Jean-Luc Godard's - Week End - DVD Review Weekend Jean-Luc Godard Week End DVD Review Weekend Jean-Luc Godard Week End DVD Review Weekend Jean-Luc Godard Week End DVD Review Weekend Jean-Luc Godard Week End DVD Review Weekend Jean-Luc Godard Week End DVD Review Weekend Jean-Luc Godard Week End DVD Review Weekend Jean-Luc Godard Week End DVD Review Weekend Jean-Luc Godard Week End DVD Review Weekend Jean-Luc Godard Week End DVD Review Weekend Jean-Luc Godard Week End DVD Review Weekend Jean-Luc Godard Week End DVD Review Weekend

(aka "Weekend" or "Le Week-end")

France 1967

In "Week-end", Corinne and Roland, a young, affluent, Parisian married couple, embark on a weekend trip to Corinne’s parents’ home in Oinville, with the purpose of obtaining her dying father’s inheritance. They each plan to kill the other, once in possession of this lot, as we hear them promise their respective lovers. Their journey is interrupted by endless traffic jams, car accidents, and their own car wreckage. Without their car, they get lost in the forest and struggle to get a ride to the south of France.

When they finally arrive in the country, Corinne’s mother refuses to share the wealth, and the couple, without hesitating, murders her. On their way back to Paris, Corinne and Roland are captured by the FLSO (Liberation Front of Seine and Oise), a band of cannibalistic, hippie guerillas. The guerrillas, who ignore the millions offered by the couple in exchange for their freedom, kill and cook Roland together with other captured English tourists. In the end, Corinne joins the band and eats her husband.

Jean-Luc Godard’s "Week-end", released in 1967, is the last film the director made before France was seized by the student uprising and general strike of May 1968. Outrage at the effects brought about by accelerated modernization was peaking. The revolutionaries of the May Movement revolted against the myth that under their capitalist system, economic growth brings a betterment for the society as a whole. Instead, as seen through Week-end’s traffic jam, in a system based on competition where every man is for himself, people respond violently to maintain their differences and the consequences are negative for everybody.

Excerpt from Monika Wagenberg (from Brutal Optimism in a Primitive Civilization) located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: December 29, 1967

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DVD Comparison:

Artificial Eye - Region 2 - PAL vs. New Yorker - Region 1 - NTSC

Big thanks to Henrik Sylow for the Artificial Eye captures!

(Artificial Eye - Region 2 - PAL LEFT vs. New Yorker - Region 1 - NTSC RIGHT)

DVD Box Cover
Distribution	Artificial Eye Region 2 - PAL	New Yorker Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime	1:39:32 (4% PAL speedup)	1:39:39 (not converted)
Video	1.62:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 6.63 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	1.62:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 6.66 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate
Bitrate
Audio	2.0 Dolby Digital French	2.0 Dolby Digital French
Subtitles	English, None	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Artificial Eye Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.62:1 Edition Details: • Interview with Raoul Coutard (18:56) • Mike Figgis on 'Weekend' (23:19) • Biographies on Godard, Coutard, Figgies and McCabe DVD Release Date: February 28, 2005 Keep Case Chapters 11	Release Information: Studio: New Yorker Video Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.62:1 Edition Details: • Audio Commentary by Critic David Sterritt • Interview with Raoul Coutard (18:56) • Mike Figgis on 'Weekend' (23:19) • Biographies on Godard, Coutard, Figgies and McCabe • Two page liner notes essay by Sterritt DVD Release Date: August 23rd, 2005 Keep Case Chapters 24

Comments

Unfortunately New Yorker have used the Artificial Eye transfer but have not converted it first to the NTSC standard and hence there are all the associated deficiencies of that practice - ghosting, loss of sharpness and artifacts. The NY'er is also a bit dimmer than the Artificial Eye which has bright beautiful colors. Neither edition is extensively cropped.

In both releases audio is the original mono and does sound like an old transistor radio at times, basically no bass, all distant. But again, this is how the film sounds. There is some slight background noise in both editions. Steritt also gives a nice short essay included as some liner notes in the NY'er package.

The big improvement in the NY'er is the audio commentary by David Sterritt which is absent in the Artificial Eye. True Godard fans will want this feature as it goes into further detail about the film and Godard the man.

The shared video extras offer two perspectives on "Week End". One by an interview of Coutard by Godard biographer Colin McCabe, which is a bit weak, and a great reflection on the film by Mike Figgis, who talks about the film as a film.

Many may not find the image differences a viable reason for the PAL purchase and to get the commentary you must buy the NY'er.

- Henrik Sylow and Gary Tooze

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(Artificial Eye - Region 2 - PAL LEFT vs. New Yorker - Region 1 - NTSC RIGHT)