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S E A R C H    D V D B e a v e r

(aka 'My Life to Live' or 'It's My Life')

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/direct-chair/godard.htm
France 1962

 

Vivre sa vie was a turning point for Jean-Luc Godard and remains one of his most dynamic films, combining brilliant visual design with a tragic character study. The lovely Anna Karina, Godard’s greatest muse, plays Nana, a young Parisian who aspires to be an actress but instead ends up a prostitute; her downward spiral is depicted in a series of discrete tableaux of daydreams and dances. Featuring some of Karina and Godard’s most iconic moments—from her movie theater vigil with The Passion of Joan of Arc to her seductive pool-hall strut—Vivre sa vie is a landmark of the French New Wave that still surprises at every turn.

Posters

Theatrical Release: September 20th, 1962

Reviews                                                      More Reviews                                               DVD Reviews

 

Comparison:

 Fox Lorber - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray vs. BFI - Region 'B' - Blu-ray

Box Cover

Coming to Blu-ray in the UK by Criterion in February 2023:

Distribution Fox Lorber Home Video - Region 0 - NTSC Criterion Collection - Spine # 512 - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BFI - Region 'B' - Blu-ray
Runtime 1:23:21  1:23:50.066

French: 1:23:48.815

British: 1:23:49.107

Video 1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: 6.6 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s

Disc Size: 48,789,670,860 bytes

Feature Size: 24,823,246,848 bytes

Average Bitrate: 35.14 Mbps

Dual-layered Blu-ray MPEG-4 AVC Video 1080P

Disc Size: 48,942,147,647 bytes

French Size: 20,121,596,160 bytes

British Size: 20,122,068,288 bytes

Average Bitrate: 27.99 Mbps

Dual-layered Blu-ray MPEG-4 AVC Video 1080P

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Bitrate: DVD

Bitrate: Criterion  Blu-ray

Bitrate: BFI (French)  Blu-ray

Bitrate: BFI (British)  Blu-ray

Audio French (Dolby Digital 2.0) 

LPCM Audio French 1152 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1152 kbps / 24-bit
Commentary:

Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps

LPCM Audio French 1152 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1152 kbps / 24-bit
Commentary:

Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps

Subtitles English, None English, None English, None
Features

Release Information:
Studio: Fox Lorber

Aspect Ratio:
Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1

Edition Details:

• Production Credits
• Filmographies and Awards

DVD Release Date: June 10th, 2000

Keep Case
Chapters: 12

Release Information:
Studio: Criterion

Aspect Ratio:
Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1

Disc Size: 48,789,670,860 bytes

Feature Size: 24,823,246,848 bytes

Average Bitrate: 35.14 Mbps

Dual-layered Blu-ray MPEG-4 AVC Video 1080P

Edition Details:

• Audio commentary featuring film scholar Adrian Martin

• Video interview with film scholar Jean Narboni, conducted by historian Noël Simsolo (45:15)
• Television interview from 1962 with actress Anna Karina (11:05)

• Excerpts from a 1961 French television exposé on prostitution

• Illustrated essay on La prostitution, the book that served as inspiration for the film

• Stills gallery

• Director Jean-Luc Godard’s original theatrical trailer
• 42-page liner notes booklet featuring an essay by critic Michael Atkinson, interviews with Godard, a reprint by critic Jean Collet on the film’s soundtrack, and Godard’s original scenario

Blu-ray Release Date: April 20th, 2010
Thicker transparent
Blu-ray Case
Chapters: 12

Release Information:
Studio: BFI

Aspect Ratio:
Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1

Disc Size: 48,942,147,647 bytes

French Size: 20,121,596,160 bytes

British Size: 20,122,068,288 bytes

Average Bitrate: 27.99 Mbps

Dual-layered Blu-ray MPEG-4 AVC Video 1080P

Edition Details:

• Audio commentary by Adrian Martin
• Leslie Hardcastle introduces Vivre sa vie at the National Film Theatre (2:28, 1980, audio only)
• Anna Karina in conversation with Alistair Whyte(1973): long unseen archival interview filmed by the University of London Audio Visual Centre (36:15)
• Three short films by Jean-Luc Godard: Tous les garçons s'appellent Patrick aka Charlotte et Veronique (1957, 20:28 in 1080P); Une Histoire d'eau (1958, 12:15 in 1080P); Charlotte et son jules (1958, 13:13 in 1080P)

• Trailer (2:21 in 1080P)
• 22-page fully illustrated booklet with new essays and full film credits

Blu-ray Release Date: August 24th, 2015
Custom
Blu-ray Case
Chapters: 13

 

 

 

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: BFI - Region 'B' Blu-ray - August 2015: BFI have two versions of the film on their dual-layered Blu-ray. We get the British and the French versions. To be honest - I can't tell much difference beyond the start where the British version has the "Censor Certification" title card and the award and 'dedication' in English (see below) aka 'English language intertitles'. Although I haven't examined extensively - I don't know what other differences are there. The running times only differ by less than a second.  Both are in French and offer optional English subtitles (see samples.) The image quality seems exact between the two and only a very slight edge going to the, more technically robust, Criterion transfer. If the two films on the BFI are not that different, why not seamlessly branch them? I will look into it. Regardless, I'd say the a/v (same linear PCM mono for audio) is the same on both editions (BFI and Criterion) or so slight only a very discerning eye would notice.

NOTE: (response): "You are right to say it is not a different cut, or at least one with extra (or less) material … However it is different, and not just at the start... The 12 intertitles that introduce each chapter/tableaux in Nana’s life, are also in English, and the intertitles of PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC are also different. These were scanned from the original 35mm duplicating negative of the British theatrical version held by the BFI National Archive (as is explained in the ‘About the Presentation’, part of the accompanying booklet). We thought it was worthwhile including this alternative presentation, as it is how British Audiences would have originally seen the film. We compared the two versions, and found no other differences, so we just scanned these parts.

Furthermore, to address your question as to why we didn’t use seamless branching… When you seamlessly branch stuff, the bitrate has to match around the splice points. Since the splice points are all white text on black cards, we were going from something like 1mbps up to 30mbps. The solution was to elongate the sections, rather than splice on black, make the cut point 10 seconds or so earlier… The trouble is, this film has a ton of very long shots without cuts. In the end, we were replicating so much footage that it made more sense just to fully encode the film twice… With two encodes we maintain a bit-rate of 28mbps-30mbs for each version, thanks to the space on a BD5, so there is absolutely no discernible loss.
"

Even the differences have some parity with the same, excellent, audio commentary by Adrian Martin but BFI add a lot more starting with a brief audio introduction from 1980 (offered on both versions) by Leslie Hardcastle at the National Film Theatre, a 36-minute, long unseen archival interview filmed by the University of London Audio Visual Centre of Anna Karina in conversation with Alistair Whyte from 1973 and three short films by Jean-Luc Godard: Tous les garçons s'appellent Patrick aka Charlotte et Veronique (1957, 20:28 in 1080P); Une Histoire d'eau (1958, 12:15 in 1080P); Charlotte et son jules (1958, 13:13 in 1080P) plus a trailer (2:21 in 1080P). The package has a 22-page fully illustrated booklet with new essays and full film credits. It's a wonderful release - region "b"-locked fans should indulge and even those with region freedom in 'A' should consider for the supplements and, maybe, the British version if I can ascertain some significant differences.

***

ADDITION: Criterion - Region 'A' Blu-ray - March 2010: Like so many important works of cinema it seems easy to forget it's greatness until you simply revisit - and then this film's beauty comes rushing forward like a tidal wave.

Compared to the, decade old, Fox/Lorber DVD the Criterion image is lighter and hence shows more detail in the background of many scenes. It loses the significant chroma, but I did not some faint instances - or my eyes where playing tricks. Long and short of it this is a fabulous improvement - even more so in motion than the static screen captures sample comparisons will indicate. Detail and grain visibility appear to be two of the most notable beneficiaries of the move to 1080P. The damage/speckles are greatly limited. The bitrate of the progressive, dual-layered Blu-ray is just under 6X that of the single-layered DVD - and depending on the system it will show vast to dramatic improvement in the visuals.

Criterion remain faithful to the original French mono with a lossless linear PCM track at a modest 1152 kbps. It was taken from the optical tracks and cleaned - it sounds very good - certainly better than I have ever heard before although, expectantly, there is nothing dynamic about it. Like all the composer's music, Michel Legrand's score is emotionally penetrating and is wonderful to hear in this 'perfect' format. As usual, there are expertly rendered, optional, English subtitles and my Momitsu has identified it is being Region 'A'-locked.

Criterion have done the title up right with extensive extras including the 2001 audio commentary from scholar Adrian Martin. Like all his work, this covers extensive ground in a professional and expert manner with his Aussie accent - in short, a perfect and knowledgeable adjunct to the viewing for cinephiles and novices alike. Next come a 45-minute, 2004, video interview with film scholar Jean Narboni, conducted by historian Noël Simsolo - in French with English subtitles followed by a neat 11-minute interview from April 1962 with actress Anna Karina from the French Television show Cinepanorama. This takes place a few months prior to the releases of Vivre sa vie which would announce the actress to world cinema notoriety. Then we get some excerpts from a 1961 French television exposé on prostitution entitled Faire face (21:48) and an illustrated essay on La prostitution (1959) with the former having those in the justice system commenting on the practice - and the latter book serving as an inspiration for Godard to make the film. There is also an impressive Stills gallery and director Jean-Luc Godard’s original theatrical trailer. Criterion have included a 2-page liner notes booklet featuring an essay by critic Michael Atkinson, interviews with Godard, a reprint by critic Jean Collet on the film’s soundtrack, and Godard’s original scenario.

I LOVED re-watching this film after so many years - I truly believe it to be my favorite Godard and this Blu-ray gets our highest endorsement. Purchase with extreme confidence!

***

ON THE Fox/Lorber DVD: Probably one of the better Fox Lorber DVDs. The image looks acceptable, fairly clean and has removable English subtitles. Detail is reasonable but there is some chroma although I don't see evidence of heavy manipulations. No concrete extras but the same old F/L'er static screen data. This is a decent DVD, although the definitive has yet to surface. This is one that will eventually go out-of-print. 

Gary W. Tooze

 


Menus

 

Fox Lorber - Region 0 - NTSC LEFT vs. Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray RIGHT


 

 

 

 

BFI - Region 'B' - Blu-ray


 

BFI (British Version - LEFT, French Version - RIGHT) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray


 

 


CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

Subtitle Sample

 

1) Fox Lorber - Region 0 - NTSC TOP

2) Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray SECOND

3) BFI (French) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray THIRD

4) BFI (British) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 


 

Screen Captures

 

Fox Lorber - Region 0 - NTSC TOP vs. Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 


Fox Lorber - Region 0 - NTSC TOP vs. Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 


Fox Lorber - Region 0 - NTSC TOP vs. Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 


Fox Lorber - Region 0 - NTSC TOP vs. Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 


Fox Lorber - Region 0 - NTSC TOP vs. Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
 

 


Fox Lorber - Region 0 - NTSC TOP vs. Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
 

 


Fox Lorber - Region 0 - NTSC TOP vs. Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 


Fox Lorber - Region 0 - NTSC TOP vs. Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
 

 


Fox Lorber - Region 0 - NTSC TOP vs. Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
 

More Blu-ray captures

 

Box Cover

Coming to Blu-ray in the UK by Criterion in February 2023:

Distribution Fox Lorber Home Video - Region 0 - NTSC Criterion Collection - Spine # 512 - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BFI - Region 'B' - Blu-ray




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