Region 1 Zeitgeist (USA)
NTSC, 1.66:1 windowboxed
83/98 minutes
Audio: DD 2.0 mono French
Subtitles: Optional English
Extras: press-books excerpts; lobby cards; “Philippe Garrel, Artiste”; trailers
Released: 26 May 2009
Philippe Garrel is one of the enfants terribles of French cinema. He certainly looks the part, what with his shock of unruly hair. His movies are filled with raw emotions arising from disappointment--especially the disappointment of being let down by loved ones.
Zeitgeist Films brought us Garrel’s Regular Lovers not too long ago, and that movie is now joined by two more in the Philippe Garrel X 2 set. This release includes Emergency Kisses and I Can No Longer Hear the Guitar. Zeitgeist labeled I Can No Longer Hear the Guitar as Disc One, though I encourage you to watch Emergency Kisses first to preserve chronological order. The two movies don’t share the same narrative continuum, but linear chronology allows you to inhabit Garrel’s frame of mind during this period in his career.
In Emergency Kisses, Garrel and his family (including his wife and parents) play versions of themselves. A director is making a movie based on his life, but he doesn’t want to cast his wife as the character based on her. I Can No Longer Hear the Guitar was inspired by Garrel’s relationship with the German singer Nico, whose bohemian ways eventually became inhospitable to a man who sought normality.
Both movies feature several long takes that impress because you come to admire the focus that the filmmakers brought to the table. The camera operators didn’t let their minds wander, and the actors either remembered several-minutes worth of lines and cues or ad-libbed so transparently that they wholly inhabited their characters. This is true even of Johanna ter Steege and Benoit Regent in I Can No Longer Hear the Guitar, although they didn’t have the benefit of playing themselves as the Garrel clan did with Emergency Kisses.
Both movies are highly autobiographical in nature, though the depth of feeling is universal. The movies have story-specific situations, but these set-ups are recognizable under different circumstances. For example, one can easily empathize with the director’s wife in Emergency Kisses because many of us know what it’s like to be mystifyingly left out of a family activity while a stranger takes your place.
Video:
The 1.66:1 windowboxed images are fairly sharp and detailed as far as non-anamorphic presentations go, though print damage is noticeably pervasive. Also, it looks like these transfers were taken from PAL sources (you’ll see ghosting and jagged edges from time to time). The black-and-white Emergency Kisses mostly fares better than the color I Can No Longer Hear the Guitar as black-and-white tends to fade less than color, so oddly, the “newer” (by two years) movie seems dated while the black-and-white is timeless.
Audio:
The low-key DD 2.0 mono French tracks are competent, efficient, and serviceable without calling any attention to themselves (which is a good thing). Any deficiencies, such as pops or hiss, are few and far between. Dialogue is generally intelligible, though sometimes street noises interfere with understanding if you’re relying solely on your ears.
Extras:
--Emergency Kisses--
“Philippe Garrel, Artiste” is the big extra in this set. This is a TV documentary made for the French TV series Cinema, de notre temps, which covers much of Garrel’s career up to 1999.
You also get excerpts from a press book printed around the time of the movie’s release and lobby cards (cardboard photos displayed in theatre lobbies).
--I Can No Longer Hear the Guitar--
Pickings are a bit slim here as you get excerpts from a press book printed around the time of the movie’s release, lobby cards, and two trailers.
--Miscellaneous--
A glossy insert foldout provides an excellent discussion of both movies by Richard Brody, chapter listings, and DVD production credits. The transparent keepcase allows you to read film production credits printed on the reverse side of the cover art.
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