The Gleaners and I Blu-ray

Search DVDBeaver

S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka 'The Gleaners & I' or 'The Gleaners and I)

directed by Agnès Varda
France 2000

There's a suggestive discrepancy between the French and English titles of this wonderful essay film completed by Agnes Varda last year. It's a distinction that tells us something about the French sense of community and the Anglo-American sense of individuality -- concepts that are virtually built into the two languages. Les glaneurs et la glaneuse can be roughly translated as "the gleaners and the female gleaner," with the plural noun masculine only in the sense that all French nouns are either masculine or feminine. The Gleaners and I sets up an implicit opposition between "people who glean" and the filmmaker, whereas Les glaneurs et la glaneuse links them, asserting that she's one of them.

Gleaners gather up the leftovers of edible crops -- grain, fruit, vegetables -- after the harvesters are finished with their work. Varda la glaneuse films what other filmmakers have left behind after their harvesting. The link between the two activities is made graphic at one point when Varda gleans a potato with one hand while filming it with the other. She keeps shifting between the kinds of gleaners she finds -- in paintings as well as life -- and her own diverse gleaning activities, such as bringing back souvenirs from Japan or collecting memorabilia on her road trips while making this film. She also does such things as film the veins in her hand to record the process of her aging.

Excerpt from Jonathan Rosenbaum's review at the Chicago Reader located HERE.

Posters

Theatrical Release: July 6th, 2000 (TV)

Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews

Comparison:

Zeitgeist Video - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Curzon Artificial Eye - Region 'B' - Blu-ray

1) Zeitgeist - Region 1 - NTSC LEFT

2) Curzon Artificial Eye' - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - RIGHT

Box Cover		Only available, at present, as part of the Curzon / Artificial Eye's 8 disc The Agnès Varda Collection:
Distribution	Zeitgeist Video - Region 1 - NTSC	Curzon Artificial Eye - Region 'B' - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:18:30	1:18:40.000
Video	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.49 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1080i / 25 fps Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 26,756,384,838 bytes Feature: 17,753,683,008 bytes Video Bitrate: 26.98 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Bitrate Blu-ray:
Audio	French (Dolby Digital 2.0)	LPCM Audio French 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit
Subtitles	English, None	English (burned-in)
Features	Release Information: Studio: Zeitgeist Video Aspect Ratio: Original aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Edition Details: • The Gleaners and I: Two Years Later (59:22) • Production Notes • Filmography • Liner notes by New York Times film critic A.O. Scott DVD Release Date: July 23rd, 2002 Keep Case Chapters: 22	Release Information: Studio: Curzon Artificial Eye Aspect Ratio: Original aspect Ratio 1.33:1 1080i / 25 fps Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 26,756,384,838 bytes Feature: 17,753,683,008 bytes Video Bitrate: 26.98 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • The Little Museum Featurette (23:40) • Homage to Zgougou the cat Featurette (2:08) • Two years later documentary (59:28) Blu-ray Release Date: December 11th, 2017 Custom Blu-ray Case Chapters: 12

Comments:

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

ADDITION: Curzon Artificial Eye - Region 'B' Blu-ray - December 2017: Firstly. Curzon / Artificial Eye's 8 Blu-ray disc is on The Agnès Varda Collection set that includes La Pointe Courte, Cleo From 5 To 7, Le Bonheur, L'une Chante, L'autre Pas, Vagabond, Jacquot De Nantes, The Gleaners & and The Beaches Of Agnes.

The Zeitgeist DVD was interlaced but the film was shot in 1080i (with the Sony DSR-300) and the new UK Blu-ray is accurately in 1080i (25fps - PAL) but, while the image has a very waxy and video quality - it doesn't have the combing on the SD transfer - which can, actually, look crisper than the Blu-ray. I suspect this is the way it, authentically, looks. In the film Varda talks about her exploration of HD video and the versatility it has, trick shots etc. You can get the Sony DSR-300 for very cheap now (and then!) as the technology has advanced significantly since 2000. I suppose this could have been transferred to 35mm first but the image wouldn't improve in the real sense. With the DV camera used - this is the way The Gleaners and I looked.

The audio is in linear PCM (16-bit) in the original French language with no demonstrative effects. Being a documentary there is no dramatic score but music credited to Joanna Bruzdowicz (Kung-Fu Master, Vagabond and The Gleaners & I ) and Isabelle Olivier, plus Apfelsextett composed by Pierre Barbaud. Again, a function of the production limitations. The dialogue and narration is clear and the Region 'B' Blu-ray has burned-in English subtitles (see samples below).

There are supplements including the, hour-long, Two Years Later documentary - a kind of extension, wrap-up of the film following a few individuals. Plus there is the 20-minute The Little Museum featurette and a brief Homage to Zgougou the Cat piece.

Varda's intentionally amateurish-looking film remains impactful examining France's age-old practice of rescuing edible food - either by the poor or for other, noble or efficient, reasons. The Blu-ray is no prize visually but it has its place in her oeuvre. Not an example to show off your HD system, but still a meaningful documentary and another significant part of The Agnès Varda Collection.

***

ON THE DVD: Not a fatally poor image, but a weak one to be sure. Non-progressive (note combing in last large capture) and sometimes appearing a little saturated, the image has some artifacts and appears to have been taken from an analog source. I dislike the yellow subtitles, but applaud the addition of The Gleaners and I: Two Years Later.

Good liner notes and a decent package if only the image were improved. Well, we will take what we can get. The film is strongly recommended.

Gary W. Tooze

DVD Menus