MovieChat Forums > Le pacte des loups (2002) Discussion > Subtitles in theater vs. DVD

Subtitles in theater vs. DVD

posted 14 years ago by indotexan
9 replies | jump to latest

A friend dragged me to the theater to see this...and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I especially liked the dialogue, it was, at times, witty and other times it was almost poetic. I don't speak French at all so I relied on the subtitles.

A few years ago I rented the DVD & watched it, and the subtitles were not the same. They said the same thing, but I assume were not direct translations.

One scene that I remember in particular was where some Frenchmen were pestering Manny about his skin color. One asks him if he can sleep with a white woman. His response, in the theatrical version was: "Every woman is the same color when the candle is blown out by the wind."

In the DVD version that I saw it was: "Every woman is the same color when the lights go out." Not as witty or poetic at all! And I remember one other scene where Fronsac is flirting with a woman (I think she maybe was a member of the aritocracy) while they're riding horses. Again, the dialogue isn't near as witty or poetic.

Anybody else notice this and/or know where I could get a copy with the original subtitles? I'd buy it if I could find it.

"I stick my neck out for nobody."- Rick Blaine, Casablanca

[–] Dust_Indotex 8 years ago

*shameless bump*

I posted this 5 years ago, but it still stands. Where can I find a version (DVD or digital copy) with the theatrical subtitles?

[–] kwestmo (4385) 4 years ago

I would like that also

[–] Ace_Spade (9659) 4 years ago

It seems like this probably isn't the type of film to get more care put into the subtitles on an alternate DVD release. Shame, too, because it's a great movie.

[–] kwestmo (4385) 4 years ago

Agreed. I have the director's cut and it has the sub titles mentioned above. That is probably the best we'll ever get

[–] Ace_Spade (9659) 4 years ago

Why would they release it in theatres with one set of subtitles and redo them for the DVD, though...?

[–] kwestmo (4385) 4 years ago

I am guessing the subtitles don't come with the film and are added later by the distributor. But why I don't know. What you are saying makes sense.

[–] Ace_Spade (9659) 4 years ago

You'd think subtitles would be created for a movie and then just go out on the DVD, too; like, that would be part of the original agreement.

The only reason I can think of for changing them would be to improve them, not remove the poetry of the language. Like, if it got released in theatres and a bunch of bilingual audience members wrote in saying how poor the translation was and then the filmmakers re-did the subtitles for DVD, that would make sense. But otherwise, just use what you have.

[–] kwestmo (4385) 4 years ago

I just watched that scene with dubbed English and English subtitles. The dialogue and subtitles say "Every woman is the same color when the candle is blown out by the wind." Very odd.

[–] Ace_Spade (9659) 4 years ago

So, OP's got a bootleg DVD, maybe?