French TF1 release of 'In The Mood For Love' question

[BigHairyScotsman]

I was about to order this French release and suddenly wondered if the DVD had English or French language when navigating the DVD? I need to know as I dont read/speak French so it would be a pain if it was.

Also is this the best one or should I go for the Tartan one instead?
Any help would be appreciated, Happy New Year :cool:

BHS

[Jimmyboy]

The Tartan release is identical to the French release (althouth it has different packaging).
The Tartan version is obviously far cheaper and easier to get hold of, so go for that one.

[blessthemess]

yea... everythings ENGLISH if u choose the English option... wic is wat makes this so.... hip.

the R[2]-Tartan release is EXCATLY the same stuff as TF1 -minus the lovely gatefold and booklet en francaise....

i bought 3 versions.... b4 meself! a local R[4] release(wic is BAD), R[2]Belgium(Accidental buy, Same as TF1 but LOUSY packaging) and the gorgeous TF1 i endose....


********
take heed. it will be useful for u to know that there are 2 more versions available soon-to-come wic u must consider~ the HK version, wif exclusive extras and the grand CRITERION one wif a short film. Read the forums. its everywhere.....

:argue: until the CRITERION(FEB26) or HK versions are released to fiends like us, its all plain speculation to wic is the Daddy-O of them all.... heeeeeee.....

[Shingster]

The HK release of ITMFL by Mei Ah isn't meant to be up to the Fenh version's standards. (Bit of a shocker that! ;) )

Here's a review from someone off Usenet:

I thought I'd report on Mei Ah's new 2-DVD Special Edition of "In The Mood For Love."

I have not watched the first disc - the movie itself - so if there are any differences between this DVD and the standard version, I'm not aware of them. I have checked it out for picture quality, however, and I must admit I'm disappointed. The colors do not seem nearly as rich as the French Special Edition - but worse than that is a lot of edge enhancement, creating a halo around just about everything. Ah, well,
the U.S. Criterion comes out in a couple of months, so hopefully that will take care of that...

Oh, and the other problem I had with the movie itself is that the various intertitles are NOT translated (an consistent annoyance in Chinese movies). Consequently, for English speaking viewers, I think the film really loses something because we're not able to read the final words on the screen.

The second disc is more interesting, and I'm happy to report that the extras are a bit different from the incredible French Special Edition. Of course, the French set seems almost unbeatable insofar as the amount of extras are concerned (not to mention the quality of them), and the Mei Ah disc can't begin to compare to it. Still, it was nice to see they did something other than port the other disc's material over, and slap Chinese subtitles on it.

The extras start out with "Four Secrets Behind In The Mood For Love" - which are the four deleted segments also found on the French disc. After a brief, poor quality trailer, we get a 9 minute interview with Wong Kar Wai about the film. This is in Chinese with no English subtitles (thanks, guys). The interview is obviously filmed at the same time as the English-language interview heard on the French disc, as Wong is seated before the same movie poster. It's intercut with
shots from the film's production - some of which I don't believe I've seen before. There's also a brief Maggie Cheung interview (also in Chinese). Next up is an 18 minute segment which features more interviews crosscut with behind the scenes shots. The interviews are with Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung (both in Chinese), but there are more interviews with other members of the cast (if only I could understand what they're saying... sigh...), and some more shots I don't believe are on the French disc, such as a funny scene from the
film of Tony and Maggie doing the Twist.
The next segment is called "Main Cruise and Awards" - about a minute's worth of silent footage of the cast and crew in front of a whole lot of appreciative people, somewhere.
Next up is a showpiece of the gowns that Maggie wears
throughout the film (with more interview), followed by a gallery of Wong Kar Wai's 10 Beautiful Women... um, OK. Ten imagines, with Chinese text. Means nothing to me. Similarly meaningless is the "ten interesting questions" section which follows - since I can't read the questions, this kind of loses the interest for me!. Anyway, it's ten questions followed by clips from the film (or outtakes... nothing that's not elsewhere, I think). Somebody sure liked the number 10,
because this is followed by "10 memorable shots" from the film. Well, as far as I'm concerned, all of them are memorable :-). Finally, we have a song clip from Zhou Xuan singing "Flower Ages" from an old Chinese black and white film. Now THAT certainly isn't in the French disc!

So, all in all, not a very impressive package compared to the French, but head and shoulders above the usual Mei Ah DVD, and nice that it includes a significant amount of material that's not on the French DVD set (while, of course, omitting many of the extras that ARE).


Doug

[BigHairyScotsman]

Thanks fellas, its what I thought, the TF1 is the package to go for, its just that its £20 which is slightly richer than Id pay for a DVD, still..................... its only money :D

BHS

[Shingster]

The Criterion is listed as $25.95can at ABsound Graeme. If it's shipped as a single disc, then it'll be around £13.80!!!
This price could well be an error though, so your pre-order could get cancelled!!:(
Mine hasn't been cancelled yet though.

[BigHairyScotsman]

Originally posted by Shingster
The Criterion is listed as $25.95can at ABsound Graeme. If it's shipped as a single disc, then it'll be around £13.80!!!
This price could well be an error though, so your pre-order could get cancelled!!:(
Mine hasn't been cancelled yet though.

Now thats more like it :D, under £14 for a CC, you could be right about it being a misprint though!!

[Rohail]

It's just about the same price at DVDboxoffice, I will most likely buy the Criterion version, not too bothered about the extras.

[BigHairyScotsman]

Originally posted by Shingster
The Criterion is listed as $25.95can at ABsound Graeme. If it's shipped as a single disc, then it'll be around £13.80!!!
This price could well be an error though, so your pre-order could get cancelled!!:(
Mine hasn't been cancelled yet though.

Well found the only listing for ITMFL at ABsound but dont know if this is the one as it says its out of stock, and doesnt say its CC release either. You couldnt post the details for me could you?

[Shingster]

I don't think there's been a R1 release of this film yet Graeme. I just presumed it had to be the Criterion version. Interesting that it says in stock within 2-3 weeks, as the Criterion release is pencillied in for Feb 26th. Although, DVDBoxOffce also state it's release date as Jan22nd.
BTW apparantly DVDBoxOffice have started to cancel pre-orders at the $25.95 price.

[Idle Child]

personally, if i could buy the disc again, i'd go for the tartan release.

dont get me wrong, the r2 French Release is a suberb disc, fantastic extras, great packaging <- but in French ofcourse! Yes, the menus can be accessed/navigated in English.. but the booklet that comes with the french dvd (unless you're fluent in french) is a hard one to read.. so if the tartan comes with the french booklet translated, i'd go for that instead of the french disc as for the english side of things, the discs seem identical.

and afterall, this is the UK ;)

[BigHairyScotsman]

Originally posted by Shingster
I don't think there's been a R1 release of this film yet Graeme. I just presumed it had to be the Criterion version. Interesting that it says in stock within 2-3 weeks, as the Criterion release is pencillied in for Feb 26th. Although, DVDBoxOffce also state it's release date as Jan22nd.
BTW apparantly DVDBoxOffice have started to cancel pre-orders at the $25.95 price.

Not its not on R1 so maybe thats ABsounds way of saying pre-order :D. Its a pity about DVDbo cancelling as its now $Can 46.95 = £20 :(

Idle child the Tartan seemingly doesnt include the booklet, but the French packaging is lurvley, however if its whats inside thats important then I suppose Tartan release is the logical choice :)