The Door (Review)
Wednesday, 27th April 2011, 10:10

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The Disc

Extra Features
As this is a German film with a German crew and, aside from Mads Mikkelsen, a German cast, it is perhaps unsurprising that there is no commentary on the disc. However, it does contain the following:

Behind the Scenes (11:15) isn't a structured piece but shows how the film was shot and how Anno Saul directed the film with equal emphasis on the technical side and the acting with some rehearsal footage. Although it isn't particularly lengthy, this does give you an impression of how things work on a film set.

The Interviews are with six cast members plus director Anno Saul and Ralph Schwingel and Christoph Müller, they producer and co-producer, respectively. These are fairly brief, lasting from just over a minute to just over four minutes, with the actors talking about their characters and themselves and the crew members talking about different aspects of the filmmaking process from when they wanted to make a film of the book to the casting and the shoot itself. They are fairly typical EPK stuff but are worth a watch even if you have to select them separately as there is no play all function. Fortunately, when one finishes, the selection indicator moves down to the next automatically, so all you need to do is press the enter/okay button.

The Deleted scenes (18:03), twelve in all, are those which have been cut down either for a single quality reasons. You can select from individually or watch them together as, unlike the interviews, there is a play all function. Oddly, I didn't see anything which I hadn't seen before so either my mind is playing tricks on me or this disc contains the extended/director's cut.

Rounding off the extra features is a trailer which is in German with English subtitles.

The Picture

As most of the film takes place during daylight hours, with only a few scenes set at night or in a dark location, contrast levels didn't seem to be too important but, as some of those low light scenes are extremely important, it is essential that there is no loss of detail. Fortunately, both the brightly lit and extremely dark parts of the film are extremely clear and things didn't become to blurry or ill-defined when there is a nighttime scene or one where the lights are turned off.

Colours are solid and quite vibrant and Anno Saul (along with cinematographer Bella Halben and various members of the art department) uses the mise en scène to convey subtle changes in mood and things like mirrors to great effect. The most part, this is a slow burning thriller without much action but, as events progress, things become increasingly desperate so, when there is an action sequence, the picture quality doesn't suffer and everything is very well choreographed by the stunt department.

I have a love/hate relationship with film shot digitally but things seem to be improving all the time and this is an example of how good things can look when shot properly using decent equipment.

The Sound

You have the option of Dolby Digital 5.1 surround or 2.0 stereo and, for the most part, the film is dialogue dominated so either soundtrack would do as they are both extremely well balanced but, when there is a scene in which the front and rear surrounds come into play, the stereo soundtrack is found lacking and they are so much more effective with the 5.1 surround soundtrack.

The score, by Fabian Römer, is a very good one that never becomes too intrusive and is extremely effective in the more emotional scenes whilst helping to increase the tempo as time becomes a precious commodity and events become increasingly hectic.

For those of you who are fluent in German and would rather watch the film without English subtitles, they don't appear to be burnt in, but there is no option to turn them on or off on the menu so it may depend on your DVD player and remote control as to whether you can switch them off this.

Final Thoughts

The Door is an utterly engrossing and thought-provoking film with real emotion and brilliant character dynamics. The performances are all superb and Anno Saul directs the actors extremely well, using the wonderful screenplay to full effect.

The disc has very good picture and sound quality and a decent selection of extras which, although a little short, is more than I was expecting. If you are prepared to watch a film in a foreign language with subtitles and like thrillers with a strong element of mystery then this is worth a rental at the very least.

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