Out this week on DVD: The Criterion Collection's essential box set 4 by Agnès Varda, featuring four great films by the French New Wave filmmaker, the eagerly awaited release of Lars Von Trier's madcap hospital horror series The Kindgom II and Romain Duris as Moliere.
1. 4 by Agnès Varda
Criterion Collection
French New Wave filmmaker Agnès Varda gets the Criterion treatment with this beautifully produced box set. The black and white Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962) is told in real time, capturing a troubled diva awaiting test results on a luminous summer day in Paris. The more enigmatic Vagabond (1985) stars Sandrine Bonnaire as an inscrutable young woman who chooses to be homeless. The set also includes Le Bonheur (1965) and La Pointe Courte (1956). Special features include a booklet with essays, making-of documentaries, video interviews, and the powerful short feature Rembrances, in which Varda herself reunites the cast of Cleo to reminisce about their experience making the film.
2. The Kingdom: Series Two
Koch Lorber
Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier is primarily known for his dark sensibility -- some call it sadism -- in such films as Dancer in the Dark and Dogville. He's also a gifted comedian. His TV series The Kingdom, about a hospital overrun with ghosts, is a kind of Danish answer to Twin Peaks. We fell in love with the first part back in 1997, but the sequel is only now being released in the U.S. by Koch Lorber in a 2-Disc DVD set. Spooky, bizarre, and thoroughly Lars.
3. Molière
In the style of Shakespeare in Love and Factotum, this endearing vehicle for Romain Duris conflates the great French playwright's life with his work. Writer and director Laurent Tirard uses an undocumented period in Molière's life to imagine the genesis of his play Tartuffe and have some fun with the classic comedy. Unrestrained by fact, the liberties taken by this approach are more shapely and palpable than the usual flabby biopic. With Ludivine Sagnier, Fabrice Luchini, Laura Morante, and Edouard Baer.
