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This film was remastered in 4K and previously released by Arthaus / StudioCanal Germany over five years ago on 24 January 2019, however that German Blu-ray is different, as there are differing extras between the two releases and apparently no subtitles in any language on the German disc. Moreover, there is no country selection menu on the UK disc, so it was not meant for other countries.
The biggest difference is that the German Blu-ray includes a 46-minute "Poduimsdiskussion", which Rewind says is a "Panel discussion in Berlin on June 17, 1992", while this UK Blu-ray includes a new (copyright 2024) English-language extra, a conversation between Juliet Jacques and Alex Davidson called Fassbinder in Focus. Also included are a few archival extras from 2004, including interviews with filmmaker Werner Schroeter and editor Juliane Lorenz (presumably the same ones as on the German Blu-ray) as well as an introduction by filmmaker Richard Linklater. It looks like both Blu-rays include the original theatrical trailer.
I don't have the German disc, but caps-a-holic shows that the video encode is not identical, with the German Blu-ray having a video bitrate of 29092 kbps.
As I noted below, unfortunately, this disc has forced (but not burnt in) English subtitles for the film and the extras. There is no option to disable them in the menus and no way to disable them via remote.
BDInfo scan
Note that the main menu uses clips from the film, but does not have any audio track.
English subtitles for the film are forced (but not burnt in) and in a standard white font, with British English spellings. The translation is excellent, but unfortunately, the main character's surname is misspelt as "Weisshaupt" when it should be "Weishaupt" and there are one or two words that change into Oxford or American spelling (e.g. "realise" later becomes "realize", while "analyse" later becomes "analyze").
Extras in German also have forced English subtitles, except where noted below. The translation for the theatrical trailer is slightly different to the translation in the film itself and uses the correct spelling of "Weishaupt".
The older extras refer to the film under the English title In a Year with 13 Moons.
Code:
Total Video
Title Codec Length Movie Size Disc Size Bitrate Bitrate Main Audio Track Secondary Audio Track
----- ------ ------- -------------- -------------- ------- ------- ------------------ ---------------------
00000.MPLS AVC 2:04:28 37,327,272,192 48,884,125,635 39.98 35.86 LPCM 2.0 2304Kbps (48kHz/24-bit)
I should go to bed, but I guess I will write a bit about the disc.
The film was tremendous and I am still wrestling with it and probably will be for days. It is not for the faint of heart and the BBFC short advice of "strong sex" is useless and frankly, borderline inaccurate, as there isn't that much sexual content in the film. Apparently, the film was made as a direct result of Fassbinder's coping with the suicide of his lover Armin Meier, and it was worked out by Fassbinder (apparently there was no actual official script as such) very quickly and completed over a period of weeks. Volker Spengler's performance is fabulous, and he somehow navigates through scenes of brutality, hysteria, humor and tenderness all with great skill. Fassbinder performed several duties on this film and I imagine that the experience of making it had a cathartic effect on him, as while I was devastated by the film, I also experienced a catharsis once it was over.
I had never seen the film before, but the 4K remaster looks splendid, with a healthy grain field. I hope that Criterion will release this on 4K UHD at some point (), but for now, this Blu-ray does nicely, though I was sad to see the forced subtitles, especially from a giant label like StudioCanal. I will note that at the end of the film, I would have used
[Show spoiler]two sets of subtitles to translate what is being said on the audio recording as well as any dialogue. Instead, the translator opted to stick to one set of subtitles at all times and pick and choose whether to translate the tape audio or the characters speaking under it
. The LPCM 2.0 mono audio is fine and dialogue is clear at all times.
I watched all the extras and came away mostly pleased. The best extra by far is the interview with Juliane Lorenz, who provides a ton of background information on how the film came to be, as well as the production itself and her contributions to it. Werner Schroeter's interview is more about his relationship with Fassbinder in general and he's not afraid to throw some of his colleague's work under the bus, which is pretty amusing. Both of these interviews are from Fiction Factory and seem to date to 2004, although here they have English title cards at the start and have been upscaled to 1080/50i. Also from the same timeframe is a somewhat lengthy introduction by Richard Linklater, who says this is his favorite Fassbinder film, though at the time this was shot, I don't know if he'd seen everything, or if it was even available to him. I thought this was mostly unnecessary, but I suppose if you need a push to get into Fassbinder films, this could be it.
New for this release is the conversation between Juliet Jacques and Alex Davidson. Jacques is filmmaker and writer who is a transgender and Alex Davidson apparently specializes in gay cinema, and the two of them talk more broadly about Fassbinder's career. Perhaps deliberately, the conversation is dominated by Jacques, who recounts getting into Fassbinder's films and the effect they had on her, but also re-states a lot of the same information you can hear better from Juliane Lorenz. I suppose if you need something in English, this is okay, but I would have preferred to get a subtitled version of the panel discussion from the German disc instead of this piece, which at almost 40 minutes, is a bit too long and indulgent for something which reveals nothing new about the film. If you want a "spoiler" of sorts, Jacques eventually comes to the conclusion
[Show spoiler]that the film is not a "transgender film", that Erwin / Elvira Weishaupt is not a true transgender person and that transgender film fans should approach Fassbinder's films with caution
, but all of that was obvious to me after the film finished. On the other hand, reviews of the German release indicate that the panel discussion featured Volker Spengler, Elisabeth Trissenaar, Karl Scheydt and Juliane Lorenz, as well as Fassbinder screenwriters Peter Märthesheimer and Pea Fröhlich, dramatist Heiner Müller and film critic Wolf Donner. It goes without saying that hearing from Trissenaar, Scheydt and especially Spengler would have been valuable. I'm actually tempted to seek out the German disc now and try and find a way to get subtitles for this extra, if it looks like it's any good.
Also, I see that the US DVD (where I assume StudioCanal got hold of the Linklater piece) apparently has a select-scene audio commentary by Juliane Lorenz, which also could have been valuable for this Blu-ray. I would have loved to hear more from her, as it's clear from the extras on Berlin Alexanderplatz, as well as here and elsewhere, that her collaborations with Fassbinder were very important to her, and I assume, to him as well.
You wrote a wonderful write-up, McCrutchy. I agree with your sentiments about the disc. This is indeed a fantastic remaster and now made available in excellent picture quality thanks to StudioCanal UK. The differences in encoding are drastic, which the caps already hint at but in motion, eagle-eyed viewers like myself will immediately notice an improvement. I had the German BD for years and was never happy with it, but luckily none of that disc’s shortcomings are baked into the master.
The UK release is so well-encoded (courtesy of Visual Data Media Services) that I actually wouldn’t be mad if it’d be the end of the line for the film on physical media. This is one of those films where I can’t really anticipate what Criterion’s planning but I lean towards predicting a BD-only release similar to what they did for Kiarostami’s The Wind Will Carry Us.
Thanks very much to nicwood and everyone else. Those long write-ups take me a while to type out, so I appreciate knowing that somebody is reading.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nicwood
You wrote a wonderful write-up, McCrutchy. I agree with your sentiments about the disc. This is indeed a fantastic remaster and now made available in excellent picture quality thanks to StudioCanal UK. The differences in encoding are drastic, which the caps already hint at but in motion, eagle-eyed viewers like myself will immediately notice an improvement. I had the German BD for years and was never happy with it, but luckily none of that disc’s shortcomings are baked into the master.
The UK release is so well-encoded (courtesy of Visual Data Media Services) that I actually wouldn’t be mad if it’d be the end of the line for the film on physical media. This is one of those films where I can’t really anticipate what Criterion’s planning but I lean towards predicting a BD-only release similar to what they did for Kiarostami’s The Wind Will Carry Us.
I'm just curious, how did you confirm the disc was encoded by VDMS? Did you e-mail and ask or is there a way to tell on the disc itself?
Also, since you owned it, did you ever watch the panel discussion on the German BD? If so, is it worth watching?
Thanks very much to nicwood and everyone else. Those long write-ups take me a while to type out, so I appreciate knowing that somebody is reading.
I'm just curious, how did you confirm the disc was encoded by VDMS? Did you e-mail and ask or is there a way to tell on the disc itself?
Also, since you owned it, did you ever watch the panel discussion on the German BD? If so, is it worth watching?
That the disc was encoded by VDMS is a good guess of mine based on a few things: VDMS tend to use a similar menu layout across different titles for StudioCanal and they’re encoding the audio of bonus content in DTS instead of the more widely used Dolby Digital. You’d think that such excellent encoding quality could’ve also been achieved by Fidelity in Motion but in this case, all signs point to VDMS.
I only watched the interviews on the German BD a few years ago and didn’t bother with the panel discussion. Based on your description, it sounds like a very interesting featurette that deserves a watch.
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In a Year of 13 Moons (1978)
), but for now, this Blu-ray does nicely, though I was sad to see the forced subtitles, especially from a giant label like StudioCanal. I will note that at the end of the film, I would have used 
Linear Mode
