Back to Normandy (DVD)

Directed by Nicolas Philibert

Release Year: 2007
Running Time: 113
UPC: 7 38329 05822 7
Color Type: Color
Country: France
Language: French with English subtitiles [audio]
Genres: Documentary
$29.95 $16.47 (45% off) Buy DVD
Add to Wishlist
Only ships to US & Canada
Booking Inquiry
Crew
Directed by Nicolas Philibert

In 1976, French director René Allio made Moi, Pierre Rivière, a film based on a 19th-century countryside murder. The story had recently resurfaced thanks to Michel Foucault, who, after discovering the peasant murderer Rivière’s beautifully expressed confession, wrote a book about the case. Allio wanted to film the story on location, using farmers from the region of Normandy, where the crime occurred. 24-year-old Nicolas Philibert, the assistant director, was tasked with scouting locations and finding a cast among the locals. Thirty years later, Philibert returns to the region to catch up with the earlier film’s players, to revisit a page from his own history, and to tell the stories of this strange murder and the film that recreated it.

Back to Normandy is a film about the passage of time. In seeking out the cast, Philibert explores how we make connections between past and present, creating our own meaningful and personal narratives. As Phillibert reveals the motivations for the crime of Pierre Rivière, we also learn of the mysterious disappearance of the melancholy young villager who played him, Claude Hébert. When we finally learn what became of him, the parallels between the actor and his role are startling.

A subtle and contemplative film, Back to Normandy also follows Philibert as he delves into the diaries of his mentor Allio, telling the director’s story and chronicling the difficult production history of his most ambitious film. The patterns of rural life — the passing of the seasons, the raising of livestock, the cultivation of the land — have an amazing continuity stretching back from the 1830s to the present day. Like Ermanno Olmi’s The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978), it is an understated, pastoral epic.

“...An extraordinary journey through time, memory and the repercussions of a baffling, bygone crime.” - Jeannette Catsoulis, THE NEW YORK TIMES

“Richly rewarding... Philibert goes much deeper than a mere foray into how lives have changed: this is also a film about history...about memory, madness and motivation, and about various kinds and levels of documentation.” - Geoff Andrew, SIGHT AND SOUND

  • OFFICIAL SELECTION: Cannes Film Festival

    OFFICIAL SELECTION: London Film Festival

Interested in bringing Back to Normandy to your school or library? If you'd like to have an in-class viewing, on-campus screening, or purchase the DVD for your library's collection, please contact Estelle Grosso or call (212) 629-6880 with your request.

Back to Normandy may also be available with Public Performance Rights (PPR) and Digital Site Licensing (DSL) for colleges and universities. To purchase the DVD with PPR or DSL, please contact Estelle Grosso or call (212) 629-6880. Click here to learn more at Kino Lorber Edu.


To read more about Kino Lorber Edu's terms of use and ordering information, visit Kino Lorber Edu.


Related Products

Join the conversation
'@KinoLorber' on Aug. 2 2021 at 10:45pm
RT' @sadfilmcritic': “Jeff Bezos and Mickey Mouse want us to believe that there is no future, no alternative, so that they can lock us in the…
'@KinoLorber' on Aug. 2 2021 at 10:45pm
RT' @NotebookMUBI': Conor Williams writes on notable examples of new displays of ingenuity, including' @DedzaFilms—an' initiative dedicated to…
'@KinoLorber' on Aug. 2 2021 at 9:07pm
#CanYouBringIt' @DManMovie' made this' @Vutlure' viewing guide!' @BilgeEbiri' calls it “a powerful case for the reinvigor…' https://t.co/JOtHIx4ZLS'
'@KinoLorber' on Aug. 2 2021 at 9:03pm
RT' @Ela_Bittencourt': Loveliest homage to Tarkovsky of recent years: a still from Malgorzata Szumowska's NEVER GONNA SNOW AGAIN, which I've…
'@KinoLorber' on Aug. 2 2021 at 9:01pm
RT' @manlikeflan': Screw it: recent writing megathread! I loved the latest Dumont, FRANCE, which played competition at Cannes. Seydoux is m…
'@KinoLorber' on Aug. 2 2021 at 8:57pm
RT' @ioncinema': ★★★★½ FRANCE by Bruno Dumont !!! “Doomed to be misunderstood, panned & browbeaten, Dumont’s every calculated move is actuall…
'@KinoLorber' on Aug. 2 2021 at 7:55pm
RT' @Hotchka': #MaeWest and #CaryGrant sparkle in the stunning new Blu-ray release of the classic pre-Code romantic comedy #ImNoAngel, out no…
'@KinoLorber' on Aug. 2 2021 at 5:58pm
RT' @JordanCronk': #Cannes2021 Top Ten: 1) Memoria (Apichatpong Weerasethakul) 2) France (Bruno Dumont) 3) Benedetta (Paul Verhoeven) 4) In F…
'@KinoLorber' on Aug. 2 2021 at 5:58pm
RT' @reverse_shot': For his final Cannes dispatch' @JordanCronk' praises Bruno Dumont's aptly garish FRANCE with Léa Seydoux, plus new films fr…
'@KinoLorber' on Aug. 2 2021 at 5:09pm
RT' @ioncinema': Bravo to' @KinoLorber' on their pick up of Bruno Dumont's misunderstood' @Festival_Cannes' guilty pleasure. France gets a Decem…
Tweet Now!

Inquiries & Press

General Inquiries

Kino Lorber, Inc.
333 W. 39th St., Ste. 503
New York, NY 10018

Tel. (212) 629-6880
Tel. (800) 562-3330
Fax. (212) 714-0871

Press & Media

For publicity assistance and press inquiries please contact us by emailing dninh@kinolorber.com or calling 212-629-6880.

Educational

Please visit our educational site at www.KinoLorberEDU.com

For assistance with educational orders, please contact us at:

Phone:212-629-6880
Fax: 212-714-0871
email: edu@kinolorber.com