Question: "Amélie" on the Canadian Blu-Ray (1 Viewer)

[Morsoth]

Hi guys,

 

I have a question for you.

 

I'm a french-canadian, and I am quite unsure about which edition of Amélie (Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain) to buy on Blu-Ray.

 

Like many people here, I'm always listening a movie in his original language audio track (If it's a German movie, I listen it in German with english subtitle -- If it's an american movie, I just put the audio (without subtitle since I'm bilingual) but when I listen a french movie, well, I let it that way because I'm french...)

 

As I can understand, the Canadien release by TVA Film has a bad video transfert in 1080i

But on the other side, the American release by Miramax (encoded in a marvelous 1080p) has the english subtitle burned in the picture...

 

I really don't need the subtitle in english (why they didn't put the subtitle as an option?!), but on the other side, I need to know if the Canadian release is not too bad.

 

So, in short, if you have buyed the Canadian Blu-Ray released by TVA Film, can you tell me how really is the 1080i transfert? Is it really that bad? It is something to avoid, hoping than they'll re-release it again on 1080p?

 

Thank you very much!

 

-- Patrick

 

[James Luckard]

I've never heard of this American Blu-Ray you're talking about, there's no listing for it at Amazon.com just a bunch of imports, are you sure it exists?

But on the other side, the American release by Miramax (encoded in a marvelous 1080p) has the english subtitle burned in the picture...

 

[Brian Borst]

If you're French, I suggest you buy the French Blu-ray, which is 1080P, and approved by Jean-Pierre Jeunet himself. It's not English-friendly, so I won't suggest it to anyone else, but for you it seems like the best option.

 

[Worth]

Actually, the TVA disc without English subtitles is 1080i and poor quality to boot:

 

http://www.amazon.ca/Amelie-Blu-ray/dp/B001AZ5IVU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1283006665&sr=8-2

 

The new Alliance disc released this July is 1080p with excellent image quality and includes English subs:

 

http://www.amazon.ca/amelie-Blu-ray/dp/B003H9LIUC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1283006665&sr=8-1

 

[Morsoth]

Originally Posted by James Luckard


I've never heard of this American Blu-Ray you're talking about, there's no listing for it at Amazon.com just a bunch of imports, are you sure it exists?

Sorry, I mean Alliance, not Miramax!

 

 

Originally Posted by Brian Borst   If you're French, I suggest you buy the French Blu-ray, which is 1080P, and approved by Jean-Pierre Jeunet himself

 

If I import a French Blu-Ray from France, will it work on my USA-Canada Player?

I'm quite new in the Blu-Ray Disc world, but I now they still code the disc, Like Region A, Region B...

Maybe my Panasonic Player can be Region Free, I'll check.

 

Thank you!
 

 

[Brian Borst]

Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot to mention that (having a region free player myself does that). I checked and it's unfortunately region locked, I'm afraid. So it's no good.

 

[Worth]

Alliance releases are hit and miss, but the new Amelie is excellent. No reason not to buy it and no need to import.

 

[Morsoth]

I'm sure about it Worth, but I'm French and I don't need the forced subtitles in the picture.

 

Too bad I've sold my DVD Edition before reading the review of those Blu-Ray Editions...

 

I guess I'll have to wait and hope TVA Film re-release this movie (I read Amélie was one of their first Blu-Ray, so that's probably explain the 1080i mistake). Hopefully they'll include all the bonus features previously released on the Collector Edition DVD...

 

[CraigF]

^ I wouldn't be too hopeful re TVA, they have an awful reputation for home video releases in the Canadian market. It was rare, presuming it ever happened, that they did a competent DVD release PQ-wise compared to what was available in other markets. I don't have any of their BDs.

 

It is unfortunate that Alliance did burnt-in subtitles though. I don't mind that a lot, but don't absolutely need them and wouldn't mind the choice. I don't have this BD yet, will try to find a copy tonight. Screenshots indicate the Alliance BD is much more "natural-looking" than any previous DVD or BD and I don't think this is probably correct, it should look more warm and orangey. Still, I can live with it as-is...maybe somebody can say whether the previous look was correct compared to in the theater.

 

[Edwin-S]

I'm going to look at it tonight. Although I have only seen it on DVD, I always remember this film as having a very vibrant colour palette with highly saturated primary colours, especially green. The colour work in the film, along with the great score, was one of the elements that I found most impressive about the film. I hope they didn't screw that element up. The colour work and the music really added to the warm, quirky and funny story.

 

[Morsoth]

 

Originally Posted by CraigF

^ I wouldn't be too hopeful re TVA, they have an awful reputation for home video releases in the Canadian market.

 

Arg, too bad. Well, maybe I'll get the US Edition after all, I'll try to not look at the subtitles!

 

[CraigF]

^ You might prefer the Australian version (not region locked, so you can play it OK), which has optional subtitles. Heck, even I noticed the poor translation of some on the Miramax DVD, so they'd probably really annoy you... Apparently the Alliance (Canadian) BD uses a better translation than the Miramax DVD, which helps if you're forced to see subtitles.

 

[Morsoth]

Thanks CraigF, I'll make some searches about the australian version!

 

[Edwin-S]

I watched the Alliance version last night. I thought the colour palette of the film looked quite similar to my DVD version of the film, except the BD colour depth was noticeably better. The film didn't look all that "natural-looking" to me as red, yellow-orange, green and blue were all "pumped" just like in previous releases. The PQ of the BD was considerably better than my DVD copy. I find it inexplicable that Alliance would go with burned-in subs, considering that the film (being a Canadian release) would be available to a large Francophone population; however, in my case, I do prefer the look of the burned-in titles over the player generated ones on my DVD copy. Still, Alliance should have given more consideration to the fact that there is a group of Canadians that do not require subs on French language tracks and should have made the subs selectable. Other than that, I thought the BD release of the film was done quite well.
 

 

[CraigF]

^ Agree with you on that. My observations (Miramax DVD vs Alliance BD) don't indicate the wide deviation the screencaps I mentioned before that I saw seemed to show. In reality it's still pretty "orangey". What the heck does that mean anyway? I latched on to their use of that term (make the world orange, or something like that) in the film the first time I saw it (the DVD) and ever since used it to describe its look, because it seemed a bit orangey in color to me. I assume it has a more profound meaning...

 

Subtitle translation still isn't that great, no matter. At least the subs are all inside the picture area (unlike for the Australian BD), useful for some with PJs.

 

[Phil Carter]

Edwin, if you have the Alliance version, is this one it? (ASIN: B001FXW0W2, link below)

 

http://www.amazon.com/Amelie-Blu-ray-Audrey-Tautou/dp/B001FXW0W2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1283264081&sr=8-1

 

The link doesn't mention which studio released this one and it also says the release date is 2008...which doesn't sound like the Alliance disc, if that one was released in July 2010. If this is the low-quality 1080i version with no English subs, it won't do me a bit of good.

 

Maybe I'll get the Alliance one direct from Amazon.ca instead....I'm just in the midst of putting together another large order from Amazon.com and it'd be nice to have everything come from one source.

 

cheers,

Phil

 

 

 

[Edwin-S]

No. That cover is from the Japanese release. The disc is region free and was originally released in 2008. I don't know why Amazon.com would be selling it since, according to the info I found, it contains only French and Japanese subtitles. The Alliance release uses the same cover but uses the title "Amelie" near the bottom of the photo. There is a large banner at the top that states "5 Academy Award Nominations". There are also two tag lines. One states "The feel-good movie of the year" and the other states "She'll change your life". Honestly, I like the look of the Japanese cover better, because the design work is clean and simple. The Alliance one looks kind of cluttered; however, it's the film inside is what matters.

 

[Phil Carter]

Thanks ever so much, Edwin. Looks like I'd better pick up the Alliance release from the Amazon.ca link that Nick posted earlier in the thread.

 

cheers,

Phil