the work of someone in great pain, who knew it would probably be his last chance to complete a film. This makes all the cuts and changes before its public premiere that much more tragic, but to me it also makes being able to see it today in something like Vigo's preferred form a great triumph.

[godardslave]

has anyone seen the 90 minute documentary included on aritifical Eye's vigo collection?

is it good?

[Gregory]

Yeah, that's the Filmmakers of Our Times episode I referred to in my post. It consists of interview footage and clips from the films and is well worth seeing. That Jean Vigo release is probably my most prized R2 DVD.

[Michael]

Vigo's film was named two different French titles and I was puzzled.
Many, many thanks to Gregory for explaining this. The information is fascinating enough for me to search for the Gomes book. L' Atalante is truly among the most luminous, rare gems.

[Gregory]

My pleasure. The book was written almost 50 years ago and sadly remains one of the only studies of Vigo available in English. (I can read French when I'm determined but not very rapidly!) It can be found cheaply at sites like Half.com.
Have you seen any of the short films, Micheal? They're playful and stunning. In some ways the earlier films that Vigo devised reveal his creative process in an entirely different way than L'Atalante, which was the result of drastically reworking a story given to him that he didn't think was very good in its original form.

[Michael]

The only short film I saw was Zero de Conduite. Utterly beautiful and surprising.

When the boys rip apart their pillows and the feathers fly everywhere, when the boys form to march (done in an almost dreamy style)..this entire sequence is one of the greatest moments of all cinema. I cry every time I watch it..what a liberating feeling!

Plus I'm immeasurably impressed with how Vigo handles his characters.. so richly human without reducing them to fit in categories. I would love to see anyone's thesis on Jules' sexuality in L' Atalante.

[souvenir]

If I'm reading this correctly, Michel Gondry says he designed the DVD cover for L'Atalante

[HerrSchreck]

=========================================================
(Just a little caulking to keep the drippings oozing offa the above post from hitting Max.)

Almost skeeving the interpretive nature of art now.

Dave -- do you have a portable All-Male Porno Kinema Grindhouse that you haul around to view every...?.. o forget it.

The A Eye discs are absolutely fantastic, perhaps the greatest single release devoted to a single filmmaker, bar none. And as I've said before seeing the full episode of the CINEASTE NOTRE TEMPS devoted to Vigo illustrates, in one's inability to choose material as "inferior" to be edited out, the crime the CC commits when they chop these brilliant episodes up into excerpts for their discs.

The story of LATALANTE as recounted by greg above is basically accurate from what I've heard.. as the distributors/cine-owners who saw the film thought it was quite raunchy and that the photography was off-puttingly gloomy. They simply thought it was bizarre... the "gloomy" part always kills me as no film ever-- and I mean ever-- made me laugh as hard as LATALANTE. I had a sore throat for days afterwards.

So much begins, and ends, with LATALANTE. This is a film which is completely inimitable (less so, though similar, to ZERO, which, being less structured, linear, and polished, to me resembles the cut-up pastiche's, to some degree anyhow, of avant garde's like Epstein (think GLACE A TROIS FACES) or even Kirsanoff, as well as the surrealists). Inimitable like all the best pieces of art are-- inimitable: how could you possibly break LATALANTE into a style? A repeatable style? Impossible. We rarely if ever discuss innovations resident in the film-- i e the uniqueness lies not in some wild new use of the moving camera, or beautifully arranged static shots of painterly import.

The film is inspirational.. inspires one to try and create a uniquely personal masterpiece of one's own. You watch it, and if you're wise-- the kind of wisdom that would be equally well-advised if one were similarly looking to mine the work of other completely inimitable masters like Sturges or the Lubitsch of TROUBLE IN PARADISE-- if youre wise you know not to attempt to cop cinematic riffs from it. You hope to follow your own nose and do what these men did-- create a completely unique piece of work, entirely of one's own original pedigree. But if one doesn't have an atomic sized interior life, have jokes that one is always telling one's self, a charismatic commmentary that one is always feeding one's own head with, an ongoing conversation with one's self which warps & recolors the data that one takes in, causing all that comes back out to bear that uniquely individual stamp-- if the filmmaker is not if this pedigree, and yet tries to write in bold self-referential strokes via the example of Vigo or others similarly brilliant... that filmmaker is going make himself look like the biggest asshole on the face of the earth. (Unless of course the planet is filled with nothing but similarly self-appointed "divo's"... christalmighty... then of course one blends right in as he flops while swishing grandly through hotel lobbies, chin up, hair nicely teased, proclaiming Bushlike, that his wisdom will become manifest in 50 to 100 yrs as the world catches up with your wisdom... just like jean Vigo.).

Yeah right. But for those rare gems out there, it also helps to have a real rare gem of a producer like Vigo had, Lou Nounez, men with old fashioned, gallant, selfless belief and dedication to genuine, rarest art.. who place a higher premium on midwiving this kind of work than making several million dollars over the course of 24 months. And do so without mummering paranoia of interference with the artist, constantly poking his nose into his work, but trusting & giving the man room to breath and create something dazzling. As L.N. did with Vigo. Erich Pommer in his glory days running from Decla-to-the UFA of the early to mid-20's was another such producer. Nebenzal, in moments.

Everyone appreciates an approving audience, and it's a shame that Vigo wiped himself out on this film, which, as far as he knew, defeated his physical frame without any public reward. The guy was tubercular, and he obliterated himself working in the freezing-- and from all accounts it was one of the coldest winters Paris had seen inna long time-- depths of midwinter, shooting the vast chunk on location, and outdoors... and on the water.

[Anonymous]

I am mad about Vigo - such a tragic early death, despite which he must rank at the very top of French cinema with Renoir and Gremillon.

and with Autant-Lara, Becker and the French films of Ophüls.

Vigo was indeed a master. I'm obsessed with "L'Atalante", one of the most beautiful and tender of all films. "Zéro de conduite" is also very fascinating. Makes a great double feature with Lindsay Anderson's "If...."

I'm very happy with my Artificial Eye Vigo collection. Decent transfers of magnificent films.

[cdnchris]

The Complete Jean Vigo



Even among cinema’s greatest legends, Jean Vigo stands alone. The son of a notorious anarchist, Vigo had a brief but brilliant career making poetic, lightly surrealist films before his life was cut tragically short by tuberculosis at age twenty-nine. Like the daring early works of his contemporaries Jean Cocteau and Luis Buñuel, Vigo’s films refused to play by the rules. This set includes all of Vigo’s titles: À propos de Nice, an absurdist, rhythmic slice of life from the bustling coastal city of the title; Taris, an inventive short portrait of a swimming champion; Zéro de conduite, a radical, delightful tale of boarding-school rebellion that has influenced countless filmmakers; and, of course, L’Atalante, widely regarded as one of cinema’s finest achievements, about newlyweds beginning their life together on a canal barge. These are the endlessly witty, visually adventurous works of a pivotal film artist.

DISC FEATURES

- New high-definition digital restorations of all of Jean Vigo’s films: À propos de Nice, Taris, Zéro de conduite, and L’Atalante (with uncompressed monaural soundtracks on the Blu-ray edition)
- Audio commentaries featuring Michael Temple, author of Jean Vigo
- Alternate shots from À propos de Nice, featuring footage Vigo cut from the film
- Animated tribute to Vigo by filmmaker Michel Gondry
- Ninety-minute 1964 episode of the French television series Cinéastes de notre temps on Vigo, directed by Jacques Rozier
- Conversation from 1968 between filmmakers François Truffaut and Eric Rohmer on L’Atalante
- Les voyages de “L’Atalante,” Bernard Eisenschitz’s 2001 documentary tracking the history of the film
- Video interview from 2007 with director Otar Iosseliani on Vigo
- New and improved English subtitle translations
- PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by film writers Michael Almereyda, Robert Polito, B. Kite, and Luc Sante

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[HerrSchreck]

Just grab the AEye COMPLETE Vigo... it can't be beat, and knowing CC they'll probably butcher the sublime episode of CINEASTE NOTRE TEMPS that's on that gorgeous set.

NICE & ZERO are as good as it gets-- it's that simple!!

[Matt]

Does it make sense that they'd appear in the same Criterion release?

Each is under an hour in length. I think they'd have to be released together or Criterion would have to do a Night and Fog with each - special low price, single title releases. HVE released Zero de conduite years ago on VHS, but no Criterion DVD followed, even though there is no shortage of supplementary material to include on any Vigo release.

Criterion may just be at a loss on how to release Vigo's other films without the "jewel in the crown" that is L'Atalante. New Yorker won't be giving up L'Atalante any time soon. I believe they own the US distribution rights to the restored version (that is to say, they didn't license them).

[denti alligator]

Yes, the AE Vigo set is one of those truely ESSENTIAL DVDs. However, if CC can bring some cool extras and perhaps a good commentary to the shorts, I'd jump at the chance to double-dip. Zero is sublime!

Criterion may just be at a loss on how to release Vigo's other films without the "jewel in the crown" that is L'Atalante.

I think a set of the 3 shorts without L'Atalante would easily stand on its own, especially since so much attention is usually given to the feature-length film. Criterion shouldn't hesitate.

[HerrSchreck]

Laughing my fucking ass off. Lord I almost fuckin pissed some.

Christ started drinking early...

The greatest purposeful nonsequitor of the year in my book.

[brunosh]

Would that be the seasonal Santa-'n'-Tango?

[Gregory]

I never do this, but: This thread should not be here. Everything in it could have gone in either "Random Speculation," the thread on Vigo in "Old Films" forum, or in one of the threads for gibberish. As it is now, it got my hopes up for actual news of something.

[Tribe]

No, Zero for Conduct is listed in the non-speculative thread and there is a new print showing at the link I posted...

[Gregory]

We already knew about Zero for Conduct being part of the Janus 50th Anniversary, so it's really not news. New Janus prints usually get added to the Forthcoming Criterion List, and then don't get their own thread until there are actual developments on the DVD front. And A Propos de Nice and Atalante were random speculation, right?

[Tribe]

And A Propos de Nice and Atalante were random speculation, right?

That is right...the point of the thread was if anyone had seen the new print and to solicit commentary.

[Gregory]

A question mark has been added to the thread title, so that's good enough for me.

[Cold Bishop]

Alright, so I see the New Yorker dvd at the library, and suddenly I'm spurred with the urge to rewatch it. Granted, I've been wanting to get the AE release for some time, but by HerrShreck's recommendation, I decide to see this one more time, if for no other reason to get the more "complete" translation and see the documentary once more before I buy the otherwise wonderful sounding Vigo set, and live with it for the rest of my life. Yet, as I watched it two things bothered me...

After Jean climbs back on board, the old man and the cabin boy try to cheer him with music, but he wanders off and, in a heartbreaking shot, embraces a block of ice as if it is his love.

Juliette is played by Dita Parlo, a legendary Berlin-born actress who made 22 films between 1928 and 1939, and one more in 1965. Her other famous role was as the farm woman who takes in the escaped convicts in Renoir's "Grand Illusion" (1937). Madonna's book Sex was inspired, she said, by Parlo in "L'Atalante." Garboesque in the pale refinement of her face, she seems too elegant to be an untraveled country girl, but that quality works when it is set beside Michel Simon's crusty old Jules.

Simon, not yet 40 when the film was made, looks 60, weathered by salt air and pickled in seaport saloons. Inspired by the sight of the two young lovers kissing, he has his best moment when he demonstrates how he can wrestle, too--and grapples with himself on the deck, while Vigo dissolves between exposures to make him into two lonely ghosts fighting for possession of the same body.

Attempts to restore Vigo's original version of L'ATALANTE were made in 1940 and 1949, and those efforts produced the only versions of the film that have been visible until recently. (The first of these versions premiered in the United States in 1947 on a double bill with ZERO DE CONDUITE ) But in 1989, a few years after repurchasing all the surviving L'ATALANTE material in France, including some outtakes, Gaumont decided to do a more thorough Job of restoration and located a nitrate version with the original title (but without the final shot or the excised material of Jules looking for Juliette) at the British Film Institute's National Film Archives. What they aimed for was not a duplication of the version screened on 25 April 1934, but something much trickier— a restoration of Vigo's original intentions based on his notes. Thus a series of short overlapping dissolves punctuating Père Jules's comic demonstration of “Greco-Romanâ€

[HerrSchreck]

These shots apparently were on the old vhs of the film.. a friend described those scenes to me and Ive still never seen them. They didn't make it into the "final" restoraation for reasons I'm still not clear about. I just always assumed there was a reason having to do w what was assumed to be Vigos original intentions, as "ascertained" by the restoration team responsible for the latest cut. Remember this film has been thru a number of "restorations" over the past couple decades.

But youre not missing anything on the Aeye imagewise by watching the nyer. It's a port of the same beta used on AEye. Just different optional subs & extras.

[Cold Bishop]

These shots apparently were on the old vhs of the film.. a friend described those scenes to me and Ive still never seen them. They didn't make it into the "final" restoration for reasons I'm still not clear about. I just always assumed there was a reason having to do w what was assumed to be Vigos original intentions, as "ascertained" by the restoration team responsible for the latest cut. Remember this film has been thru a number of "restorations" over the past couple decades.

But youre not missing anything on the Aeye imagewise by watching the nyer. It's a port of the same beta used on AEye. Just different optional subs & extras.

I realize that, yet according to Rosenbaum, the dissolves were in the notes, and two shots seem far to Vigo-esque and in keeping with the poetry of the rest of the film for me to believe that they weren't intended by Vigo.

[HerrSchreck]

I'm with ya buddy-- I'm not der schnitt-er.. I'm just telling you what's on the Aeye vs the NYer.. they're dupes so you're not missing anything from the Aeye by watching the NY'er... except for every other film Vigo made and some of the greatest extras around.

I don't understand why those excised superimpositions were not at least included as extras, at very least. The same friend who saw that vhs of the previous resto told me there was some joke line about it being as "cold as a witches tit" which reminded me of Pynchon's silly little ditties in V or GR "Ohh, it'sssss-- Colder than a nipple on a witches tit... (etc)"