tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871549895931317151.post860799877550819149..comments2023-11-28T15:20:59.369-05:00Comments on Cinema Viewfinder: Blu-ray Review: Criterion's Vivre Sa Vie (1962) and Summer Hours (2008)Tony Dayoubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04632329277519635858noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871549895931317151.post-61894907591271319982010-04-26T08:52:02.023-04:002010-04-26T08:52:02.023-04:00Very true, Tony. Although it should be noted that ...Very true, Tony. Although it should be noted that even the New Wave directors didn't really preserve their polemical purity for too long, and in many respects the supposed rejection of the past that they've become known for was mostly a didactic stance advanced in essays rather than a real component of their filmmaking going forward. Certainly, Rohmer became the most classicalist of directors, in the best possible way, while the other New Wavers, to varying degrees, at least engaged with the past in their work. I've been reading Rohmer's book <i>The Taste for Beauty</i> lately, and I think it's interesting that he makes a point of including some lenghty introductory material in which he distances himself from some of the more extreme views of the <i>Cahiers</i> critics, basically saying that this stuff was a necessary rhetorical pose at the time and little more.Ed Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18014222247676090467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871549895931317151.post-57649768288428680462010-04-26T08:21:21.557-04:002010-04-26T08:21:21.557-04:00Hey Ed, nice to see you around these parts.
Maybe...Hey Ed, nice to see you around these parts.<br /><br />Maybe I should clarify my statement about the New Wave. I agree Assayas is conscious of Rohmer and other New Wave directors in his work on a <i>stylistic</i> level, indeed as you say "he also seems very conscious of French film history and his place in it." What I meant to say is that Assayas is not bound by the philosophical "idealism" of the New Wave's early days. His films are not a repudiation of classical French cinema. If anything, his films embrace it and French cinema's entire storied tradition.Tony Dayoubhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04632329277519635858noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871549895931317151.post-33365827165934313622010-04-25T21:00:34.803-04:002010-04-25T21:00:34.803-04:00A great piece about two films that I really love. ...A great piece about two films that I really love. <i>Vivre sa vie</i> is of course one of several peaks for Godard in the 60s, and <i>Summer Hours</i> is a delightful, subtle film that really impressed me when it came out.<br /><br />I'll also agree with Mike that, though <i>Summer Hours</i> is in some ways distinct from the New Wave's formal concerns, it is definitely a tribute to Rohmer (and Ozu, as well, as Sam notes). Moreover, Assayas in general is VERY much concerned with form and the boundaries between fiction and reality in ways that I'd call outright Godardian. <i>Irma Vep</i>, especially, even has outright references to the New Wave. I think Assayas is his own filmmaker with his own style, and I don't mean to imply otherwise, but he also seems very conscious of French film history and his place in it. I still have a lot more to see from him, but I already get the sense that <i>Summer Hours</i> is a bit of an outlier in his career in that respect.Ed Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18014222247676090467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871549895931317151.post-10502348035550105982010-04-25T16:30:48.627-04:002010-04-25T16:30:48.627-04:00Tony you are right about My Life to Live, even all...Tony you are right about My Life to Live, even all these years later it feels fresh and original. Certainly there is something of worth to be found in many of Godard's films, even if it is just to see that once upon a time someone had the courage to make them, but this film is just a masterpiece.<br /><br />But I think your interpretation of my calling Summer Hours minor is taken wrong here. It's minor in a good way; a quiet and introspective way. I called the film minor but I wouldn't want to to be major for if that were the case it would lose some of it's charm. However, on that note I'm not running out to see it again any time soon. I also find it interesting that you say Summer Hours is removed from the French New Wave when it feels to me like it could have fit nicely into Rohmer's season films or maybe on of the proverbs. Rohmer seems to be a more acurate point of comparison in terms of style and execution than the Bergman one Sam makes, but the Ozu one also does apply fully.The Taxi Driverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04352371911592068643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8871549895931317151.post-14659228708849098542010-04-25T11:27:42.378-04:002010-04-25T11:27:42.378-04:00Well Tony, this is certainly a timely piece as far...Well Tony, this is certainly a timely piece as far as I'm concerned, as just yesterday I finally placed an order for both these blu-rays as well as the Criterion RIDE WITH THE DEVIL by Ang Lee with amazon (almost $100 blown too! Ha!) and both the Assayas and the Godard films are essentials, in every sense. As I've stated on another thread in assessing SUMMER HOURS (which is one of the greatest films of recent years):<br /><br />Summer Hours pays homage to the great Ozu, in a year when more than one French director has honored the Japanese icon. As family members share a summer holiday in their uncle Paul Berthier’s rural house, elderly Hélène (Edith Scob) discusses the future with her son Frédéric (Charles Berling), an economist. Over the years, her brother amassed an extraordinary collection of furniture, pottery and artifacts, to say nothing of his own artwork and journals. But much of the collection, like the house itself, needs restoration that her children can’t afford.<br /><br />Frédéric’s brother Jérémie (Jérémie Rénier) is considering moving to China to work, while their sister Adrienne (Juliette Binoche), a designer, has been living in New York. Their decision about what to do with the estate is forced on them sooner than expected. Should they try to hold the collection together, or should they disperse their family heirlooms to museums and auction houses?<br /><br /> The basic plot synopsis makes Summer Hours seem like a stereotypical French film, one filled with wine, cigarettes and endless talk. But the themes Assayas raises have more widespread appeal. For example, each character approaches art in a different manner. For Eloïse (Isabelle Sadoyan), Hélène’s longtime housekeeper, a vase is simply an object of beauty; for Jérémie, it might finance his relocation, and further separation from his siblings. For Frédéric, it represents the history of his family, something he senses is slipping away. But how can one remain loyal to a family that no longer shares a purpose or direction? It's a fleeting elegy to the past, an acknowledgement of global change, of multi-national integration. (the ending with the partying teenagers in gateway to the present and future and a death knell to the past) It's a poignant examination of the value of the material things, of furniture, of paintings and decor, and these inform a general philosophy of life filtered through fractured familial relationships.<br /><br />Lastly, in the tradition of Ingmar Bergman it's about the encroahment of death, of of things left undone and unrealized, and of just how fleeting life is.<br /><br />Through poetic, indellibly lovely images Mr. Assayas imbues his universal story with a rapturous melancholy, beautifully lit with a classical palette, a perfect match for the high standards of Criterion.<br /><br />This will be a stellar blu-ray to add to the collection--perhaps the most distinguished for me so far in that sense among Criterions, and the Godard gem is ditto in that regard.Sam Julianonoreply@blogger.com