The Baby of Mâcon (Peter Greenaway)

[McCrutchy]

As yet unavailable on home video in the United States of America, Peter Greenaway's The Baby of Mâcon (1993) is set to be released in Sweden on August 18th by Atlantic Film.

The Baby of Mâcon Blu-ray

Stephen Holden (The New York Times; 1997)

Not even Ken Russell could have dreamed up the stew of grotesque religiosity, slavering voyeurism and sexual violence that is Peter Greenaway's 1993 movie, ''The Baby of Macon,'' the English director's only feature film not to have been distributed in the United States. This elaborate play within a play within a play, in which the audience and the actors become thoroughly confused, stars Julia Ormond and Ralph Fiennes, who are both shown in full frontal nudity in a blasphemous scene parodying the birth of Jesus in a manger.

Set in the court of the Medici family in 1657 when famine and pestilence have rendered all the women in the region sterile, the movie follows the mass hysteria that erupts when a repulsive crone miraculously gives birth to a beautiful baby boy, who immediately becomes an object of worship.


The boy's demonic older sister (Ms. Ormond) perpetrates a fraud in which she claims to be the child's virgin mother. She invites the bishop's son (Mr. Fiennes) to perpetuate the hoax by playing Joseph to her Virgin Mary. But when the miracle child dies after his bodily fluids are auctioned off, the church turns against the fraudulent mother and sentences her to be gang-raped by 113 soldiers.

This relentlessly grim fable of exploitation, religious fanaticism and oppression is an ornate, social nightmare with contemporary echoes that take in everything from modern faith healing to advertising to pop culture deities like Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley. And the fate of Ms. Ormond's character inevitably conjures up visions of the organized rapes in the Balkans carried out in the name of ''ethnic cleansing.''

[McCrutchy]

N.B. Atlantic Film are also releasing Greenaway's Prospero's Books (1991) on the same day (see here).

For EU consumers, both films are currently available for pre-order at Discshop.se.

According to information from the Atlantic Film web site, the film will be presented in its OAR of 2.35:1 on a BD-25 with English DD 2.0 audio and Swedish, Danish, Finnish and Norwegian subtitles.

[McCrutchy]

If any of our Swedish users are in the shops tomorrow, can you please confirm that this title (and also Prospero's Books) is released? There is only one, rather dubious-looking pre-order for them from a site that ships to the USA...

[Dubstar]

what's the 'region' for this release A? B? (I'm hoping it can play on American 'A' players)

[brettlv5506]

Anyone know of a online shop that
a) has Baby of Macon in stock
b) is English friendly and
c) ships to the U.S.

Thanks for any help

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by brettlv5506

Anyone know of a online shop that
a) has Baby of Macon in stock
b) is English friendly and
c) ships to the U.S.

Thanks for any help

There seems to be an issue with stock of the item., however certain users in Sweden have claimed to have copies, so it would seem it is just a waiting game...

[profit22]

Originally Posted by Dubstar

what's the 'region' for this release A? B? (I'm hoping it can play on American 'A' players)

Well, it seems to play in my US region A Panasonic blu-ray player without problems ...

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by McCrutchy

There seems to be an issue with stock of the item., however certain users in Sweden have claimed to have copies, so it would seem it is just a waiting game...

For EU consumers, Discshop.se now has a few dozen copies in stock.

[ghidorah]

Originally Posted by profit22

Well, it seems to play in my US region A Panasonic blu-ray player without problems ...

Can you give us a quick review of it..Quality, subtitles etc.?

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by ghidorah

Can you give us a quick review of it..Quality, subtitles etc.?

Other posters have confirmed that the subtitles are removable. There are only Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish subtitle options.

[pro-bassoonist]

I received quite a few PMs about this specific release.

The Baby of Macon is also getting a release in Denmark on September 21. It will be the same transfer, same language/subtitle options, and slightly cheaper than the Swedish release. You could (pre)order here:

http://www.laserdisken.dk/html/visva...=1278450034831

The vendor is reliable and the service to the U.S. excellent.

p.s.
Also, if you reside in the U.S./Canada and still wish to purchase the Swedish release, you could do so via Megastore.se. Direct link:

http://english.megastore.se/template...itemid=2236408

The disc is not in stock, but it ships in 2-4 days.

Pro-B

[Kalekulan]

Baby of Macon for 99 SEK excl. shipping (Approx. $13)!

Goooo!

[profit22]

Originally Posted by McCrutchy

Other posters have confirmed that the subtitles are removable. There are only Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish subtitle options.

This is correct. I haven't had time to watch the whole thing yet, but from what I have seen, I think that this is a rather good transfer. Strong colours, not much grain. On some shots the picture appears to be little on the soft side (on the sides, or the whole picture). But since this varies from shot to shot, I am inclined to think that this has more to do with the original film master and the cameras and lenses that were used to shoot it.

The disc does not contain any extras. Oh, and I get not time display on the front panel on of my players during playback.

[Dubstar]

Originally Posted by profit22

This is correct. I haven't had time to watch the whole thing yet, but from what I have seen, I think that this is a rather good transfer. Strong colours, not much grain. On some shots the picture appears to be little on the soft side (on the sides, or the whole picture). But since this varies from shot to shot, I am inclined to think that this has more to do with the original film master and the cameras and lenses that were used to shoot it.

The disc does not contain any extras. Oh, and I get not time display on the front panel on of my players during playback.

received an email from Megastore that my copy of Baby of Macon (and Propsero's Books) just got sent out to me - can't wait!

[Captain Morphus]

Originally Posted by Dubstar

received an email from Megastore that my copy of Baby of Macon (and Propsero's Books) just got sent out to me - can't wait!

I just received an email from Laserdisken that mine shipped.

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by Dubstar

received an email from Megastore that my copy of Baby of Macon (and Propsero's Books) just got sent out to me - can't wait!

Hmmph! So it would seem they are sourcing copies for individual orders and not gathering multiple copies?! I hadn't ordered because I don't see cover art and it always claims "Not in Stock: 2-4 working days". Bad business!

[ghidorah]

Originally Posted by Dubstar

received an email from Megastore that my copy of Baby of Macon (and Propsero's Books) just got sent out to me - can't wait!

Whoah!!..i thought that PROSPERO'S BOOKS wasn't out on BLU-RAy only DVD? Is this not the case? Is it available after all?

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by ghidorah

Whoah!!..i thought that PROSPERO'S BOOKS wasn't out on BLU-RAy only DVD? Is this not the case? Is it available after all?

Dubstar must have purchased the new DVD of Prospero's Books and the BD of The Baby of Mâcon.

[Dubstar]

oops, sorry yes, Prospero's Books on DVD, not bluray

will someone PLEASE (... please) release Prospero on blu - ugh I can't stand it any longer - who the hell owns the video rights in the UK (or US for that matter - is it Fox, Image or Miramax???)

(this screams out a Criterion release, but Criterion has never mentioned any interest in Greenaway's films)

[Dubstar]

Originally Posted by McCrutchy

Hmmph! So it would seem they are sourcing copies for individual orders and not gathering multiple copies?! I hadn't ordered because I don't see cover art and it always claims "Not in Stock: 2-4 working days". Bad business!

that didn't stop me in the slightest in just putting in an order and seeing what happened.