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Nous ne vieillirons pas ensemble in August

25 June 2009

Rare is the film in movie-history that can announce the entire movement of its 'plot' with its title alone. But Pialat's second feature, Nous ne vieillirons pas ensemble [We Won't Grow Old Together] does exactly that, encapsulating all the turmoil, and the final end-point, of a couple who among themselves once made a commitment – and in living together will come to make another one yet.

Jean (Jean Yanne, of Godard's Weekend) and Catherine (Marlène Jobert, of Godard's Masculin Féminin) are the couple whose every move charts an advancement deeper into an emotional warzone. Theirs is the classic and the tragic case of an emotional abuse centred around a perplexing, but powerful, interdependency. At last the point arrives that determines the relationship, with all its weekend holidays, its apologies and submissions, can go no further – and, in a final shot of genius, Pialat discloses all the ways in which the future might be at once liberated, and enslaved, by the past.

Based on a novel by Pialat himself, and on the trauma of his own personal life in the years leading up to the film, Nous ne vieillirons pas ensemble was a smash-hit at the time of its release – and yet is arguably one of the most upsetting films ever made.

Nous ne vieillirons pas ensemble will be released for the first time on UK DVD as a Special Editionon 24th August 2009 by Eureka Video under the Masters of Cinema banner, part of their ongoing series of Maurice Pialat releases. Special features include:

  • La Camargue (1966) - A short 6-minute essay-documentary by Maurice Pialat on the region in which much of the action of Nous ne vieillirons pas ensemble unfolds;
  • A 19-minute 2003 video interview with star Marlène Jobert about the film, conducted by Serge Toubiana (former editor-in-chief of Cahiers du cinéma and director of the Cinémathèque Française);
  • A 5-minute excerpt from the 1972 "Pour le cinéma: Spécial Cannes", featuring interviews with Jean Yanne and Maurice Pialat, both at Cannes, and two scenes deleted from the final film;
  • An 8-minute excerpt from the 1972 program "Vive le cinéma", featuring François Truffaut in conversation about both Nous ne vieillirons pas ensemble and Pialat's earlier L'Enfance-nue, and including two unedited printed takes from the main feature;
  • A 12-minute excerpt from another 1972 installment of "Vive le cinéma", featuring Maurice Pialat in conversation about the film;
  • Original trailer for the film, and trailers for the six other Maurice Pialat features available from The Masters of Cinema Series;
  • A lengthy booklet with a new essay by critic, publisher, and former Cahiers du cinéma editor-in-chief Emmanual Burdeau, and newly translated interviews with Maurice Pialat.