- Directors: Jean-Luc Godard
- Format: PAL
- Subtitles: English
- Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Number of discs: 3
- Classification: 18
- Studio: Artificial Eye
- DVD Release Date: 22 Sep 2008
- Run Time: 265.00 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B0015VI3DY
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 39,441 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
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Product Description
Jean-Luc Godard transformed the face of cinema with his prolific, influential and revolutionary body of work which includes such classics as 'Breathless', 'Weekend' and 'Slow Motion' to name but a few. His video series 'Histoire(s) du Cinema', consisting of eight episodes made over a period of ten years, is an extraordinary look at the medium through the eyes of this unique filmmaker. Hugely ambitious in scope, the series covers a wide range of topics from the birth of cinema to Italian neo-realism to Hollywood and beyond. A dazzling montage of sight and sound, 'Histoire(s) du Cinema' features a diverse array of film extracts, the voices of - among others - Juliette Binoche and Alfred Hitchcock, and an eclectic music soundtrack ranging from Beethoven to Leonard Cohen.
Product Description
United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: French ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), English ( Subtitles ), SPECIAL FEATURES: 3-DVD Set, Box Set, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: Jean-Luc Godard transformed the face of cinema with his prolific, influential and revolutionary body of work which includes such classics as Breathless, Weekend and Slow Motion to name but a few. His video series Histoire(s) Du Cinema, consisting of eight episodes made over a period of ten years, is an extraordinary look at the medium through the eyes of this unique filmmaker. Hugely ambitious in scope, the series covers a wide range of topics from the birth of cinema to Italian neo-realism to Hollywood and beyond. A dazzling montage of sight and sound, Histoire(s) Du Cinema features a diverse array of film extracts, contributions from - among others - Juliette Binoche and Alfred Hitchcock, and an eclectic music soundtrack ranging from Beethoven to Leonard Cohen. ...Jean-Luc Godard - Histoire(s) du cinéma - 3-DVD Set ( Histoire(s) du cinéma: Fatale beauté )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This is one of the most central works of the artist who un-matched in the history of the medium has pushed the very boundaries that have made cinema what it is. This massive work is a work to watch and enjoy, then watch again and again to get a subjective grasp of. The ideas that are put across in this DVD-set are some of the most interesting ideas on cinema ever produced.
This set is a must not only for all Godard fans but for anyone with any interest in the esscence of cinema. The ideas put across in this work will be of interest for years to come and this work is truly essential in the history of cinema and for cultural expression in any form - be it visual, audio, text or other.
This set is a must not only for all Godard fans but for anyone with any interest in the esscence of cinema. The ideas put across in this work will be of interest for years to come and this work is truly essential in the history of cinema and for cultural expression in any form - be it visual, audio, text or other.
10 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
As someone who has got through a fair chunk of French cultural output over the last 25 years, I hope I can add a counterweight to the admiration expressed here without being accused of ignorance. He doesn't "get away with" pretentiousness here, as an earlier reviewer says, as far as I'm concerned.
Histoires du Cinéma is very self-consciously arty, with a desperate desire to be unremittingly clever. It aims to show the viewer the kinds of stories that cinema tells with a stream of largely unidentified clips and stills interspersed with endless shots of Godard watching film and words like CINEMA in huge letters that fill the screen. I found it unwatchably busy and mine went in the bin.
This is of course my personal response to this particular work. I have seventeen of Godard's films and I do appreciate his qualities as a cinéaste. He's imaginative, innovative and steeped in cinematographic technique, so he's bound to appeal to cinema buffs. On the other hand, as a postmodernist, he doesn't believe that there is a vantage point from which a definitive version of a story could be told. I agree, but I like film-makers to try anyhow and to produce if not a definitive telling of the story, at least a good one. Godard tries to say profound things but when he succeeds, he cannot resist subverting his own work. Take for example Hélas Pour Moi, which I seem to appreciate more than most, where he repeatedly overlays important dialogue with other sound, like another person reading the same lines two or three seconds later or an aircraft, train or scooter passing. Those who rely on sub-titles may not realise how often he vandalises his own dialogue in this way.
Now, I realise that like any good French left-wing intellectual, he wants to shock the spectator out of, as he would see it, his or her bourgeois complacency, so irritation, subversion of expectation, pretension and self-advertisement are all part of Godard's stock-in-trade, but is he entitled to do this in what was supposed to be a documentary for television? I think Godard would have done better with less self-advertisement and other provocations, and more explanation.
Others reviewers have expressed their own views and they are as entitled to do so as I am. I am posting mine because buyers might well find that they are not getting what they thought they would in a documentary. At the time of writing, on Amazon France, there is a one-line favourable review from someone in Greece but no reviews at all from anyone in France, and nor were there for the previous videocassette. On the largest site of all, Amazon.com, there are no reviews at all. Potential buyers should be aware that the uncritical enthusiasm of some reviewers here does not seem to be widely shared.
Histoires du Cinéma is very self-consciously arty, with a desperate desire to be unremittingly clever. It aims to show the viewer the kinds of stories that cinema tells with a stream of largely unidentified clips and stills interspersed with endless shots of Godard watching film and words like CINEMA in huge letters that fill the screen. I found it unwatchably busy and mine went in the bin.
This is of course my personal response to this particular work. I have seventeen of Godard's films and I do appreciate his qualities as a cinéaste. He's imaginative, innovative and steeped in cinematographic technique, so he's bound to appeal to cinema buffs. On the other hand, as a postmodernist, he doesn't believe that there is a vantage point from which a definitive version of a story could be told. I agree, but I like film-makers to try anyhow and to produce if not a definitive telling of the story, at least a good one. Godard tries to say profound things but when he succeeds, he cannot resist subverting his own work. Take for example Hélas Pour Moi, which I seem to appreciate more than most, where he repeatedly overlays important dialogue with other sound, like another person reading the same lines two or three seconds later or an aircraft, train or scooter passing. Those who rely on sub-titles may not realise how often he vandalises his own dialogue in this way.
Now, I realise that like any good French left-wing intellectual, he wants to shock the spectator out of, as he would see it, his or her bourgeois complacency, so irritation, subversion of expectation, pretension and self-advertisement are all part of Godard's stock-in-trade, but is he entitled to do this in what was supposed to be a documentary for television? I think Godard would have done better with less self-advertisement and other provocations, and more explanation.
Others reviewers have expressed their own views and they are as entitled to do so as I am. I am posting mine because buyers might well find that they are not getting what they thought they would in a documentary. At the time of writing, on Amazon France, there is a one-line favourable review from someone in Greece but no reviews at all from anyone in France, and nor were there for the previous videocassette. On the largest site of all, Amazon.com, there are no reviews at all. Potential buyers should be aware that the uncritical enthusiasm of some reviewers here does not seem to be widely shared.
7 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Firstly, I think, it must be stated that this is not a conventional approach on the subject. "Thus spoke Godard" -strictly. Cannot predict how an 'average, innocent viewer' (i.e. unfamiliar with Godard's films, but perhaps charmed by his name) might react to this work.
I am not a member of the Anti-Godard League, not his fondest admirer neither. Mr Godard may consider this as an insult, or why would he care about my opinion, anyway: He's an entertainer, to me. I can't take Godard very seriously as a thinker.
Raoul Coutard (cinematographer, Godard's long-time collaborator) has said: "Often, Godard's films will confuse or bore the viewer senseless, but occasionally there are flashes of inspiration and inventiveness." Exactly. Histoire(s) du Cinema makes no exception. Playful, amusing, even hilarious at times. Yes, very interesting audiovisual collage.
But then, we should complete the Coutard quote: "...there are flashes of inspiration and inventiveness that still take cinema far beyond anything done by most of his contemporaries." That remains questionable, as some of the ideas emphasized in Histoire(s) du Cinema. Well, he does not contradict himself, at least.
I am not a member of the Anti-Godard League, not his fondest admirer neither. Mr Godard may consider this as an insult, or why would he care about my opinion, anyway: He's an entertainer, to me. I can't take Godard very seriously as a thinker.
Raoul Coutard (cinematographer, Godard's long-time collaborator) has said: "Often, Godard's films will confuse or bore the viewer senseless, but occasionally there are flashes of inspiration and inventiveness." Exactly. Histoire(s) du Cinema makes no exception. Playful, amusing, even hilarious at times. Yes, very interesting audiovisual collage.
But then, we should complete the Coutard quote: "...there are flashes of inspiration and inventiveness that still take cinema far beyond anything done by most of his contemporaries." That remains questionable, as some of the ideas emphasized in Histoire(s) du Cinema. Well, he does not contradict himself, at least.
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