Welcome to the Dollhouse — DVD vs. Blu-ray

It’s bittersweet

Todd Solondz’s second feature film Welcome to the Dollhouse from 1995 is probably the funniest feel-bad movie ever created. It tells the life of 11-year-old Dawn Wiener (Heather Matarazzo) at school and at home, with no hope of being popular whatsoever. She is bullied by peers and overlooked by her parents and teachers. All attention in the family goes to the computer-smart big brother Mark (Matthew Faber) and the pretty younger sister Missy (Daria Kalinina). Dawn’s only meaningful human relationship appears to be to the 13-year-old bully Brandon (Brendan Sexton Jr.) who threatens to rape her, whereas the older boy Steve Rogers (Eric Mabius), who plays in the band of Dawn’s brother, doesn’t respond to her affections.

When Missy disappears, thanks to Dawn’s intentional negligence, the family is upset and nobody notices when Dawn leaves New Jersey for New York to find the missing child.

Bullied, too

It was easy for me to relate to the fate of Dawn. I myself was bullied methodically at school by one boy who wasn’t well. Somehow I was a thorn in the flesh to him, and he was picking on me every day compulsively. He had two brothers at the same school, similarly unsteady, and it was not safe to resist him. He could not stop his browbeating.

Daily for seven years I had to observe his malignant behaviour from the viewpoint of a victim. Later he has boasted with a neurological diagnosis in a local newspaper, although I don’t concur with it — his actual pathology was and is more severe than the trendy diagnosis indicates.

When Welcome to the Dollhouse was made, on-line bullying was not an issue. There is only a small reference to the existence of e-mail in the movie. Nowadays the situation is different of course and by no means better. On-line bullying and harassing (of which I have received and keep receiving my share) requires some computer skills and this lops off the most ignorant ones. Those bullies who master on-line activities are smart and they are able to cause severe harm.

Usually the persecution is public: the bully wants to demonstrate power to his or her minions, and in this case, the victim is a mere property or an implement in the scene. However, there is also a private or personal harassment, which is, albeit visible, only understood by the bully and the victim. For instance, the bully may keep insulting and reviling his or her victim aloud in a public place using a language, say Greek, that the passers-by won’t understand but the victim speaks as her native language. Therefore no one will intervene or help her.

New Blu-ray in 2023

Some twenty years ago, Welcome to the Dollhouse was released on DVD in many countries, but a decent Blu-ray with retrospective bonus materials only appeared this month in the United Kingdom. This is a Limited Edition from Radiance Films with an expert audio commentary, new interviews, and a 48-page booklet with archival and new pieces of writing.

The new Blu-ray uses a transfer remastered from the film interpositive and approved by Mr. Solondz. The audio track is the original 2-channel stereo. Hard-of-hearing subtitles are included for the main feature.

The image quality on the new Blu-ray is excellent and pleasant to watch. To illustrate the improvement, a comparison of screenshots is presented below between the 2006 Scandinavian DVD and the 2023 U.K. Blu-ray. (Also the backcovers of these home video releases can be compared.)

The Scandinavian DVD is non-anamorphic and it suffers from field errors; it is not, however, an NTSC→PAL conversion without speed correction as I presumed earlier in a comment. The DVD has a narrower framing than the Blu-ray and the colours look coarse. I could never watch this DVD. It was only “reserving a place” in my video collection for a better release to arrive — 17 years it took.

Screenshot comparison

Click on the following images to see them in native resolution.

1.
Future Film DVD:

Radiance Films Blu-ray:

2.
Future Film DVD:

Radiance Films Blu-ray:

3.
Future Film DVD:

Radiance Films Blu-ray:

4.
Future Film DVD:

Radiance Films Blu-ray:

5.
Future Film DVD:

Radiance Films Blu-ray:

6.
Future Film DVD:

Radiance Films Blu-ray:

7.
Future Film DVD:

Radiance Films Blu-ray:

8.
Future Film DVD:

Radiance Films Blu-ray:

Disc details

Now for some technical specifications of the discs.

DVD bit-rate:

Movie file size: 4 164 980 KB

Blu-ray bit-rate:

Disc Label: WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE
Disc Size: 40,714,448,638 bytes
Protection: AACS
AACS MKB version: 68
Playlist: 00000.MPLS
Size: 27,187,095,360 bytes
Length: 1:27:17.065
Total Bitrate: 41.53 Mbps
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 37105 kbps / 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio: English / LPCM Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit
Audio: English / Dolby Digital Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -30dB
Subtitle: English / 36.788 kbps

As for the bonus materials, the Scandinavian DVD only offers the theatrical trailer (1:46). The U.K. blu-ray has a much wider selection:

• Audio commentary with film experts B. J. Colangelo and Harmony Colangelo
• Interview with director Todd Solondz (15:43)
• Interview with actress Heather Matarazzo (21:56)
• “Todd Solondz’s Suburban Nightmare” visual essay by Hannah Strong (14:45)
• Theatrical trailer (1:46)
• 48-page booklet with five essays and other material

 

Scandinavian DVD Welcome to the Dollhouse © 1995 Suburban Pictures Directed by Todd Solondz Scandinavia (DVD Region code 2) Image: 1.70:1 (non-anamorphic PAL) Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo Subtitles: Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish Runtime: 84:00 EAN 6416548831411 © 2006 Future Film & Atlantic Film

United Kingdom Blu-ray Welcome to the Dollhouse (Limited Edition) © 1995 Suburban Pictures Directed by Todd Solondz United Kingdom (Blu-ray Region code B) Image: 1.85:1 (1080p24 MPEG-4) Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo Subtitles: English HoH Runtime: 87:17 EAN 5060974680047 © 2023 Radiance Films

 

To conclude: The U.K. Blu-ray is limited to 2,000 copies. You might want to have it. This release is highly recommended.