I heard that the American release theatrical of “The Others” was badly cut up to fit in the “mandatory” two hour time frame. Does anyone know if the DVD restores these cut scenes?
What mandatory 2-hour time frame? I can’t remember the last time I went to a movie that was only two hours long.
The one I rented came with 2 DVDs. I don’t think anything was cut. However, the sound quality was so bad that I didn’t watch more than a few minutes of it.
I bought the DVD on Tuesday. It seems to be a frame-for-frame copy of what I saw in the theaters.
On a related note, I learned on repeat viewing that The Others is a great movie only once. Once you know the “twist” the suspense falls rather flat. And it’s a rather minimalist movie by today’s standards, which just goes to show… I don’t know what, but undoubtedly it’s something profound. Anyway, I don’t like it as much now that I own it on DVD. C’est la vie…
rasta, that suprises me. I rented it the other day, really enjoyed it, wanted to watch it again, but didn’t have time. I thought that a second viewing would be interesting. Too bad.
The sound was bad on my copy as well, ladydisco.
I don’t think it loses much at all on 2nd viewing. It’s so atmospheric, the look of the film is beautiful, the acting is incredible…there’s much more there than the “twist” and it’s all worth seeing again.
I unfortunately knew the ending before I saw it for the first time, thanks to some dickhead on a newsgroup who put it in the Subject Line. I went to see it anyway because I like Nicole Kidman, and it just looked good. I wasn’t disappointed at all, though I wish I hadn’t known. I knew my husband would love it so I took him, and he was completely spoiler-free. He did love it, and so did I, again.
The sound was beautiful when I watched it. I also knew the twist ending (I have zero self control when it comes to spoilers - and yes, I always read the back of the book first), but I didn’t find that it detracted from the movie at all.
I thought the movie was just fantastic. It held my attention without car chases, profanity, or over-the-top special effects. I found the use of sound and silence very effective. The limited number of characters and the fog added to the feeling of claus… clausto… being boxed in.
This is a DVD I’ll probably buy.
I just saw it on tape (first time) and thought it was prety good. The only thing that I couldn’t figure out was what the father was doing there. If he’s dead, what’s he doing there? And why does he leave?
Just saw it last night. The father had died on the front and his spirit returned, as he says, to just say goodbye to his wife and kids. Then he has to go back to the front (where he died) one would assume to haunt it. good flick though I had it figured out about 70 minutes in.
flyboy, the father also doesn’t know that he’s dead. He returns (doesn’t know why), and leaves because he feels he needs to get back to the front (of the war that’s been over for 30 years).
Thanks for shedding light on it, guys. I guess what threw me off was that neither the family nor the maids could leave the estate, so it didn’t make sense to me that a soldier killed on the battlefield could leave there and wander around. The look the maid gave him when they were first introduced also confused me. Weird movie.
I remember that dickhead. As I recall, his persistence in spoiling the movie bordered on obsession. I’ve never read rec.arts.movies.current-films again, because of that nonsense.
I haven’t seen the DVD but I loved this movie in the theatre. The acting, cinematography, and direction were all top notch. Nicole Kidman should have received a best actress nomination for her role in this movie and not the over-rated, migraine-inducing Moulin Rouge.
I was very confused about the location. It was apparently filmed in Spain, the story took place in Spain, the director was Spanish, but everyone in the movie had a British accent.
Bob
IIRC and AFAIK, the action was meant to have taken place on one of the Channel Islands (Guernsey?), which are British, and lie just off the coast of France.
The movie begins with these words printed on the screen:
ISLE OF JERSEY, 1945
Just watched this last night with some friends. We knew there was a twist at the end and had it pretty much figured out half-way into the movie. It was a good flick, though. Nicole Kidman did do a great job and the kids were pretty convincing, too.
I didn’t understand why she killed the kids and herself. Was is because she found out her husband was killed and couldn’t take it? Was it because her kids’ illness was too much for her to handle?