TF1 Video and MK2 have revealed that they are planning to release two films directed by François Truffaut: Jules et Jim a.k.a Jules and Jim (1962), starring Jeanne Moreau, Oskar Werner and Henri Serre, and Le dernier métro a.k.a The Last Metro (1980), starring Catherine Deneuve, Gérard Depardieu and Jean Poiret. Both film are expected to street in France on September 12th.
Note: In the U.S. The Last Metro is already available on Blu-ray, courtesy of Criterion. See the Blu-ray.com review here. Jules and Jim is currently available only on DVD, again courtesy of Criterion.
Jules and Jim
Hailed as one of the finest films ever made, legendary director François Truffaut's early masterpiece Jules and Jim charts the relationship between two friends and the object of their mutual obsession over the course of twenty-five years. French film icon Jeanne Moreau stars as Catherine, the alluring and willful young woman whose enigmatic smile and passionate nature lure Jules (Oskar Werner) and Jim (Henri Serre) into one of cinema's most captivating romantic triangles. An exuberant and poignant meditation on freedom, loyalty and the fortitude of love, Jules and Jim was a worldwide smash upon its release in 1962 and remains as audacious and entrancing today.
The Last Metro
Gerard Depardieu and Catherine Deneuve star as members of a French theater company living under the German occupation during World War II in François Truffaut's gripping, humanist character study. Against all odds - a Jewish theater manager in hiding; a leading man who's in the Resistance; increasingly restrictive Nazi oversight - the troupe believes the show must go on. Equal parts romance, historical tragedy, and even comedy, The Last Metro is Truffaut's ultimate tribute to art overcoming adversity.
Jules and Jim was the movie that turned me on the the Criterion Collection, art-house movies, and the French New Wave. My prediction for 2012 was that Criterion would release it on blu-ray this year; so far, they've only done The 400 Blows and The Last Metro on blu-ray. This is great news as hopefully this means Criterion will also release a blu-ray upgrade later this year or early 2013.
