Now recognised as one of French cinema’s finest talents courtesy of such modern classics as Carlos, Summer Hours and Clouds of Sils Maria, Olivier Assayas started out as a critic and screenwriter before making his debut feature as director in 1986.
Disorder tells the tale of a post-punk band whose friendships are tested when a music store robbery turns fatal. It marked Assayas as a talent to be reckoned with. The intimate story of Winter’s Child built on that reputation and showed his remarkable gifts with actors, while in Irma Vep Assayas turned his attention to the French film industry to provide a mid-90s amalgam of François Truffaut’s Day for Night and Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Beware of a Holy Whore, delighting audiences around the world and featuring a stand-out turn by Maggie Cheung playing a version of herself. Meanwhile, the startlingly prescient neo-noir/cyberhorror masterpiece Demonlover, takes a darker turn to present a chilling exploration of the nexus between sex and violence available at the click of a button, riffing on Cronenberg’s Videodrome and with an iconic score by art-rock pioneers, Sonic Youth.
Witty, heartfelt, and daring, Assayas remains one of the most interesting international filmmakers working today. No two films are quite alike. His work is vital, unexpected, and unmissable for any true lover of film.
Special Features
Four films by Olivier Assayas: Disorder, Winter’s Child, Irma Vep and Demonlover
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations of all four films, from 2K restorations supervised and approved by Olivier Assayas
Optional English subtitles
Special packaging with newly commissioned artwork by Sister Hyde
Disc 1 - Disorder/Winter's Child
Original 2.0 Stereo soundtracks
Interview with writer-director Oliver Assayas
Interview with the cast of Disorder, Ann-Gisel Glass, Lucas Belvaux, Wadeck Stanczak and Rémi Martin
Theatrical trailers
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matthew Griffin
Disc 2 - Irma Vep
Original 2.0 Stereo DTS-HD Master Audio
Audio commentary by writer-director Olivier Assayas and critic Jean-Michel Frodon
On the Set of Irma Vep, a 30-minute behind-the-scenes featurette with optional commentary by Assayas and Frodon
Interview with Assayas and critic Charles Tesson
Interview with actors Maggie Cheung and Nathalie Richard
Man Yuk: A Portrait of Maggie Cheung, a 1997 short film by Assayas
Black and white rushes
Theatrical Trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Peter Strain
Disc 3 - Demonlover
Original 5.1 DTS-HD master audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
Audio commentary by writer/director Olivier Assayas
Visual essay written and narrated by critic Jonathan Romney
Peripherie de Demonlover, an hour-long behind-the-scenes documentary directed by Yorick Le Saux
Archive interviews with Olivier Assayas, Connie Nielsen, Chloë Sevigny and Charles Berling
SY NYC 12/12/01: The Demonlover Sessions, a fly-on-the-wall documentary about the recording of the music score by Sonic Youth
Q&A with Olivier Assayas filmed at the Wexner Center for the Arts in 2003
Extended version of the Hellfire Club sequence
Original theatrical trailers
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbon
