Three Colours Trilogy - R2 [Archive] - Forums @ The Digital Fix

Joe91

27-10-2001, 14:46

Originally posted by APPRIA40WR
They do have.

He recorded them from the grave! :D

The commentaries are just recordings from interviews etc :)
That's a pity, the French discs have commentaries by Juliette Binoche, Jaques Witta, Julie Delpy & Irene Jacob - which look unlikely to be subtitled :mad:

APPRIA40WR

27-10-2001, 16:56

I'm not a fan of commentaries anyway but I don't get the point of a subtitled commentary as not only do we not get the facial expressions we don't get the true words.

Joe91

27-10-2001, 17:11

Originally posted by APPRIA40WR
I'm not a fan of commentaries anyway but I don't get the point of a subtitled commentary as not only do we not get the facial expressions we don't get the true words.
I was a bit wary myself and wasn't sure how successful it would be, but the commentary on the R1 "Amores Perros" (Spanish with English subs) is well worth a read :D .

I'm now waiting for the first MK2 Truffaut boxset ("Jules et Jim" etc) which also has subtitled commentaries, but the release date keeps getting pushed back :( . Unfortunately they don't seem to be subtitling the extras on the other Truffault & Kieslowski boxsets :mad:

DavidMcGowan

29-10-2001, 00:45

Originally posted by Joe91

That's a pity, the French discs have commentaries by Juliette Binoche, Jaques Witta, Julie Delpy & Irene Jacob - which look unlikely to be subtitled :mad:

Are you sure that these aren't the "Interviews with Juliette Binoche, Jacques Witta (editor) and Marin Karmitz (producer)" on Blue, "Interviews with Irene Jacob, Jacques Witta (editor) and Marin Karmitz (producer)" on Red and "Interviews with Star Julie Delpy & Marin Karmitz (Producer)" on White UK? Perhaps I'm grasping at straws, but I really want the UK editions to be good.

And I wish MK2 would hurry up and release the first Truffaut set!

Michael Brooke

29-10-2001, 08:09

I don't get the point of a subtitled commentary as not only do we not get the facial expressions we don't get the true words.

You could easily extend that argument to raise objections to watching anything not in the English language!

In any case, I don't understand what you mean - you do get the true words, and it's up to you whether your grasp of French, Spanish or whatever is good enough to process them. A dubbed commentary would be far worse!

APPRIA40WR

29-10-2001, 08:32

Yes, I understand what you're saying Michael but you've copy and pasted (and quoted) bits of my post killing off the original context.

I don't like commentaries per se and I would find them even less attractive were they in a Foreign language (that I did not know) because (as I said) I need the facial expression to relate to what the people are saying -bringing us back to what I said about my not enjoying commentaries.

I can't (I find it almost impossible) listen to the radio for the same reason.

It's a cognitive thing -take my word for it :D

DavidMcGowan

29-10-2001, 19:49

Just bumping this back up to the top to see if anyone's had a chance to have a look at these discs yet. Assuming that Artifical Eye haven't made a complete mess of these discs, I'll order them ASAP. So, any brief reviews would be appreciated.

APPRIA40WR

29-10-2001, 21:32

Lee from another site said this earlier on uk.media.dvd :

I have all three here and can confirm that they don't have
commentary's from Kieslowski, or certainly not what you would want or
expect from a commentary track at any rate. Artificial Eye have
sourced the original Masterclass interviews/seminars given in 1994
which are scene specific. Kieslowski basically interrupts key scenes
during the film and is shown deconstructing and describing the
directorial process. There's also not very much of it - White covers
just the opening 10 minutes, for example. Not quite as satisfying as
a true dir comm but better than nothing, which, as you point out, is
the alternative seeing as he's dead.

The Boogerman

29-10-2001, 21:46

From The Digital Bits (http://www.thedigitalbits.com/rumormill.html)

Miramax also has a bunch of great DVD special editions on the way for next year. Some titles currently in production are ...............Three Colors Trilogy (Blue, White and Red).

So if extras are your bag, and French isn't. You might want to hang on, but there are no clues here of content.

Joe91

29-10-2001, 22:36

Originally posted by DavidMcGowan

Are you sure that these aren't the "Interviews with Juliette Binoche, Jacques Witta (editor) and Marin Karmitz (producer)" on Blue, "Interviews with Irene Jacob, Jacques Witta (editor) and Marin Karmitz (producer)" on Red and "Interviews with Star Julie Delpy & Marin Karmitz (Producer)" on White UK? Perhaps I'm grasping at straws, but I really want the UK editions to be good.

And I wish MK2 would hurry up and release the first Truffaut set!
You might right. MK2 list them as "le commentaire" which translates as "the comments" - so they could just be interviews. The first page of their 'Trois Coleur' web site mentions "Interwiews (sic)/Commentaires" - which might be one and the same thing.

On the other hand they say that their Truffaut discs contain "commentaire du film" which I believe are running commentaries!

I think I'm getting a headache :(

Barney_Tabasco

30-10-2001, 08:44

Yeah, this is driving me mad too - you know when you just want to order the darn things!!!

Edge

30-10-2001, 14:30

Just seen these in HMV and had a read of the backs - wasn't going to but them at £19.99 apiece :)

All three are listed as 5.1 sound with anamorphic pictures and carry a Kieslowski "Masterclass" plus interviews with the leading ladies - no commentaries

Edge

kat23

30-10-2001, 14:45

Mine have just shipped from Amazon so should be here tomorrow! :D

Michael Brooke

30-10-2001, 15:28

Going from the back of the Artificial Eye box plus the specs on the MK2 site, my guess is that they're identical - there are too many similarities to be a coincidence, and Artificial Eye's Rosetta was clearly manufactured for a number of European distributors as well as them, so they've done this sort of thing before.

Barney_Tabasco

30-10-2001, 15:42

The first person to post comparisons/reviews gets a Mars bar :D

Ghost Dog

31-10-2001, 17:26

Anyone got these yet?

kat23

31-10-2001, 17:41

Originally posted by Ghost Dog
Anyone got these yet?

Got mine today, though haven't had a chance to look at them. Will have a quick look in a minute.

kat23

31-10-2001, 18:00

Well had a quick look and they seem pretty good to me. Good picture, sound is good too.

The extras are as it says on the box, masterclasses which are not very good quality picture but that'll be the source material. Interviews which seem like they will be quite interesting and trailers.

The menus are very basic but do the job. And in fact the interviews are sectioned up too so you can jump to the right bit of those too.

Also a selection of the original soundtrack for you to listen to. I think 3 tracks each disc.

Haven't seen these films before, keep meaning to but always seemed to miss them! So I think I'll have to watch them over the weekend.

Oh and there is an MK2 screen before the artificail eye one if that makes any sense so perhaps that does mean they are the same?

APPRIA40WR

31-10-2001, 18:09

FFS :D

So they do have English subs, then?

kat23

31-10-2001, 18:28

Originally posted by APPRIA40WR
FFS :D

So they do have English subs, then?

Um, yes, these are the UK releases.

APPRIA40WR

31-10-2001, 19:04

:D I thought you were talking about the French discs.

Soz :D

Michael Brooke

31-10-2001, 21:25

APPRIA40WR

31-10-2001, 21:39

OK, Michael I'm taking you're learned advice and ordered the French discs.

If it goes pear shaped mate I don't think postage would cost you much more than £10 for the return :D

Anyway, I'm convinced enough - so I've ordered the Artificial Eye discs.

Surely the best deal is the French boxset? Mine cost £27 delivered with a FF5 off coupon.

Joe91

01-11-2001, 00:29

Originally posted by APPRIA40WR
OK, Michael I'm taking you're learned advice and ordered the French discs.

If it goes pear shaped mate I don't think postage would cost you much more than £10 for the return :D

Anyway, I'm convinced enough - so I've ordered the Artificial Eye discs.

Surely the best deal is the French boxset? Mine cost £27 delivered with a FF5 off coupon.
The French boxset is certainly the best deal - if you speak French. The MK2 website makes no mention of English subtitles, although I would like to be proved wrong as I prefer the covers of the French disks ;)

Noel M

01-11-2001, 07:53

Given the presence of the MK2 logo on the Artificial Eye discs, plus the strong similarities between the content of the latter and descriptions of the MK2 discs, I think it's now a virtual certainty that the discs are essentially identical on both sides of the English channel.

I'd agree that they are likely to be essentially identical. All the menus on the Artificial Eye releases are standard MK2 menus, rather than AE menus. However, there are no French menus or French options on the AE disks, so it is unlikely that they will be exactly the same. There's certainly no guarantee that the French releases wil have English subtitles.

The quality of the UK disks looks great and they appear to have all the extras listed for the MK2 releases. Great to finally see these films released on DVD.

kat23

01-11-2001, 07:58

Originally posted by Joe91

The French boxset is certainly the best deal - if you speak French. The MK2 website makes no mention of English subtitles, although I would like to be proved wrong as I prefer the covers of the French disks ;)

The UK dvds have reversable covers. One side is like the AE vhs covers and the other is the same as the ones on the amazon.fr site.

cover for white (http://www.dvdstreet.infront.co.uk/Show.jhtml?prod_id=17337208&laf=covers)

Michael Brooke

03-11-2001, 11:02

OK, I've now had a look at the Artificial Eye Three Colours: Blue, and I can now confirm that the disc was manufactured originally by MK2 in France.

The dead giveaway is that the menu design, including the typefaces and general layout, is an exact replica of the menu and navigation style used on the Truffaut and other MK2 discs, and it doesn't resemble any of Artificial Eye's usual efforts.

So I think it's an absolute certainty that the transfers will be the same, and I suspect the extras are too (Kieslowski masterclass, interviews, trailers, soundtrack excerpts) - but as the Artificial Eye disc only offers English menus, I presume there's a separate French master... and so I don't know whether that has subtitles.

So my advice is to go for the Artificial Eye discs until someone confirms for definite whether or not the French discs have subtitles.

(As for overall quality, I haven't watched the main feature yet, but a quick glance reveals an anamorphic transfer from a virtually pristine print, and the sound came across fine too. More details when I've explored in more depth).

Michael Brooke

03-11-2001, 11:21

Just to clear up the "commentaries" confusion, the Juliette Binoche section is a selective commentary, in that it's only available over nine scenes, and those scenes can only be selected via the extras menu - you can't change them on the fly.

As for the other extras, the Jacques Witta (editor) and Marin Karmitz (producer) pieces are more conventional to-camera interviews, but they also include extracts from the film with commentaries, and are lengthy enough to get six and five chapter stops respectively.

I'm pretty sure I've seen the Kieslowski masterclass before - I remember taping something similar off BBC2's 'Moving Pictures' back in 1994. Anyway, it runs seven and a half minutes and focuses on his approach to small but telling details.

Three trailers are included, for each film in the trilogy - and finally, there are three excerpts from Zbigniew Preisner's score.

Going from descriptions on French sites, this sounds identical to what you can get over there... but I'm increasingly convinced that the French discs do not have subtitles. In fact, there's every reason for them not to have, since it's highly likely that Artificial Eye came to a contractual agreement with MK2 to prevent them encroaching on each other's markets.

Hendrik

03-11-2001, 11:55

"...In fact, there's every reason for them not to have [subtitles], since it's highly likely that Artificial Eye came to a contractual agreement with MK2 to prevent them encroaching on each other's markets."

...which, not so incidentally, also explains why R2/Europe DVDs are, generally, more expensive than R1 discs ... the advantages offered by 'economy of scale' are missing with European DVDs...

. . . :( . . .

Richie

03-11-2001, 12:12

I take it that the AE versions are only available seperately?
ie. there's no boxset is there?

ta
Richie

phlebas

03-11-2001, 16:15

It appears so. Which makes them somewhat more expensive, even if you get them from Play for £14.99 each. And we miss out on the fourth disk too.

Richie

03-11-2001, 17:46

Originally posted by phlebas
And we miss out on the fourth disk too.

Sorry if I'm being dense but what's on the 4th disc? (I assume that's in the French boxset?)

Gary Couzens

03-11-2001, 22:06

Could someone confirm the sound formats on the Artificial Eye discs? According to the packaging, all three are Dolby Digital 5.1 but according to the display on my player Blue and White are 5.0 and Red is 2.0! Is this correct or is there an error somewhere?

By the way, the aspect ratio of all three films is 1.85:1, not 1.66:1 as was suggested in an earlier thread.

phlebas

03-11-2001, 23:12

Originally posted by Richie

Sorry if I'm being dense but what's on the 4th disc? (I assume that's in the French boxset?)

According to www.dvdfr.com (http://www.dvdfr.com/dvd/fiche.php3?id=4402), the fourth disk in the French box-set is supposed to contain the documentary 'Kieslowski on Kieslowski'.

Joe91

04-11-2001, 14:04

Originally posted by phlebas

According to www.dvdfr.com (http://www.dvdfr.com/dvd/fiche.php3?id=4402), the fourth disk in the French box-set is supposed to contain the documentary 'Kieslowski on Kieslowski'.
I think this is a mistake, the MK2 website here (http://www.mk2.com/trilogie/home.html) makes no mention of a fourth disk.

Hendrik

04-11-2001, 14:19

...ahh... but... and yet... and still...

http://www.dvdfr.com/dvd/fiche.php3?id=4402

...so I ordered the 4-disc set from à la page...

http://www.alapage.com/mx/?id=27601998794813&donnee_appel=ALAPAGE&tp=F&type=4&VID_NUMERO=482643&devise=&fulltext=trois+couleurs&sv=X_L

(note that it mentions the bonus disc!)

...and they confirmed my order (although, to be frank, they might 'unconfirm' it if indeed it turns out the set consists of three discs only)... I'll know for sure soon enough, I guess...

. . . :o . . .

Mark B

04-11-2001, 15:44

It's been postponed again!!!! Amazon just sent me an email telling em it'll be out on the 20th...2 more weeks to wait - if they do release them then!

That said some distributors have been postponing release dates to then release them on the previously announced date - so they seem to be early! :rolleyes:

Still Mk2's own website seems to think that ir's due out tomorrow... What's going on?

Mark B

04-11-2001, 15:55

Originally posted by Hendrik
...ahh... but... and yet... and still...
........
(note that it mentions the bonus disc!)

Also on the mk2.com site it says it a coffret de luxe which implies there's something more coming with it

...or it may just be a luxury piece of cardboard to hold the three dvds together:D

Tristan H

04-11-2001, 19:36

I just watched Blue for the first time tonight. An interesting film, but it certainly seemed to lack something in my view. Slightly too depressing, but the ending montage was rather spectacular.

APPRIA40WR

04-11-2001, 22:15

Glad you weren't impressed. £12 OK? gary@dr.com

:D

Tristan H

04-11-2001, 23:27

Originally posted by APPRIA40WR
Glad you weren't impressed. £12 OK? gary@dr.com

:D

No, I was impressed, it's just that it was very gloomy and there wasn't much relief from the sadness of it all. I still found it fascinating and will be watching it again, so I'll have to decline your offer! :)

APPRIA40WR

04-11-2001, 23:53

Suit yerself :rolleyes:

:D

Noel M

05-11-2001, 07:03

Originally posted by Gary Couzens
Could someone confirm the sound formats on the Artificial Eye discs? According to the packaging, all three are Dolby Digital 5.1 but according to the display on my player Blue and White are 5.0 and Red is 2.0! Is this correct or is there an error somewhere?

Despite what it says on the packaging, none of the disks have 5.1 sound, as you say, Gary. I find this a bit strange and wonder whether this will be corrected on the French releases. Having said that, while I haven't actually watched all the films through I don't think the lack of 5.1 sound is going to be terribly noticeable.

Joe91

05-11-2001, 17:54

Originally posted by APPRIA40WR
Glad you weren't impressed. £12 OK? gary@dr.com

:D
It's £11.85 new from Amazon if you use a dodgy £5 refer-youself coupon ;)

APPRIA40WR

05-11-2001, 18:20

http://members.tripod.co.uk/uploadimages/shock.gif

I wouldn't dare!

:D

The Boogerman

05-11-2001, 19:15

For those with Film Four, Kieslowski's two extended Decalogue episodes are on tonight and tomorrow. A Short Film About Killing is on tonight (Tuesday morning to be exact) at 01:30, and A Short Film About Love is on tomorrow night at midnight.