Last Mistress finally on US DVD (sort of)

Thanks to Frank in the comments section for hipping us to the fact that there is now (as of April 20th) a US DVD of The Last Mistress (Une vieille maîtresse)... sort of. It's not available for sale or to rent at most outlets (including Netflix). It's a Blockbuster rental exclusive, which apparently means they have exclusive rights to it for the next three years. So don't plan on picking this up at your local mall or anything (although enterprising fans shouldn't find securing a copy too difficult, since Blockbuster sells their new release DVDs by the pound... there's already a few copies available at Amazon from marketplace sellers).

It is widescreen, anamorphic and uncut, with optional English and Spanish subtitles (and English captioning); though none of the extras from the European discs have been ported over (there's only trailers for A Girl Cut In Two, Love Songs, Inside Paris and Flight Of the Red Balloon that play before the menu). So, yeah... kinda sucks that Blockbuster has this on lock-down here in the states; but I prefer my Artificial Eye disc from the UK, anyway. At least it's finally giving the film some additional US exposure, though, as it certainly deserves to be seen.

Update 6/24/9: Despite an online rumor stating that this US disc features a longer cut of the film than previous releases, I can't find any difference between them (and I'm playing them right alongside each other on different monitors). When I heard it, I thought perhaps they'd edited the deleted scenes back into the film or something, but they have not. I've checked myself (as has Frank, again, in the comments); and the only difference seems to be the PAL speed-up. Interestingly, however, there are slight changes in the subtitles... this new version changes some ellipses to periods and periods to exclamation points. In these cases, the Artificial Eye punctuation seems to be truer to the actors' delivery.

UPDATE #2: Last Mistress

For those holding out for a region 1 NTSC edition of The Last Mistress, it will be coming out on November 18th from Mongrel Media in Canada. There's no definitive word on the extras yet, but it will apparently be uncut, and English subtitle options are confirmed.

There's still been no announcement of a US DVD release date; but now... who cares? ;)

Update 12/18/08: According to this review at exclaim.ca, this DVD has "no extras to speak of," so you're definitely best off with the region 2 disc at this point. That's possibly just as well, since this version seems to be a bit hard to find...

By the way, Asia Argento is amazing in this. She's really grown as an actress since her early roles.

UPDATE: Last Mistress

An English language DVD of Breillat's The Last Mistress (Une vieille maîtresse) has officially been announced from Artificial Eye (which makes sense, since they're the ones who released it into theatres in that market). It's PAL, Region 2 and scheduled for release on August 25th. No word yet on the features, but Artificial Eye are a good company, so let's be optimistic. =)

This is the first English language DVD of this film, but not the first DVD... see my previous post for info on the French language disc.

Update 7/9/8: Extras confirmed: the theatrical trailer (plus trailers for California Dreamin' (Endless), You, the Living and Terror's Advocate), deleted scenes with commentary by Breillat, and a 24-minute making of documentary... all the same as the French disc, but subtitled.

The Last Mistress (2007)

Her latest film is Une vieille maîtresse (The Last Mistress to us, though I believe the actual title in France translates to An Elderly Mistress), her adaptation of 19th century French novelist Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly's final work, starring Asia Argento. The novel was criticized for immorality at the time of its publication - so it should be right up Breillat's alley. ;)

This is already available as a Region 2 DVD from Studio Canal in France (pictured left), and looks to be a nice special edition (including a nice 1:1.85 transfer, a 25 minute interview with Briellat, two deleted scenes with commentary, an animated poster gallery and the trailer). But unfortunately, there are no English subtitles ... either for the extras or the film itself.

While it opened last May in France, the film is still apparently due to get a limited release here in the US this summer, from IFC Films. So we probably won't see a DVD until at least a few months after that. Here's hoping IFC/Genius Products don't sit on this film indefinitely, and that they carry over and translate the DVD extras (as well as provide new material).