Code Unknown (2000)

[Scottie]

Code Unknown Blu-ray PRE-ORDER

One of the world’s most influential and provocative filmmakers, the Academy Award–winning Austrian director Michael Haneke diagnoses the social maladies of contemporary Europe with devastating precision and staggering artistry. His 2000 drama Code Unknown, the first of his many films made in France, may be his most inspired work. Composed almost entirely of brilliantly shot, single-take vignettes focusing on characters connected to one seemingly minor incident on a Paris street, Haneke’s film—with an outstanding international cast headlined by Juliette Binoche—is a revelatory take on racial inequality and the failure of communication in today’s increasingly diverse European landscape.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED EDITION:

New, restored 2K digital transfer, approved by director Michael Haneke, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New interview with Haneke
Introduction by Haneke from 2001
Filming Haneke, a 2000 making-of documentary featuring interviews with Haneke, actor Juliette Binoche, and producer Marin Karmitz, as well as on-set footage of cast and crew
Interview from 2001 in which Haneke discusses the filming of the boulevard sequences
New interview with film scholar Roy Grundmann
Trailers
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: An essay by critic Nick James

New cover by Nessim Higson

[popcorntreect]

Hope this bodes well for more Haneke to be released.

[javi92]

Yes! Good to see Haneke enter the collection.

[malakaheso]

Was this hinted?

I thought Hidden or Funny Games would be the first film of his to make the collection.

I prefer 71 Fragments....... to its more polished equivalent in Code Unknown, but it's still a really good film and I'll definitely buy it.

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by malakaheso

Was this hinted?

Yes. "Coat" Unknown was the May 2015 clue.

[lolwut]

I used to want to see this but after The White Ribbon and Amour I've gotten tired of Haneke's predictably ambiguous non-endings, and from reviews this seems just as cryptic as the rest of his films. I love Funny Games and find Cache, The Seventh Continent, and Benny's Video interesting.

[tenia]

There have been concerns about a potential issue of dropped frames on this release.

Criterion has stated on Nov 24th that they "have been made aware of a possible problem with the release of CODE UNKNOWN and we are currently looking into it. As soon as we know more we will let you know."

Did anyone heard back from this ?

Sadly, there is no review yet on blu-ray.com that might have given another spin at this potential issue (and if there was indeed one, it could have given it more visibility).

[Wernski]

Originally Posted by tenia

There have been concerns about a potential issue of dropped frames on this release.

Criterion has stated on Nov 24th that they "have been made aware of a possible problem with the release of CODE UNKNOWN and we are currently looking into it. As soon as we know more we will let you know."

Did anyone heard back from this ?

Sadly, there is no review yet on blu-ray.com that might have given another spin at this potential issue (and if there was indeed one, it could have given it more visibility).

Oh, I totally forgot Criterion was putting this out. But maybe I'm lucky I inadvertently held off... Hopefully replacements are being worked on?

[Wernski]

Had a look at the blu-ray, compared it to one of the older DVDs, and I'm not so sure this is such a thing...




The frames all seem to match up as far as I could find. It might just be something baked into the original film.

[pro-bassoonist]

Code Unknown Blu-ray REVIEW



A prophetic film, really, about a questionable experiment and awful decisions from European leaders that have had a profound impact on the lives of ordinary people. Michael Haneke remains one of World Cinema's most intelligent directors

NOTE: There is a mastering error on the Code Unknown release. There are a few small segments with skipped frames. Examples can be seen at 00:08:38 and 00:10:07. We have confirmed with Criterion that they appear on discs from the First Pressing, though we do not know how many discs that are already in the retail system are affected. If you believe that your copy is affected, you can contact Criterion for a replacement at mulvaney@criterion.com.

Pro-B

[Wernski]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

We have confirmed with Criterion that they appear on discs from the First Pressing, though we do not know how many discs that are already in the retail system are affected.

Surely there hasn't been more than one pressing already?

[tenia]

And the first pressing certainly is concerned as a whole (it's not a pressing issue but an issue with the files on the disc) so yeah, except if there has been more than one pressing, I'd guess all the discs of the 1st pressing are concerned, which is a well defined number.

Anyway.

Good to know Criterion was actually looking into that. After 5 months of radio silence, I almost lost faith.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by tenia

And the first pressing certainly is concerned as a whole (it's not a pressing issue but an issue with the files on the disc) so yeah, except if there has been more than one pressing, I'd guess all the discs of the 1st pressing are concerned, which is a well defined number.

Anyway.

Good to know Criterion was actually looking into that. After 5 months of radio silence, I almost lost faith.

You have quite the angle there (and elsewhere). So, let's have another round of clarifications:

1. We are the ONLY site to actually post a review that highlights and addresses the issue. I would think that if you are going to criticize, you ought to be criticizing reviews that never caught the issue. In other words, if anyone left you in the dark, it was not this site.

2. It was this site that alerted Criterion that there might have been a potential issue with this release. So Criterion started looking into it after we sent information.

3. The information in the review comes from Criterion and it was "not a matter of a few weeks." Of course it was not "5 months" either, but you are free to speculate.

[ccfixx]

E-mail response regarding replacement discs...

I hope this email finds you well. We don’t have the corrected disc
spindles for CODE UNKNOWN yet, but I’m happy to send you a disc once
they arrive. I’ll put you on the list. Thanks for your support!

Jon Mulvaney

[Wernski]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

You have quite the angle there (and elsewhere). So, let's have another round of clarifications:

1. We are the ONLY site to actually post a review that highlights and addresses the issue. I would think that if you are going to criticize, you ought to be criticizing reviews that never caught the issue. In other words, if anyone left you in the dark, it was not this site.

2. It was this site that alerted Criterion that there might have been a potential issue with this release. So Criterion started looking into it after we sent information.

3. The information in the review comes from Criterion and it was "not a matter of a few weeks." Of course it was not "5 months" either, but you are free to speculate.

DVDExotica did, too.

[pro-bassoonist]

Are you the author?

The article that is posted there has a time stamp of February 24. We contacted Criterion last year.

More interestingly, the author links to an external source because he "could not find anything" and does not know "if anything's missing". So, it is clear that the article does not address the issue.

Pro-B

[Wernski]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Are you the author?

Yup.

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

The article that is posted there has a time stamp of February 24. We contacted Criterion last year.

More interestingly, the author links to an external source because he "could not find anything" and does not know "if anything's missing". So, it is clear that the article does not address the issue.

Pro-B

Of course the article addresses the issue. It's titled "Code Unknown and The Mystery Of the Missing Frames." It goes through every frame on the blu and every frame on the previous DVD, which match up (well, not every frame of the entire film, but of the time codes cited on the Criterion forum, where the issue was first brought to light). Saying the results were honestly not conclusive is not the same as not addressing the issue.

And just so nobody gets the wrong idea, I'm not trying to discredit the blu-ray.com review at all. It's excellent and yes, got an official quote from Criterion, which is breaking and crucial news, which benefits the community and for which I am grateful. I'm just referring to the specific claim I bolded: that this was the only site to highlight and address the issue. And you only have to scroll up a little farther on this page to see that I first learned about this when Tenia posted about it right here several weeks ago.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by Wernski

Yup.

That's great.

Originally Posted by Wernski

Saying the results were honestly not conclusive is not the same as not addressing the issue.

Let's just agree to disagree, OK? Looking at someone else's conclusion and then looking at the issue but not being able to identify it isn't what I would describe as "addressing the issue".

And thank you for the comments

Pro-B

[Wernski]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Let's just agree to disagree, OK? Looking at someone's else conclusion and then looking at the issue but not being able to identify it isn't what I would describe as "addressing the issue".

I didn't look at anyone else's conclusion. I read the same forum posts we all did, got my own copy of the blu-ray and DVD (well, I owned the DVD for years) and made that comparison on my own, drawing my own conclusions. Had I copied yours, the results wouldn't have been inconclusive, I could have said "here's what Criterion said."

I really don't see how personally investigating and discussing an issue couldn't qualify as "addressing the issue;" but as you say, I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on that point.

But as you pointed out yourself, mine was posted several days before yours, so whose conclusions are you saying I cribbed from?

[Hatfield Peverel]

If Svet wants to claim sole credit for something that was clearly publicly investigated by others *months* ago, as seen via links in this very thread, then that is his fantasy to indulge.

Also, holding back a review for months to investigate personally with the company regarding a technical flaw found on the disc is a striking contrast to his handling of the Requiescant affair.