Servais, a reporter and photographer, meets Nadine Chevalier, an
actress who is forced to earn her living by accepting roles
unworthy of her real talent. She is married to Jacques, a
delightful sort of disenchanted clown who runs away from the
realities of life. Nadine and Servais soon discover how important
their encounter was and neither one of them wants to dismiss it
as a mere fling...
ANDRZEJ ZULAWSKI'S L'important C'est D'er (The Important
Thing Is To Love) is a film of dishevelled lyricism, bursting
with noise and anger; an insane storm-tainted flamboyant opera; a
visual symphony with apocalyptic emphasis featuring sleaze-bags,
clowns, drop-outs, wimps, bastards, and "puppet shows depicting
lives of complete scoundrels" and "ruined careers". Where some
people will see nothing but a graphic canvas of pain, horror and
a bloody parade of violence, others who analyze the darkness will
see a call for compassion. This is the story of a fragile woman,
Nadine Chevalier, who supports her failure-obsessed companion to
the bitter end, and who meets a photographer weighed down by
remorse. This vibrant & captivating cinema of art, music and
sound is down to the genius of Zulawski, and his and
sentimental power of evocation, which together create something
which reflects the deep and perhaps unconfessed anxiety inside
every one of us. It is, as Dostoyevsky said at the end of Crime
and Punishment , "the story of a generation".
AWARDS:
César Awards, France
Best Actress: Romy Schneider
NOMINATIONS:
César Awards, France
Best Editing: Christiane Lack
Best Production Design: Jean-Pierre Kohut-Svelko
DVD CONTENTS:
MONDO VISION presents the first ever North American release of
Andrzej Zulawski's 3rd film L'important C'est D'er (The
Important Thing Is To Love, 1975) in a gorgeous new transfer
UNCUT & Fully Uncensored with all new English Subtitles
Supervised & Approved By Director Andrzej Zulawski.
* Digitally Restored High Definition Transfer Mastered For
Progressive Scan
* Feature Length Audio Commentary With Director Andrzej Zulawski
And Writer Daniel Bird
* Video Interview With Director Andrzej Zulawski
* Remastering: Before & After
* Theatrical Trailer
* Image Gallery
* 24-page Booklet Featuring a Newly-Written Essay by Daniel Bird
* Case Type: Digipak with Hardcover Slipcase
TECHNICAL NOTES:
L'Important C'est D'er is presented in its original aspect
ratio of 1.66:1 and original Mono French soundtrack as intended
by Andrzej Zulawski. After evaluating the quality of the provided
materials, Mondo Vision cooperated with Director Andrzej Zulawski
to return the film to its original appearance as closely as
possible. In addition to color correction, many instances of
dirt, dust and scratches have been painstakingly removed by hand.
Simply put, the film has never looked this good since its
theatrical premier in 1975! This Dual Layer disc has been
transferred and encoded using a high-frequency process which
preserves as much of the detail and texture from the original
film as is possible on the NTSC DVD format.
Audio:
* Original French 2.0 Mono
* English Dub (Optional)
* German Dub (Optional)
Subtitles: English (Optional) Available in White & Yellow
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
UPC: 837654037904
Catalog#: MVSE002
Review
------
Zulawski hasn't let himself get locked into stereotypes and his
work as a director contradicts the subject in question and drives
the story to the beyond , a place where the s come off and
fall into streams of blood, in a story of hard blows and downward
spirals full of dirt and misery, with its characters lost in a
sticky, nocturnal whirlwind... All of the starting elements go
off at tangents and join back together to create a spectacular
crisis, which is what this film (and the idea of cinema itself)
is all about. --Noèl Simsolo - Écran 75, March 1975.
Andrzej Zulawski has appeared, at thirty four years of age, as
one of the greatest directors discovered in many years. Not only
is he one of the most personal, but also one of the most
competent at expressing and mastering his visions. He s one of
the most pessimistic, and also one of the most conscious and most
crazy. He s sometimes even one of the most distant and one of the
most ironic. His love songs and death chants along with his
obsession of the apocalypse lead neither to an abstract
metaphysical frenzy nor a flat sense of misery. They find a
balance (if a little over-the-top in parts), where all its
deliriousness comes together in an organized way, like all true
artistic deliriousness. --Frédéric Vitoux - Positif, Feb 1975.
Zulawski takes his story to arms and knocks hard. No let-up, no
pause. Everything here is violence, rage and scorn. The colours
are black, ochre, the murky green of swamps and the wine-coloured
red of dried blood. The secondary characters actors, layoffs,
body guards create a sinister and beastly representation of
mankind. Even the music seems aggressive. One may be irritated by
the view Zulawski has taken, his sordid taste and his will to
create discomfort, but it s impossible to deny the strength of
his direction. --Jean de Baroncelli - Le Monde, Feb 1975.
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About the Director
------------------
Andrzej Zulawski was born on the territory of what was then the
U.S.S.R. in a Polish family with remarkable traditions in arts
and literature. After World War II, his her's diplomatic
career brought the family to France (1945-1949), Czechoslovakia
(1949-1952), and finally to Poland. He studied film direction at
IDHEC in Paris (1957-1959) and philosophy at both Warsaw
University (1961) and Université de Paris (1962-1964).
First, he assisted the famous Polish director Andrzej Wajda
during the filming of Samson (1961), Popioly (The Ashes, 1966),
and the Warsaw episode of L'Amour à Vingt Ans (Love At Twenty,
1962). In 1967, Zulawski directed two short films, Piesn
Triumfujacej Milosci (The Story Of Triumphant Love); and
Pavoncello, for Polish TV.
His feature debut, Trzecia Czesc Nocy (The Third Part Of The
Night, 1971), as well as those previous films were co-scripted by
his her, poet Miroslaw Zulawski. The picture was well received
at the Venice Film Festival and awarded as the Best Debut in its
homeland, but had only limited release due to Polish censorship.
Zulawski's next feature, Diabel (The Devil, 1972), was outright
banned and not released until 1988. The same happened to his next
Polish project, Na Srebrnym Globie (The Silver Globe, 1977/1987).
After he finished about 80 percent of the shooting, the
authorities ordered him to abandon the picture and to destroy all
related materials. Only in 1987 did he manage to complete the
film from spare footage, using voice-over commentary for the
missing parts.
Since the late '70s, Zulawski has lived and worked mostly in
France, during which time he developed a knack for showcasing his
actresses' talents. L'Important C'est D'er (The Important
Thing Is To Love, 1975) brought its star, Romy Schneider, a Cesar
(French O) as did Possession (1981) to Isabelle Adjani. He
then found his muse in young actress Sophie Marceau who would
star in four of his films; they were married for 17 years and
have a son together named Vincent. He briefly returned to Poland
where he made Szamanka (She-Shaman, 1996). Being a maverick who
always defied mainstream commerm, Zulawski enjoyed success
mostly with the European art-house audiences. His wild,
imaginative, and controversial pictures have received 16 awards
at various international film festivals. Zulawski has written
over 25 books including the accled novels Il était Un Verger,
Lity Bór (a.k.a: La Forêt Forteresse), V Oczach Tygrysa, and
Ogród Milosci.
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