Robbe-Grillet: Trans-Europ-Express [BLU-RAY]

New Wave Screenwriter turned director Robbe-Grillet says it best in the interview included in Trans Europe Express: the film is like a 1930s Sacha Guitry film, full of self-conscious formalism that winks at the filmmaking process. With the director, his producer and script-girl creating the story on the train as they go along, the storyline is brisk, repetitive and visually inventive.....the film is not likeanything I expected! What did I expect from Robbe-Grillet? Something dark and difficult, even pretentious. What I got was light, funand the kind of late French New Wave film that balanced narrative innovation with wit, action and entertainment.

Excellent film as others have said. Be aware the DVD is the 94 minute cut version. The BluRay says 105 minutes which is the uncut length according to IMDB. I just purchased the DVD believing the Amazon product details which say it is 105 minutes. Don't be fooled like I was.

Also supported content is a perfect scoreNo problem also transportI am glad that precious thing is availableThank you

I might have appreciated it at the time of release but a bit of S&M frightened the BBFC, so we weren't allowed the pleasure. It isn't The Conformist, or Un Soir, Un Train. I'm no stranger to low budget, often difficult, European fare (I can cope with, and even enjoy, Duras and Straub-Huillot) but I found it curiously soulless and unmoving. I remember being bored by Marienbad, although I love every other Resnais, so perhaps I simply just can't get on with Robbe-Grillet. I like the idea of it but not the execution. Still, I love train films so I had to add it to my collection but it's at the bottom of the league.

Its an interesting film. One of the early ones for Jean-Louis Trintignant and of course he gives us his very solemn and unmoving face. But it always seems to work and of course he is a very subtle actor. He plays a criminal courier who also seeks specialised sex with an apparent prostitute.But all is not as it seems and the director pops up in the film discussing with his real assistants how the part should be played. Effectively it's a film within a film with several oddball characters.At the time it was considered too sexy for release , but the world has moved on since then.

What a film! So intriguing all the way through, great acting, great direction and the use of black and white adds to the whole thing

Un film del 1966, 53 anni fa, ma che non ha perso niente della sua freschezza, anzi, forse ora si potrà apprezzare anche meglio, allora molti lo travisarono, anche i commenti critici fuorno molto tiepidi, diffidenti. Ma qui tutto è brillante, le invenzioni si susseguono, con ottime soluzioni registiche, e il solito montaggio superlativo. Per non parlare del lavoro sul suono, che raggiunge l’acme della qualità e dell’invenzione nella scena dello strip-tease ‘bondage’ alla fine, che considero un altissimo esempio di cinema, per quei tempi molto innovativo, ma ancora oggi in grado di sorprendere e affascinare. Trintignant straordinario, il perfetto attore di Robbe-Grillet, quello che manca, per fare un esempio, nel suo primo film da regista, “L’immorale” (peraltro notevole a sua volta, da vedere). Restauro ottimo, immagine e suono (io l’ho visto nella versione originale sottotitolata). Per quattro soldi, un gioiello, anche se sicuramente non piacerà a tutti. E meno male...

Le scénario de ce premier film de l'écrivain Robbe-Grillet, une fiction-polar-rail-movie est très original. Le scénario mélange la genèse du film et les scènes imaginées par le trio constitué du producteur, de Robbe-Grillet et de sa script (Catherine Robbe-Grillet en l’occurrence). Le scénario est discuté dans le Trans-Europe-Express, un train ultra-moderne en 1966, en route vers Anvers. Le trio met en scène des acteurs, Trintignant, Marie France Pisier, qui jouent quelques scènes jusqu'à ce que le trio du train imaginent une suite éventuellement alternative.Au delà de cet construction, le film est intéressant, dynamique et doté d'une belle qualité d'image (en nuances de gris). Il y a en particulier des vues du port d'Anvers, de la monumentale gare centrale. Le binôme Marie France Pisier et J.L Trintignant est parfait, elle gentille et douce et lui sadique et renfermé. Ayant étranglé Marie France Pisier dans une scène à Anvers, Jean Louis Trintignant l'embrasse dans la scène finale à l'arrivée du TEE. Surprenant, non ?