Customer Reviews

Mon pere ce heros

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First things first: Probably any English-speaking fan of this film is wondering whether there are English subtitles or a dubbed English dialogue track on this DVD. The answer is no. There are no subtitle tracks or alternate audio tracks I could access with the "Subtitle" and "Audio" buttons on my DVD player, nor are there any menu options for the like.

Unfortunately, this is not the only disappointment.

I love this film, and though it's always been hard to locate in the U.S. (probably because of rights issues, given the Disney remake), I managed to get a VHS copy of the original French version from an Asian Alliance Francaise branch, and the French version is one of my favourite comedies. The chemistry between young Marie Gillain and lovable, lumbering yet sensitive Gerard Depardieu is terrific, and the film explores the single father-daughter relationship superbly.

But alas, this DVD doesn't do the film justice.

Lack of English-language tracks aside, the DVD menu looks like it was designed by a first-year iDVD user, with horrible fonts and only a single button: Film (play the movie). The background picture looks underexposed, like it was taken by a non-photographer member of the crew. The film itself doesn't look like it underwent any kind of remastering; the picture could have been dubbed from a tape, for all I know. And what happens if you press "Menu" while the film is playing? You go back to the menu and can't get back to the point where you'd stopped the film -- a very basic feature of any feature-film DVD release.

In fact, one more thing makes me question the producer of this DVD: On my old VHS copy, the film opens on the drum-machine intro of the title song, "Sans mensonges" ("No Lies", sung by lead actress Gillain, if I remember correctly), and has one or two producer credits on top. On this DVD, once you start the film, you open on a different, later credit and Gillain is already singing the first line. What happened to the intro of the song? Was it legal issues with the old credits? Just lopping the head off the pivotal title song isn't a solution.

What a wonderfully funny, warm and fun film. But what a crappy DVD release. Given how hard it is to find a hard copy of this film, I still don't regret buying it. But if you don't speak any French, or if you expect some effort to have been put into this DVD to make it look better than ever, you should think twice.