Tais toi! (Ruby & Quentin) (2003) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Comedy |
Main Menu Audio & Animation Reversible Cover Filmographies-Crew-Francis Veber (Director) Theatrical Trailer Trailer-The Closet, Safe, Dinner Game, The Secret Lives Of Dentists Trailer-Osama, Emile, Apres Vous |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2003 | ||
Running Time | 83:39 (Case: 87) | ||
RSDL / Flipper | No/No | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 1,2,3,4,5,6 | Directed By | Francis Veber |
Studio
Distributor |
Madman Entertainment |
Starring |
Gerard Depardieu Jean Reno Richard Berry Jean-Pierre Malo |
Case | Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip | ||
RPI | ? | Music | Marco Prince |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
French Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) French dts 5.1 (768Kb/s) |
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Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | English | Smoking | Yes |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
I love a good French farce, and three of the best of recent years have all been written and directed by the same man, Francis Veber. In fact, they are the last three films he has made. Of course, he has been making excellent films for many years, some only as a writer and others as a writer/director. They include films like La Cage Au Folles which has since been remade by Hollywood as The Birdcage. He was Oscar nominated for his writing on La Cage Au Folles and has many nominations and one win in the French equivalent, the Cesars. The three recent films which I referred to above are Le Diner De Cons (The Dinner Game), Le Placard (The Closet) and this one Tais Toi! or Ruby & Quentin. Tais Toi! actually means Shut Up!
Tai Tois! is a very funny mismatched buddy/caper comedy about two guys who meet by accident in a prison. One is a master criminal and ruthless killer, Ruby (Jean Reno), who gets caught after ripping off his boss, Vogel (Jean-Pierre Malo). He ripped off his boss in retaliation, because the boss killed Ruby's girlfriend, who also happened to be Vogel's wife. The other man is 'Quentin from Montargis' (Gerard Depardieu), as he always introduces himself. Quentin is a large, dumb, very ordinary criminal who just wants to make friends with Ruby. They meet when Quentin has sent every other cellmate crazy with his constant talking, so the police decide to put him in with Ruby in the hope that that will make him talk. When they both end up getting transferred to the mental hospital, Quentin arranges an escape bid, taking Ruby with him. This starts a chase across Paris with both the police, led by Lt. Vernet (Richard Berry) and Vogel's men out to catch Ruby & Quentin. This leads to many hilarious sequences with Ruby trying to get away from Quentin as well as his pursuers.
This is a lot of fun and features an excellent comedic performance from Gerard Depardieu, seemingly having more fun in this role than any of his recent roles. Jean Reno's role is the less flamboyant one, playing the straight man, however he is also good and very believable as the serious criminal. There is a great scene early on in their relationship where in the middle of a conversation which is already annoying Ruby, Quentin starts to do horse impersonations. The repartee between the characters is excellent and very well written by Francis Veber. The film moves along very quickly from one amusing set-up to the next, never really flagging in pace.
This film sits very comfortably alongside Le Diner De Cons & Le Placard as a great French comedy. Highly Recommended.
The video quality is very good.
The feature is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is the original aspect ratio.
The picture was clear and sharp throughout although there was some very light grain. There was no evidence of low level noise. The shadow detail was excellent throughout.
The colour was very good with no issues to report.
There were some MPEG artefacts to be seen although they were not too bad. There was aliasing such as on a grille at 9:42 and the bridge at 57:03. Jagged edges were also noticeable, however, they were not too distracting. Additionally there was some minor edge enhancement here and there.
There were subtitles in English which were very helpful considering that I do not speak French. They were in yellow and were clear and easy to read.
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The audio quality is excellent.
This DVD contains three audio options, a French Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack encoded at 448 Kb/s, a French DTS Soundtrack encoded at 768 Kb/s and a French Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 224 Kb/s. Strangely the packaging only mentions the stereo soundtrack. I listened to the entire DTS soundtrack and compared large sections against the other two. Considering the nature of the film, any of the soundtracks are quite serviceable, however the DTS track certainly does stand out, bringing more clarity to the music and more punch to the action scenes.
Dialogue was clear and easy to understand and there was no problem with audio sync, although obviously, the subtitles were of more interest to me.
The score of this film by Marco Prince is very nice indeed, especially the tune over the opening credits.
The surround speakers added a surprising amount of directional effects and immersive atmosphere considering the nature of the film.
The subwoofer was mostly used for adding bass to the music, however it did add some extra punch to the explosions.
Dialogue | |
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Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
The menu included scenes from the film, an intro, music and the ability to select scenes, languages and subtitles.
A worthwhile trailer with burned in subtitles in English.
Text listing of his films.
Gives you the ability to switch the slick around so that either Tais Toi! or the alternate title, Ruby & Quentin, is highlighted. Otherwise the two sides are exactly the same.
Trailers of seven other films including both Le Diner De Cons & Le Placard
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
This film does not seem to have been released in the US as far as I can tell but has received a Region 1 release in Canada. This disc only includes a Dolby Digital soundtrack and has no extras. The Region 2 version is virtually identical to ours. You may as well go for the local product.
The video quality is very good.
The audio quality is excellent.
The disc has a small selection of uninspiring extras.
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Review Equipment | |
DVD | Pioneer DV667A DVD-V DVD-A SACD, using Component output |
Display | Sony FD Trinitron Wega KV-AR34M36 80cm. Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 576i (PAL)/480i (NTSC). |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Pioneer VSX-511 |
Speakers | Bose 201 Direct Reflecting (Front), Phillips SB680V (Surround), Phillips MX731 (Center), Yamaha YST SW90 (Sub) |