‘Last Year at Marienbad,’ Bergman Interviews, Malle’s ‘Dinner’ Masterpieces Coming to Criterion Collection in June

If faltering as of late (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” gentlemen), the Criterion Collection has always been an immensely reliable source for a cinephiles to eat their heart out. Now, the collection welcomes three incredibly very respectable titles to the elite status of membership in June.

1. Alain Resnais’ “Last Year at Marienbad”
2. Marie Nyreröd’s “Bergman Island”
3. Louis Malle’s “My Dinner With Andre”

‘Marienbad’ is an elliptical and hypnotic, near-avante garde French classic, ‘nuf said. It will be pretty amazing to see it with the trademark digital transfer that the collection promises fans. It’s the only one of the three that’s getting a two-disc edition. It will include an audio interview with Resnais, two of his shorter docs, and an interview with ‘Marienbad’ scholar Ginette Vincedeau. Suffice to say we don’t own this because we’ve been waiting for years for this to finally come out on Criterion. We’ll be picking this one up (Let’s just hope for god’s sake this artwork isn’t final). The British band Blur did an excellent video homage to the film in the ’90s that we wrote about a long time ago.

The Bergman interviews seem to be a shoo-in, since nearly everything the late director has done is minted with the trademark C. “Bergman Island”’s Criterion treatment will include a filmography tracing the legend’s career, as well as a written tribute by Nyreröd.

Last, but most definitely not least is Malle’s classic philosophical talk-fest, “My Dinner With Andre.” This edition includes interviews with both Andre Gregory and lead actor, the garrulous and amazing Wallace Shawn conducted by Noah Baumbach, and also an interview conducted by Shawn with Malle in the spotlight.

Now, while us Criterion fans are irked at some choices, we can enjoy three new films with deluxe sets. These picks are for us somewhat of a way of signifying that the beloved label hasn’t completely lost their reels. Now if Criterion finally releases Jacques Rivette’s “Celine and Julie Go Boating,” man, we might just disgustingly squirt all over the place.