Le roi et l’oiseau DVD

Finally, Paul Grimault's beautiful, poetic and humorous tale about oppression and the struggle for freedom - the chef d'œuvre of French animation which also influenced Miyazaki - can now be enjoyed by more than a lucky few. Meticulously restored after a two-year effort, the image and colour quality of the transfer is pure pleasure to behold. On top of this, Jacques Prévert's poetic text and the lyrical score by Joseph Kosma (songs) and Wojciech Kilar (music) are simply unforgettable. The film's story, based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy-tale The Shepherdess and the Chimney-Sweep is simple, so that perhaps the (unfortunately unavailable) English subtitles will not really be missed. The set includes a 56-minute documentary on Grimault and his 1988 feature La table tournante (co-dir. Jacques Demy; both in French)....