The François Truffaut Collection [DVD]

I own a lot of boxsets in Blu-ray, both UK and SPANISH editions. So When It comes to a comparison with my best editions (Tati Collection Boxset -spanish edition-, Werner Herzog Collection -UK-, Zatoichi Criterion Collection and ohers) It's quite clear that The Truffaut box is far from excellent in terms of presentation: We get just a fat slipcover with 8 amaray slim boxes, without any booklet. Elegant and just correct.But where this Truffaut collection really shines is in the quality of its discs. The HD transfers are really awesome, specially the first 3 movies (Shoot the Pianist, Jules et Jim and The soft Skin). I compared this Jules et Jim transfer with the allegedly restored spanish blu-ray edition, which comes with the same extras than the UK, and the UK transfer looks very superior in terms of contrast and frame stability. The rest of the collection is also great in terms of audio/video quality, but not as mindblowing as the mentioned 3 first movies.The extra content is not very extensive but It's so valuable. In "Shoot the Pianist" We get one of the best audiocommentaries I have heard in a blu-ray edition (along with Boorman/Soderbergh commentary in Warner's BD "Point Blank"). It's the great Raoul Cotard extensively talking about Truffaut filmmaking style, comparing It with his colleagues in the Nouvelle Vague, and explaining a lot of things about the making of "Shoot the Pianist" (by the way, one of the best movies in the set).For this price (19.90 pounds), this box-set well worth the ordering if only for the brilliant Raoul Cotard audio commentary.Highly recommended (4.5/5 stars).

François Truffaut was a key director in the French New Wave who posthumously has been extremely lucky, his films always remaining in circulation. Here we have one of the very best DVD boxed sets around which has so much more than at first meets the eye. There are 9 films (Les Mistons may be a short, but it’s unmissable) beautifully presented in excellent transfers by Artificial Eye (courtesy of Marin Karmitz's MK2) with clean visuals and excellent soundtracks. Moreover, the films are introduced by Truffaut biographer Serge Toubiana and come with commentary tracks given by writers, actors and film historians. A Gorgeous Girl Like Me is the only one not to get the full treatment, though that comes on the same disc as Les Mistons which is superbly presented. I’d say this is a mandatory buy for anyone interested in the French New Wave and a God-send for Truffaut lovers who want all his films collected neatly together. If you also buy the other AE set devoted to the Antoine Doinel cycle of 5 films you will have pretty much the complete essential œuvre of this director. The only significant ones missing would be Fahrenheit 451 (1966), The Bride Wore Black (1968), The Wild Child (1970), Day for Night (1973) and The Green Room (1978), the remainder being for completists only. AE has been known in the past to throw together boxed sets willy-nilly in flimsy cases with no extras at all (the Angelopoulos sets) and in transfers where subtitles fall off the bottom of the screen (the Haneke set). This one is on a par with sets released by Masters of Cinema, though AE still have a long way to go to match MoC’s meticulous documentation. MoC’s boxes of Mizoguchi and Imamura come with booklets stuffed full of fascinating critical writing whereas AE offer the discs only. Never mind, the discs are very full and luckily for Truffaut he has been well-written up on the net and information on him is easy to come by at the click of a mouse.I leave here the details of exactly what is included on each disc. I will review the films individually on their respective pages.Disc 1SHOOT THE PIANIST (Tirez sur le pianiste) *****(1960, France, 78 min, b/w, aspect ratio: 16:9, sound: Dolby digital mono, language: French, subtitles: English)EXTRAS: Presentation by Serge Toubiana, Commentary with Raoul Coutard, Marie Dubois’ screen tests, Theatrical trailer)Disc 2JULES AND JIM (Jules et Jim) *****(1962, France, 102 min, b/w, aspect ratio: 16:9, language: sound: Dolby digital mono, French, subtitles: English)EXTRAS: Presentation by Serge Toubiana, Commentary with Jeanne Moreau, Theatrical trailer)Disc 3THE SOFT SKIN (La peau douce) *****(1964, France, 113 min, b/w, aspect ratio: 16:9, sound: Dolby digital mono, language: French, subtitles: English)EXTRAS: Presentation by Serge Toubiana, Commentary with Jean-Louis Richard, Theatrical trailer)Disc 4ANNE & MURIEL (aka, Two English Girls, Les Deux anglaises et la continent) *****(1971, France, 124 min, color, aspect ratio: 16:9 (1.66:1), sound: Dolby digital stereo, language: French/English, subtitles: English)EXTRAS: Presentation by Serge Toubiana, Commentary with Jean Gruault, Theatrical trailer)Disc 5A GORGEOUS GIRL LIKE ME (Une belle fille comme moi) ***(1972, France, 94 min, color, aspect ratio: 16:9 (1.33:1), sound: Dolby Digital stereo, language: French, subtitles: English)THE MISCHIEF MAKERS (Les Mistons) *****(1957, France, 23 min, b/w, aspect ratio: 4:3, language: French, subtitles: English)EXTRAS: Presentation of Les Mistons by Serge Toubiana, Commentary on Les Mistons with Claude de Givray, Theatrical trailer)Disc 6THE LAST METRO (Le Dernier métro) ****(1980, France, 125 min, color, aspect ratio: 16:9 (1.66:1), sound: stereo 2.0, language: French, subtitles: English)EXTRAS: Presentation by Serge Toubiana, Commentary with Gérard Depardieu & Jean-Pierre Azéma, Deleted scene, Theatrical trailer)Disc 7THE WOMAN NEXT DOOR (La femme d’à côté) ****(1981, France, 101 min, color, aspect ratio: 16:9 (1.66:1), sound: Stereo 2.0, language: French, subtitles: English)EXTRAS: Presentation by Serge Toubiana, Commentary with Véronique Silver, Partial commentary by Gérard Depardieu & Fanny Ardant, Theatrical trailer)Disc 8FINALLY, SUNDAY (Vivement dimanche!) ****(1983, France, 106 min, b/w, aspect ratio: 16:9 (1.66:1), sound: stereo 2.0, language: French/English, subtitles: English)EXTRAS: Presentation by Serge Toubiana, Commentary with Jean-Louis Trintignant, Theatrical trailer)

Well done Artificial Eye - not only a great set contain 8 fantastic films from Truffaut, but each film is in its own, slimline Blu ray case.I am put off a great many of these sets because they come packed in an origami nightmare. Some call them digipaks. I find those sets annoying, and have had to send back three sets in the last month as they were flimsy, falling apart with lack of glue or tack, had loose discs which had been scratched on centre spindle. Stop ranting!This Artificial Eye set is the correct format. 8 individual slim line cases. If you like Truffaut, you will like this set. A good starter set for anyone new to Truffaut. It contains a great range of his movies. And at only £26.95 at time of ordering, a bargain price for 8 great films on blu ray!!!

Beautiful transfers! Only one head-scratcher in the bunch and that is that "A Gorgeous Girl Like Me" ("Une belle fille comme moi") is transferred at an aspect ratio of 1.33, which I suspect is not the original aspect ratio (blu-ray.com has it at 1.85, but I bet it was actually 1.66, and IMDB doesn't have the original aspect ratio at all).An incredible value for the quality of what you get, highly recommended!

This is a great collection. The transfers are excellent. If you are a fan of Truffaut it is a must. The extras are in SD, but provide some interesting interviews and short documentaries. All in all, great boxset.

The François Truffaut collection-Artificial eyeThis box set is a no brainer. At less than 30€/GBP you get 8 films by Truffaut, most of them essential and presented in clean, restaured copies. The extras are sparse but informative enough, all coming from the mk2 editions but at a much better price. Forget about a fancy boxset with a booklet, this is rather a no-no sense collection of 8 blu rays each presented in slim cases. Bravo Artificial eye! Strongly recommended.

Thought I hadn't seen any of these before, but turns out I had seen The Woman Next Door. All great films, have spent a very pleasant few days watching them.

Watched most of these and have enjoyed them, only one I didn't enjoy was The Soft Skin but then again it still doesn't matter the other 5 films I've watched are all great watches and they have great rewatch value as well.