'LAppartement' DVD Comparison - BITWIN vs. M6 Home Video vs. Artificial Eye

L'Appartement

directed by Gilles Mimouni
France 1996

"Although Mimouni mimics Hitchcock's scenarios, it is never in the master directors' original vein, instead imparting his own graceful and competent styling. This is no mere De Palma-retro duplication, but rather an intelligent and independently paced homage to one of the silver screens greatest directors. Mimouni establishes himself, not only as a capable auteur, but a respectful film student as well. I should point out that my opinion of the film would remain at its very lofty level regardless of the Hitch intimations. Not unlike the plot itself, this proves Mimouni exceptionally daring in his craft. Buy this today!... being a Hitchcock fan or not, you will not be disappointed by one of the better French films of the 90's."

Excerpt from Gary Tooze's review found HERE at DVDBeaver.com

2 Posters and Russian VHS Cover

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DVD Comparison

BITWIN Region 0 vs. M6 Home Vidéo Region 0 - PAL vs. Artificial Eye Region 2 -PAL

All M6 courtesy by Ashirg Artificial Eye courtesy of Ole

DVD Box Covers	Click to enlarge	Click to enlarge
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Distribution	BITWIN (Korea) Region 0 encoded (NTSC)	M6 Home Vidéo Region 2 - PAL	Artificial Eye Region 2 - PAL
Runtime	1:51:16 (no Pal to NTSC speed reduction)	1:51:20	1:51:20
Video	Original Aspect Ratio - 1.66:1 Average Bitrate: 6.71 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	Original Aspect Ratio - 1.66:1 Average Bitrate: 7.48 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	Original Aspect Ratio - 1.66:1 Average Bitrate: 5.18 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
Bitrate NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.	BITWIN (Korea):
Bitrate	M6 Home Vidéo:
Bitrate	Artificial Eye:
Audio	French 5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround	French 5.1 Dolby Digital and DTS sound	French Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles	(White) English, Korean or none	English (removable)	(white) English (removable)
Features	BITWIN (Korea) NTSC , Region 0 Extras: None	M6 Home Vidéo PAL, Region 0 Extras: 1.66:1 aspect ratio and anamorphic Photo gallery with about 100 photos Original trailer in French / no subs Trailer for "Cruelle Melopee" (next film by Gilles Mimouni; no entry in imdb)	Artificial Eye PAL Region 2 Extras: Trailer anamorphic 1.85:1 (1:30) Filmographies for Vincent Cassel, Monica Bellucci, Romane Bohringer and director Gilles Mimouni.
Comments:	The only site I can see site selling this Korean R0 DVD is www.krdvd.com, and they are "out of stock" but I still assume that it is a bootleg, although it was advertised as "the official release". I bought mine from EBay. The Korean image is brighter but washed out with much more edge enhancement. The Artificial Eye release is even softer ( VERY soft) although the colors seem more accurate, and it has less edge enhancement. But I found skin tones in both to be better than the M6 disc which appear overly red (see capture #5). Obviously the anamorphic M6 image is the sharpest (even shows some film grain - which is good!), more vibrant colors and the DVD has more extras (the BITWIN disc has none, although the box says "trailer" and the AE is bare bones). Go with the M6 disc all the way, and if you live in R1, then don't buy this bootleg, buy a region-free machine instead. This film is good enough alone to support that purchase. Note: Although it says 'Region 2' on the M6 box, it is in fact 'Region 0'. Note: BAFTA Film Award in British Academy Awards 1998, Best Foreign Independent Film in the British Independent Film Awards 1998. Note: The M6 disc was reissued in April 2001 Note: This is being remade in the US as "Wicker Park".
	DVD Release Date: 2001 ? Keep Case Chapters 12	DVD Release Date: March 2000 Keep Case Chapters 28	DVD Release Date: 20 November, 2000 Keep Case Chapters 28