Godard's Histoire(s) Du Cinema Finally Getting a Legit, Subtitled, Affordable Release!

Not sure what this is, but I definitely want to find out more! Sounds like it could be a very interesting release. Man, i really need to become region-free.

Everyone knows this is finally coming out on DVD, the real question is can someone confirm that the discs are actually subtitled in English.

If interest in Godard's film has inspired even a single person to go out & purchase a region-free DVD player, I'd consider that an accomplishment. As readers of Twitch are all-to aware, 90% of the movies worth watching are NOT region 1.

Aside from a brief notice in DVDBeaver and another in DVDRama, I am not aware that the release of Godard's Histoire(s) has received the kind of attention it deserves. It is one thing to announce that a DVD is coming out, quite another to explain why the release is a major event.

I will wager that the majority of critics haven't had the opportunity to see the film, as it has only been released at festivals.Yet dozens of books, articles, and interviews have been published over the past six or seven years relating to the film, a "compilation" Moments Choisis des Histoire(s) du Cinema, radio broadcasts, critical writings and public appearances by the director, not to mention several conferences attended by internationally renowned scholars devoted to discussion of Godard's most multi-layered and controversial work to date.The Japanese edition has been fitted out with the sources of some of the hundreds of references Godard alludes to in his uniquely free-associational way.

Gallimard released a 4-volume illustrated edition (972 pages) of the work back in '98, and ECM published an elegant 4-volume hardcover set including the soundtrack to the film on 5 CD's. This limited edition contains the entire text in French, English, and German. Michael Witt had this to say about Godard's work:
Beside the unusually wide range of roles often assumed by Godard-entrepreneur, director, performer, scriptwriter, dialogist, publicist-the most memorable qualities of his work are perhaps its poetic density, formal rigour and crystalline intensity. He goes on to quote Godard:

As a critic, I thought of myself as a filmmaker. Today I still think of myself as a critic, and in a sense I am, more than ever before. Instead of writing criticism, I make a film, but the critical dimension is subsumed...

(New Left Review 29, Sept./Oct 2004)

Describing his thoughts while viewing a "compilation" of the work at the Museum of Modern Art, Ronnie Scheib compares the experience to a sleepwalk through cinema's collective unconscious (08/03/2005).

Aside from the purely abstract, philosophical or esthetic questions, another enigma is that of the film's supposed violation of copyright laws. The film apparently had a brief existence on VHS, but as far as I know, it has long been out-of-print. It remains to be answered, why has a general release been delayed for so long, and what circumstances transpired to make distribution possible?

So evidently, the REAL questions go well beyond whether or no the discs will have English subs (I am awaiting a response from Gaumont). If the answer turns out to be no, numerous possibilities exist to acquire the English translation of the text.

If interest in Godard's film has inspired even a single person to go out & purchase a region-free DVD player, I'd consider that an accomplishment. As readers of Twitch are all-to aware, 90% of the movies worth watching are NOT region 1.

Aside from a brief notice in DVDBeaver and another in DVDRama, I am not aware that the release of Godard's Histoire(s) has received the kind of attention it deserves. It is one thing to announce that a DVD is coming out, quite another to explain why the release is a major event.

I will wager that the majority of critics haven't had the opportunity to see the film, as it has only been released at festivals.Yet dozens of books, articles, and interviews have been published over the past six or seven years relating to the film, a "compilation" Moments Choisis des Histoire(s) du Cinema, radio broadcasts, critical writings and public appearances by the director, not to mention several conferences attended by internationally renowned scholars devoted to discussion of Godard's most multi-layered and controversial work to date.The Japanese edition has been fitted out with the sources of some of the hundreds of references Godard alludes to in his uniquely free-associational way.

Gallimard released a 4-volume illustrated edition (972 pages) of the work back in '98, and ECM published an elegant 4-volume hardcover set including the soundtrack to the film on 5 CD's. This limited edition contains the entire text in French, English, and German. Michael Witt had this to say about Godard's work:
Beside the unusually wide range of roles often assumed by Godard-entrepreneur, director, performer, scriptwriter, dialogist, publicist-the most memorable qualities of his work are perhaps its poetic density, formal rigour and crystalline intensity. He goes on to quote Godard:

As a critic, I thought of myself as a filmmaker. Today I still think of myself as a critic, and in a sense I am, more than ever before. Instead of writing criticism, I make a film, but the critical dimension is subsumed...

(New Left Review 29, Sept./Oct 2004)

Describing his thoughts while viewing a "compilation" of the work at the Museum of Modern Art, Ronnie Scheib compares the experience to a sleepwalk through cinema's collective unconscious (08/03/2005).

Aside from the purely abstract, philosophical or esthetic questions, another enigma is that of the film's supposed violation of copyright laws. The film apparently had a brief existence on VHS, but as far as I know, it has long been out-of-print. It remains to be answered, why has a general release been delayed for so long, and what circumstances transpired to make distribution possible?

So evidently, the REAL questions go well beyond whether or no the discs will have English subs (I am awaiting a response from Gaumont). If the answer turns out to be no, numerous possibilities exist to acquire the English translation of the text.

I can't find the pre-order function at amazon.fr...Just a "notify me when it's ready" button.

Anyone have the skills?

Does anyone know the difference between the copy of this available at amazon.fr and the one available directly from gaumont.fr? Although the one at amazon clearly shows the Gaumont DVD logo on the cover, it appears to have completely different packaging to the one at Gaumont's online shop.

They appear to have different covers and different content listed.