Customer Reviews

That Most Important Thing: Love [VHS]

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..more intellectual, hyper-link dramatic madness from Zulawski. This time you get Zulawski's poly-mathematic treatise on love and compromise, art and general lunacy. Italo-cult legend Fabio Testi stars in this baby as a photographer who falls for a fading movie actress played by tragic Euro-godess Romy Schneider, and to top off the junkie-melancholy glam-fest, you have Klaus Kinski playing an arse-kicking (literally!) homosexual actor as only Kinski can - it's definitely 'classic Kinski' many have not seen (I'll have to go back through my copy of 'kinski uncut', to see what his ravings are on this film!)! Imagine a latter period Nick Cave record meets Godard's 'contempt' refracted through Polish 'modern expressionistic' theater and you might get close. But with a classy 70s three pronged acting attack of some of that period's finest actors/actresses, even a lame duck is more interesting and entertaining than say Robert Redford movies of the same period?

Mondo Vision once again provide a superlative 'collector scum' package, worth every cent, from the image quality, down to packaging, liner notes, you name it, but none of this means bunk if the film is rubbish, and in this case it's a great film - you get the Royal flush here!

Mondo-Vision have upped the playing field for how Euro-cult movies are presented to the discerning and quality seeking English speaking cinema audience, and in a depressed market that's a public service to YOU THE DISCERNING CONSUMER!

I received the limited edtion as a holiday gift, and what a surprise. The whole thing, inside and out, exhudes high quality. The pacakge comes in a hard, book-shaped case that folds out with a cool magnetized snap cover to reveal an inner sleeve housing several postcard-sized poster reproductions; a listing of DVD scene selections and CD tracks; a thick booklet of fascinating liner notes comes wrapped in tissue paper.

Regarding the DVD quality: Although this rare film is from 1975, the image is immaculate and sharp with rich, vibrant colors. The sound is available in French mono, a German & English dub, and comes with removable English subtitles in a choice of white or yellow.

Next is a separate CD of the melodic, haunting score by George Delerue that has never before been released. Again, the quality is excellent.

There's also a host of extras, none of which I've gotten to yet, but can't wait to check out: an audio commentary with the director, a video interview, image restoration, theatrical trailer, image gallery.

Oh, and what about the film? Well, if you're reading this, you've probably either seen or know something about it already. But even if you're new to it, in my humble opinion, it's fantastic. A Euro-cult film lover's dream.

Overall, bravo to Mondo Vision. This incredible release rivals the best of Criterion and I look forward to supporting them by snapping up their other Zulawaski special editions soon.

Mondo Vision's release of Andrzej Zulawski's L'important C'est D'aimer is a cause for celebration. Absolutely stunning in both packaging and in the sound and picture quality. This is probably the best place to start in watching Zulawski's unique cinematic vision. A sort of French take on Nathaniel West's Day of the Locust, it features Romy Schneider's best performance along with Klaus Kinski giving another scene stealing performance. I can't recommend this release highly enough. Zulawski is a love him or hate him type of director. Trust me you've never seen anything remotely like Zuiawski. David Lynch is a great director but Andrzej Zulawski is a visionary director. He's not for fans of Transformers or the Reader that's for sure. Buy this at once, you won't regret it!

Amazon insists on shipping many things to me in bubble bags. This was one of them. While it held up a bit better than usual, it is made of cardboard, and it did arrive damaged. So back it went.

I just placed an order with the alternate seller for this item, rare-collector-dvds, who did a splendid job when it shipped the previous Zulawski title to me, La Femme Publique. (I ordered this from amazon before there were other sellers listed for this item.) Certain rare-collector-dvds will do a better job making sure it arrives to me in great shape. Postscript: And they did... wish amazon would get a clue.