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Le Beau Serge & Les Cousins Coming To Blu-ray From Eureka

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  • Le Beau Serge & Les Cousins Coming To Blu-ray From Eureka

    As a Chabrol fan, I'm excited to see this happening as Eureka have a pretty great track record. With that said, I'd rather see domestic releases as all of these imports are starting to hurt my wallet! From Blu-ray.com by way of Eureka's press release:

    British distributors Eureka Entertainment have officially announced and detailed their upcoming Blu-ray releases of director Claude Chabrol's Le Beau Serge (1958) and Les Cousins (1959). The two releases will be available for purchase online and in shops across the United Kingdom on March 25th.

    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 400 Blows, the dandyish Franí§ois (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.

    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.

    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 Franí§oise Vatel provided for this release by its author, the filmmaker and critic Luc Moullet; excerpts of interviews and writing by Chabrol; and more.
    Rock! Shock! Pop!

  • #2
    I've had these on preorder for a while now, along with Eureka's impending release of LA NOTTE. The preorder price was good (£11, as I recall) but I don't think they can be found so cheaply now. Really looking forward to seeing them: I haven't seen either film for a very long time.
    'You know, I'd almost forgotten what your eyes looked like. Still the same. Pissholes in the snow'

    http://www.paul-a-j-lewis.com (my photography website)
    'All explaining in movies can be thrown out, I think': Elmore Leonard

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    • #3
      Surely these are the same transfers Criterion released in 2011?

      If so, they're going to be worth every penny Paul.

      Both are finely-tuned emotional suspense films. There isn't enough Chabrol on blu-ray. All those Pathfinder DVDs of his 1960s and 1970s films need to be completely redone.
      Richard--W
      a straight arrow
      Last edited by Richard--W; 02-25-2013, 03:23 PM.
      "I've been to college, but I can still speak English when business demands it."
      - Raymond Chandler, 1939.

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      • #4
        Ian, Criterion has already released both of these: LE BEAU SERGE and LES COUSINS and confirmed in an email to a criterionforum.org member that LA NOTTE will be released this year.

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        • #5
          Yeah, I realized after I posted this CC put them out. Need to get these at the next B&N half price sale.

          Are those documentaries in the extras the same I wonder? Kind of hard to tell.
          Rock! Shock! Pop!

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          • #6
            I don't know. According to the Criterionforum review, the doc on LE BEAU SERGE is 52 minutes. Both of the Criterions have commentary tracks while the MoCs do not, but both MoCs have docs (only Criterion's LE BEAU has a doc) , short films (that according to members of the criterionforum aren't very good) and bigger (?) booklets.

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            • #7
              I ended up with the DVD versions of the Criterions when they came out about 2 years ago. They are both fantastic films, that play very well off each other, I did enjoy the Cousins a tad bit more, however.
              EuroCultAV Reviews

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