Twin Sisters (Tweeling, De) (MGM) (2002)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Main Menu Audio & Animation Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	131:59
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Ben Sombogaart
Studio Distributor	Hopscotch MGM	Starring	Thekla Reuten Nadja Uhl Ellen Vogel Gudrun Okras Jeroen Spitzenberger Roman Knizka Julia Koopmans Sina Richardt
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	Fons Merkies

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	German Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.75:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Based on the novel De Tweeling by Tessa de Loo, this is the story of two sisters who are split apart when their parents die. Lotte (Thekla Reuten) is taken to Holland by her aunt, while Anna (Nadja Uhl) stays in Germany with her uncle.

    They grow up leading very different lives. Lotte’s new family is rich and well educated. She is looked after well, but her new family look down upon the family of her sister and do not permit any contact with them. Anna’s new family are farmers and lead a simple life. They do not see the need for education, and despise the other family for being snobs. They also prevent any contact between the sisters.

    This is a story about the strong bond between the girls, but shows how events and circumstances can change one’s life. Anna, growing up in Nazi Germany in the 1930s, is swept up in the growing sentiment of national pride amongst the younger generation, while Lotte falls in love with a Jew in Holland.

    They cross paths several times during the course of the movie, and each time their relationship changes. Events in the world, and in their lives, have a tremendous impact on their feeling for one another.

    This is an excellent movie. The story is very interesting, focusing on how two almost identical women can become so different and yet be so similar. The acting is great. The cinematography is great. The score is great.

    This film was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 76th Annual Academy Awards, but was passed over in favour of The Barbarian Invasions.

Video

    Shot in 35mm, this film was meant to be presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. However, what we get on the DVD is a non-16x9 enhanced image in an aspect ratio of 1.75:1. At least it’s better than a Pan & Scan transfer, but is there any excuse for a non 16x9 enhanced transfer these days? There are many great sweeping shots in the film, from beautiful countryside to beautiful houses. I want to see all these scenes at full DVD quality!

    The film has quite a lot of film artefacts. This detracts a bit from the film. This is also disappointing considering this is such a recent film.

    There are no subtitle options. You get English subtitles as part of the picture. You cannot turn them off. There is a grammatical error in the subtitles at 107:23 - "they entire truck exploding".

    There is a layer change at 114:50. It is a well positioned layer change.

    Other than these issues, the rest of the picture quality is good. The image is quite sharp, colours are good and there are no problems with MPEG artefacts. It’s a shame that such a good movie is given a poor DVD transfer.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There is only one audio track, which has a mixture of Dutch, German and English and is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 at 224 kbps.

    The score by Fons Merkies is excellent, and generally sounds good on the DVD. The dialogue is clear.

    But, just like the video transfer, the audio transfer is marred by technical problems. There are crackles, pops and clicks all through this. It is quite distracting and annoying.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Theatrical Trailer

    The trailer goes for 2:13. The video, like the main feature, is letterboxed. The quality of the video in the trailer is vastly inferior to the main feature. It is very chunky, with significant MPEG artefacts. The audio is in Dolby Digital 2.0 at 224 kbps. There are no English subtitles.

    This movie does not appear to have been released in Region 1 yet. It has been released for the Dutch market, as a Region 2 DVD.

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

• "Making of" featurette
• Deleted scenes
• Bonus trailers
• Subtitles in Dutch or English
• 1.85:1 Anamorphic video transfer
• Dolby Digital 5.1 audio transfer

    The Region 2 version of this disc misses out on;

• Nothing

    The Region 2 (Dutch) version is obviously vastly superior.

    This is a really great film, with a poor transfer. Even still, it’s definitely worth seeing. Look into getting the Region 2 version... or alternatively, wait for Hollywood to remake this film, as they tend to do – we’ll get a great transfer of a mediocre adaptation!

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall