Cars That Ate Paris 4K UHD
'The Cars That Ate Paris' + 'The Plumber' Director: Peter Weir (1974 + 1979) BFI 2-Disc 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray (The Plumber)
Peter Weir's (Picnic at Hanging Rock, Witness) debut feature is a biting satire of small-town life. It was also one of Stanley Kubrick's favourite films and a direct inspiration for George Miller's Mad Max series.
While travelling across Australia in search of work, two brothers are involved in a car accident. The sole survivor is taken in by the residents of the nearby town of Paris, but the inhabitants' strange behaviour - and the alarming number of road accidents in the area - quickly unsettles him. It becomes clear that the town's feral youth rule the streets at night in souped-up cars, and the local hospital is overflowing with brain-damaged crash victims.
Also included on Blu-ray is Peter Weir’s made-for-television psychological thriller that follows an anthropology student and her husband whose lives are disrupted when an over-familiar plumber begins intrusive ‘repairs’.
Special features include:
- Illustrated booklet featuring a new written interview with Peter Weir, an original review, essays on The Cars That Ate Paris by Dr Stephen Morgan and on The Plumber by Tara Judah and writing about his short films by Peter Weir
- Audio commentary on The Cars That Ate Paris by Dr Stephen Morgan
- Interview with actor Terry Camilleri
- Archive interview with the director Peter Weir
- Extensive 1985 Guardian interview with director Peter Weir, recorded around the release of his Oscar-winning film Witness
- 3 To Go: Michael (1970, 31 mins): three young filmmakers, of whom Peter Weir was one, were commissioned by the Australian Commonwealth Film Unit to each write and direct a half-hour fiction drama on the theme of ‘Youth’. These were combined for cinema release as 3 To Go. Michael was Weir’s contribution to the project
- Video essay by Chris O’Neill looking at The Cars That Ate Paris
- Interview with producer Hal McElroy, originally recorded by filmmaker Mark Hartley for his documentary Not Quite Hollywood
- Audio commentary on The Plumber by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson
- Portrait of Australian composer Richard Meale
- Archive interview with director Weir on The Plumber
- Peter Weir's Dream within a Dream (2026, 18 mins): sparked by the discovery of rare outtakes from Picnic at Hanging Rock, this newly made work by Polish filmmaker Jakub Duszynski offers new insight into Weir’s 1975 masterpiece
