Truly wonderful news!!
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Nouveaux Pictures have announced the UK Region 2 DVD release of writer-director Robert Bresson's Au Hasard Balthazar and Mouchette for 22nd November 2004. Priced at £19.99 each these titles are being made available on DVD for the first time in the UK, fully remastered from newly restored prints.
Taking man's inhumanity to man as its central theme, Au Hasard Balthazar traces the life of a donkey, christened Balthazar by a group of young children, from birth to death. Balthazar's story begins on a small farm in a rural district of France. Throughout his life he is owned by many of the locals, returning to some of them more than once, and is set various tasks, from drawing a carriage to performing in a circus, turning a grindstone to acting as a smuggler's means of transport. Some owners are kind, while others are cruel, their motives beyond Balthazar's understanding. Despite it all, Balthazar nobly accepts his fate of living a life over which he has no control.
Winner of the OCIC Award at the 1966 Venice Film Festival, the heartbreaking and magnificent Au Hasard Balthazar is deservedly considered to be Bresson's supreme masterpiece.
Nominated for the Palme d'Or and the winner of both the OCIC Award at 1967 Cannes Film Festival and the Pasinetti Award for Best Film at the 1967 Venice Film Festival, Bresson's most celebrated film, Mouchette is the perfect companion piece to "Au Hasard Balthazar". Adapted from the novel by George Barnanos, Mouchette tells the story of the alienated teenage girl of the title. Neglected by her terminally ill mother and her abusive, alcoholic father, Mouchette's chance encounter with a local hunter sets her on a downward spiral that can only end in tragedy. Inexorable, brutal and punishing Mouchette is the work of a world class filmmaker in his prime.
Special Features for each release include anamorphic widescreen presentation (16:9), Robert Bresson filmography, picture gallery and chapter index.
www.dvdtimes.co.uk
________________________
Nouveaux Pictures have announced the UK Region 2 DVD release of writer-director Robert Bresson's Au Hasard Balthazar and Mouchette for 22nd November 2004. Priced at £19.99 each these titles are being made available on DVD for the first time in the UK, fully remastered from newly restored prints.
Taking man's inhumanity to man as its central theme, Au Hasard Balthazar traces the life of a donkey, christened Balthazar by a group of young children, from birth to death. Balthazar's story begins on a small farm in a rural district of France. Throughout his life he is owned by many of the locals, returning to some of them more than once, and is set various tasks, from drawing a carriage to performing in a circus, turning a grindstone to acting as a smuggler's means of transport. Some owners are kind, while others are cruel, their motives beyond Balthazar's understanding. Despite it all, Balthazar nobly accepts his fate of living a life over which he has no control.
Winner of the OCIC Award at the 1966 Venice Film Festival, the heartbreaking and magnificent Au Hasard Balthazar is deservedly considered to be Bresson's supreme masterpiece.
Nominated for the Palme d'Or and the winner of both the OCIC Award at 1967 Cannes Film Festival and the Pasinetti Award for Best Film at the 1967 Venice Film Festival, Bresson's most celebrated film, Mouchette is the perfect companion piece to "Au Hasard Balthazar". Adapted from the novel by George Barnanos, Mouchette tells the story of the alienated teenage girl of the title. Neglected by her terminally ill mother and her abusive, alcoholic father, Mouchette's chance encounter with a local hunter sets her on a downward spiral that can only end in tragedy. Inexorable, brutal and punishing Mouchette is the work of a world class filmmaker in his prime.
Special Features for each release include anamorphic widescreen presentation (16:9), Robert Bresson filmography, picture gallery and chapter index.
www.dvdtimes.co.uk
