Maurice Pialat’s Van Gogh now issued on dvd/Blu ray

VAN GOGH (15) 1991 FRANCE    PIALAT,  MAURICE         £19.99 One of the greatest films by one of the finest directors of the second half of the 20th century, Maurice Pialat’s Van Gogh represents an ambitious and crowning achievement in its portrayal of the master painter’s final weeks of life, almost exactly one-hundred years earlier.

Van Gogh, depicted by the remarkable actor/songwriter-singer Jacques Dutronc (Godard’s Sauve qui peut (la vie)), has arrived at Auvers-sur-Oise to come under the care of Dr. Gachet (Gérard Séty) for his nervous agitation. Soon after the arrival of Vincent’s brother Théo (Bernard Le Coq) and his wife, plein air portraiture and conviviality give way to the more crepuscular moods of brothels and cabarets, and the painter’s anguished existence, tossing between money worries and an impassioned relationship with the doctor’s teenage daughter, finally meets its terminal scene.

With its loosely factual and wholly inspired treatment of the last period of Van Gogh’s life, Pialat’s film applies an impressionist touch to the biographical picture — indeed, the filmmaker was himself an accomplished painter, and the personal resonance of the subject matter results in an epic, major late work. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Maurice Pialat’s Van Gogh on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK, and also in a special two-disc DVD edition.

In French with English subtitles

SPECIAL BLU-RAY AND DVD EDITIONS

• Gorgeous new restoration of the film, appearing in 1080p on the Blu-ray

• New and improved optional English subtitles

• Van Gogh [1965] — a short, early documentary about the painter, by Maurice Pialat

• A 10-minute video interview with Pialat from 1991

• A 50-minute video interview with Pialat from 1992

• Video interviews with actors Jacques Dutronc and Bernard Le Coq; director of photography Emmanuel Machuel; and editor Yann Dedet

• Deleted scenes

• Original theatrical trailer

• 32-PAGE BOOKLET containing a new and exclusive essay by critic, filmmaker, and performer Sabrina Marques; Jean-Luc Godard’s letter to Pialat after seeing the film upon its initial release; excerpts from a lengthy 1991 interview with Maurice Pialat about the film; images of Pialat’s canvasses; and rare archival imagery.

DVD available to buy at – http://www.worldonlinecinema.com/Home/french-dvds