Magnolia Bites Back at Uproar Surrounding Let The Right One In DVD Subtitles
If you haven’t yet heard about the furor surrounding the DVD release of the Swedish vampire film Let The Right One In, here’s the quick summary: Magnet Releasing decided to go with a different set of subtitles from what was originally shown in theatres. Icons of Fright posted a side-by-side comparison showing how the new subtitles dumb down some of the conversations in the film, which lead to a lot of complaints from fans. Magnet eventually acknowledged that they would comply with the wishes of fans and release future editions with the theatrical subtitles instead, although they would not offer an exchange on the current release.
Things seemed like they would end there despite the fact that there were still many unsatisfied customers, however this week, the plot thickened yet again. This time someone posted an e-mail from Mongrel Media, the Canadian distributor of the film, quoting an “official response” from Magnolia Pictures (owners of Magnet) who had some not-so-nice things to say about bloggers who were upset about the altered subtitles:
“Yes the bloggers are having a field day on this one. Normally they like to pick on the English Dub tracks, but in this case it’s the subtitles. Obviously online tend to get rowdy and bandwagon mentality without knowing all the details. The current subtitle track is not altering the context of the film at all, in fact it’s a more literal translation than any prior version of subtitles. It’s not a defective or faulty subtitle file. Just more literal and larger in size for the small screen. Both English and Spanish subtitle files were produced for this dvd release.Frankly it’s not all that uncommon to have the subs vary from prior releases, typically go unnoticed as subs are purely a translation of film dialogue. This wouldn’t have been a blip had it not been for one particular horror blog doing a side by side and claiming that they are wrong. They are not. We are not doing a recall or anything of that nature, again, these are not defective. Title came out two weeks ago and general public don’t notice and don’t care – bloggers are well known for jumping on something, making an issue of it and moving on. We have decided that based on the feedback that we will be making a running change, so that going forward (once inventories deplete), we will be making that subtitle version available.”
Somehow I have a feeling that e-mail was meant for internal use only, and not supposed to be an official statement. Nevertheless, people are now getting even more upset and even threatening to boycott Magnolia Pictures! Let’s not get carried away here. I actually agree with some of what they are saying. The DVD is NOT defective… missing special features like the Slumdog Millionaire DVD, that is defective. From what I can tell the translation is not so bad that it completely butchers the film, and the fact that they chose a different translation in order to allow for larger print on the small screen makes sense to me. Are people overreacting to this whole ordeal? Yes, I think so. Should Magnet/Magnolia still make exchanges available for the hardcore fans who really care about the original subtitles? Yes, absolutely.
I honestly believe that most people wouldn’t have even noticed the difference if there weren’t leaked screeners of the theatrical release available online, and I think a lot of people are freaking out without even knowing how close the original translation was either. Can we get someone in Sweden to compare the accuracy of the two subtitle tracks? What do director Tomas Alfredson or writer John Ajvide Lindqvist think about all this? In the end, I bet these kinds of things happen all the time and no one notices or cares. Maybe we should all just be happy that Magnet Releasing did all the hard work to bring us a great movie from another part of the world.
Comments (16)
Yebb, overblown blogger bullshit. I was more upset over the lack of any decent extras on the disc, since the Swedish disc has plentiful.
Posted by swarez on April 2nd, 2009At first I thought “what’s the big deal?”, but that side-by-side comparison seems to show the theatrical subs really have a lot more depth. That suggests that it is indeed closer to the original wording, doesn’t it? Why would the first translator use nuanced words and sentences when they aren’t called for?
Posted by Bas on April 2nd, 2009Don’t believe it people! Yes some of the subtitles are more of a direct translation than the theatre. THAT IS NOT THE MAIN COMPLAINT THOUGH. The main complaint is the parts where they did not put the correct words or didn’t put anything at all. For instance when “the helper” was in the shower about to pour acid on his face he says “Eli” (the name of the vampire girl). What the subs say instead is “I’m trapped”. Where in the hell did they get that. I think they are banking on most people not knowing Swedish therefore injecting doubt.
Posted by jackdaniels on April 2nd, 2009I dont think its an overreaction – the version they released is not ‘more literal’ – its flat out POOR – They cut out lines of dialogue, they change a boy spelling “Sweet” in morse code into “oohhh” because hes making a noise that sounds like “ooh”
That is bullshit. That is “defective” enough for me. They had a perfectly fine subtitle translation and they aborted it for a worse version. It’s crap, I dont want the DVD, and Mongrel sent me a dumb email claiming the subtitle is of quality and not even mentioning that there will be a different version eventually.
I wish the director would chime in and complain.
Posted by Goon on April 2nd, 2009With the significant size increases in modern TVs, and the raise in resolution with BluRay, I find this to be a pretty silly decision. “Let’s truncate the dialogue further due to small screen size?”
Ah Well.
Posted by Kurt on April 2nd, 2009(We all know that the main actress had her dialogue dubbed in anyway, don’t we?)
Posted by Kurt on April 2nd, 2009Swarez: The US release has more extras than the Swedish release in the form of a mini-documentary and four cut scenes. The Swedish release has one extra that’s not on the US release, and that’s a single commentaries track.
Posted by Antor on April 2nd, 2009The number of “extras” on the US disc might be higher but they are a sad excuse for additional material. A very short and very thin “making of” which tells you nothing and nowhere on the disc do they talk about the book for instance or talk to its author. Since the director speaks very good english I don’t understand why they couldn’t get him to do a commentary.
Posted by swarez on April 2nd, 2009The deleted scenes ad nothing as well and I’m pretty sure there was more cut out than those 4 scenes and then a gallery for the posters.
For a film that got so much media attention and fan reaction this release is pretty pathetic.
That was not your argument, your argument was that the Swedish version had “plentiful” extras.
It doesn’t, it actually has *less*.
Posted by Antor on April 2nd, 2009Oh, and as for the article, I am Swedish and what “goon” and “jackdaniels” said in their comments is correct. The “new” Magnolia Subtitles are not at all closer to the spoken Swedish. On top of that, much of the intent and the very subtle humour behind the spoken word is gone because they have shortened so many of the conversations.
There are some literal translations, but that does not mean it is closer (translating things literally rarely makes sense). But mostly, they are shortened by insane degrees or just plain wrong. The subtitles to the scene with the drunkards at the restaurant just makes me laugh.
Posted by Antor on April 2nd, 2009You see a movie in the theatres with specific dialogue. You buy the DVD expecting that dialogue. They fucked up. End of story.
Posted by Glendon on April 2nd, 2009Example: “S.W.E.E.T.D.R.E” translated into “OOOHH……AHHHH”.
Not altering the context of the film? A literal translation??
If that is not the definition of defective I don’t know what is.
Posted by ynick on April 3rd, 2009The sweet dreams scene was one of the best scenes in the film and they’ve completely screwed it up.
Posted by TheAllKnowingGod on April 3rd, 2009Just so you know: Saw the film twice in theatres; absolutely loved it. Especially the “Sweet Dre(ams)” morse code bit and the small bit of Shakespearean Quotation from Romeo and Juliet. “I must be gone and live or stay and die.”
The alternative translations may be more literal, but they don’t hold the weight of the originals.
There’s a reason there are multiple english translations of authors like Chekhov and such: it isn’t about literal translation; it’s about conveying meaning.
The new subtitles have lost the meaning.
For the record: I noticed the change without ever reading a damn blog.
Posted by James Flanagan on April 3rd, 2009The new subtitles sound more like dubtitles than subtitles, ie transcipts of the English dub.
Posted by TheAllKnowingGod on April 3rd, 2009Will there be anything on the packaging to differentiate between the altered subtitles and the original? I really like the original (theatrical) ones, and would rather buy that version.
Posted by paulm on April 3rd, 2009Leave a Reply