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Region 4 Winners and Losers

Region 4 Winners and Losers

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Explanatory Notes
Additions or corrections (Please refer to the Explanatory Notes before emailing an addition or correction to this listing)
Title Best
Three Colours: Red (Trois Couleurs Rouge)R2UK
(This section updated May 2003, following release in Region 1. )

    This trilogy was released in DVD in Region 2 by Artificial Eye/MkII Editions in 2001 and this was, until recently, the clear and obvious preference over Region 4, both for source and transfer quality and for the very comprehensive extras package Region 2 received. However after much ado, the trilogy has now finally been released by Miramax in Region 1, and the decision as to which is now the better release is less clear-cut. Region 1 benefits from not only (mostly) the same extras as Region 2, but some exciting new ones including additional interviews and a commentary track. However weighed against this is differences in the quality of the transfers, plus Region 1 being in NTSC. Let's start by looking at extras, first the Region 2 release and then highlighting the new Region 1 extras.

In comparison to Region 2, the Region 4 release misses out on:

  • A decent transfer effort direct from film,
  • 1.78:1 16x9 enhanced transfer (note that the Region 2 aspect ratio is not 1.85:1, as some reviews indicate),
  • Dolby Digital 5.0 audio (note that the Region 2 audio track for Red is not just Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, as many reviews indicate),
  • Discrete English subtitle stream (not burned on to the image),
  • Theatrical trailers for Blue, White and Red,
  • Featurette: "Krzysztof Kieslowski's Master class", a superb 10 minute excerpt from an interview with the director at the editing table, discussing a few scene from the film,
  • Featurette: "Making of Red" (24 minutes/8 segments), not narrated, but just a fly-on-the-wall look behind the scenes during filming,
  • Featurette: Director and cast interview at Cannes 1994 (15 minutes),
  • Interview segments (6):  Irene Jacob, discussing scenes from the film,
  • Interview segments (3) with editor Jacques Witta,  
  • Interview segments (4): producer Marin Karmitz, and
  • Isolated music score extracts (3), played over the main menu screen.

In comparison to Region 1, the Region 4 release misses out on:

  • all of the above, except note that the Region 1 audio is Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround encoded - not 5.0 - and Region 1 also misses out on the isolated music score extracts
  • Audio Commentary by Annette Insdorf (refer below)
  • Featurette: "Insights into Three Colours Red" (22:23), an interesting analysis and discussion of the film by film critics
  • Featurette: "Conversation with Irene Jacob on K" (10:28)
  • Director's filmography
  • Trailer for Heaven

    Annette Insdorf had nothing at all to do with the making of the films, but was a personal language translator for and close friend of Kieslowski for many years and so had exclusive access to the recluse director for interviews over a prolonged period of time. Insdorf is a scholar, film critic and writer, being the author of the book "Double Lives and Second Chances: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski", which is highly recommended. The audio commentary is authoritative, well-planned, enlightening and is virtually non-stop. It provides a fantastic insight into the development of the story and K's layering of imagery. In fact, I found this audio commentary to be probably the best of all three, in terms of the amount of illumination it provided, but I would have to say that all three commentaries are great. Still, do bear in mind this commentary remains by someone completely unrelated to the film.

    OK, so Region 1 is the clear winner in terms of extras; it gets (virtually) all of the Region 2 goodies, plus much more. But what about transfer qualities? Well, this is not an easy choice at all - a harder decision even than for Blue or White. I am going to stick with the Region 2 transfer though, as it still benefits form superior PAL video resolution, full 5-channel audio specs and more subtle subtitling. There is no denying that new Region 1 print is  warmer and probably a bit sharper, and the increased colour saturation does suit this film (more so than the other two) by artificially enhancing the element of warmness in the colour palette. In comparison, the Region 2 colouring may be said to be more reserved and even a bit washed, yes, but it still remains subtle and, in my opinion, more faithful. Check out DVDCompare's comparison page here, and note the screen captures.

    This is a very difficult choice and the decision will be one of personal preference. Despite the additional extras it misses out on, I feel the extras package on Region 2 still provides enough of an insight into the film that the missed extras and commentary only provide incrementally greater insight, and this is outweighed by superior audio and, arguably, more faithful video transfers. If you are obsessed about this film enough like me to justify investing in it more than once, then my recommendation is buy Region 2 for the film transfer and Region 1 for the extras. Indeed, that's the order in which these two discs now appear at the top of my top 10 DVDs list.