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The Prefab People (1982)
The Prefab People (1982) poster

The Prefab People (1982)

Panelkapcsolat

Drama • 1h 42m

Director: Béla Tarr

Cast: Judit Pogány, Róbert Koltai, Kyri Ambrus, Jánosné Bráda, János Fábián, Péter Gellért, Barna Mihók

Best English-friendly release

Bela Tarr Curzon Collection

Updated 11 months ago

Best video release

Curzon Blu-ray (SD source)


About the film

Using verite conventions, a young couple with a baby and a child are worn away by the monotony of their lives.

More from Béla Tarr

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Director: Béla Tarr

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray see caps

Additional Info:

For BD:

Director: Béla Tarr

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray see caps

For BD, Curzon Blu-ray is similar to Arbelos Blu-ray

Director: Béla Tarr

Best English-Friendly:

Bela Tarr Curzon Collection Blu-ray or Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

Carlotta France Blu-ray in boxset

Video Notes:

No comparisons

FiM encode.

Curzon is on separate disc while Criterion has it shared with another film on the same disc.

Director: Béla Tarr

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Artificial Eye Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Cinema Guild Blu-ray is a good alternative (more extras).

UK > US, not sure France. UK (Artificial Eye/Curzon) has higher bitrate than US (Cinema Guild) but has boosted gamma (see here: https://slow.pics/c/L9U9r8Es).

Director: Béla Tarr

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Bela Tarr Curzon Collection

Video Notes:

There's also a France Carlotta boxset release (no ENG subs) but screenshots not available.

Director: Béla Tarr

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Bela Tarr Curzon Collection

Best Video:

Curzon Blu-ray (SD source)

Director: Béla Tarr

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Bela Tarr Curzon Collection

Best Video:

Curzon Blu-ray (SD Source)

Director: Béla Tarr

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Bela Tarr Curzon Collection

Best Video:

Curzon Blu-ray

Director: Béla Tarr

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray has better encode than Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray is worse.

More from Curzon

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Director: Roy Andersson

Best English-Friendly & Video:

UK Curzon/Artificial Eye Blu-ray

Director: Céline Sciamma

Best English-Friendly:

Artificial Eye UK Blu-ray?

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray scheduled for October 2026 release

Best Video:

Pyramide France Blu-ray

Streaming in 4K on Netflix

Video Notes:

Supposed to have better translation than Criterion.

Director: Michael Haneke

Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

2025 Curzon UK Blu-ray (Haneke boxset)

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

2025 Curzon UK Blu-ray or 2013 TF1 FR Blu-ray (caps)

Curzon has a slightly better encode and preserves all the noise of the digital source, but ends up obscuring actual detail in some shots. Both are quite good, only caveat being that the TF1 disc is slightly cropped and has a black bar on top.

Audio Notes:

2008 Artificial Eye UK and 2025 Umbrella AU discs have incorrect pitch. TF1 FR disc is missing 7 minutes of audio in the left channel. See spectrograms.

Director: Walter Salles

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

Original matrixed Dolby Stereo: Curzon 4K Blu-ray
Surround mix: Vision Film Polish PAL DVD (2000)

Audio Notes:

The surround mix is fully discrete, not a mere decode or upmix of the Dolby Stereo LCRS track. This mix has never appeared on any other releases.

Director: Jean Vigo

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray with much better encoding than the Gaumont Blu-ray with the same 4K restoration see caps

Criterion Blu-ray uses an older restoration

Director: Jean Vigo

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Director: Jean Vigo

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Directors: Jean Vigo & Boris Kaufman

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Director: Michael Haneke

Best English-Friendly & Video:

UK Curzon Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

France Blu-ray

Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Best English-Friendly & Video:

All BDs are similar. Sony Blu-ray probably best encoding but cuts off last few seconds of music

Upcoming Release:

UK Curzon Blu-ray in July

Best Audio:

Korea Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

Korea Blu-ray has less limiting, proper 24-bit audio, and does not cut off the last few second of music

More Drama on Blu-ray

Director: Robert Altman

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Vinegar Syndrome Cinématographe 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Cinematrographe's HDR grading is overcooked, which is a known VinSyn tendency. Additionally, their booklet mis-credits the encode to FiM.

YMMV, but for some, the included BD encoded by Marcus Johnson—ironically may make for a more pleasing experience.

Director: Roman Polanski

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Carlotta France 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

UK 4K teased by 88 Films https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=24252379

Video Notes:

Carlotta France 4K Blu-ray > Vinegar Syndrome 4K Blu-ray (better encode on Carlotta without any low-pass filtering, more extras and English subtitles on Vinegar Syndrome)

Director: Alan J. Pakula

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Olive Films Blu-ray

Director: Vincente Minnelli

Best English-Friendly & Video:

MGM Blu-ray

Director: Steve Gordon

Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB Blu-ray

Director: John Woo

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray or Imprint 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

Plaion Germany 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Arrow has a different grade and a better encode than the Shout! Factory, though the difference in either is not major. Imprint release, which leaves Shout! Factory's master and subtitles as is, is encoded by FiM. https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24473097&postcount=56

Best Audio:

Original mix: Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray

Alternate mix: Scanbox Nordic PAL DVD

Surround remix: HK Video France 4K Blu-ray (5.0)

Audio Notes:

Original mix: Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray (similar to Criterion LaserDisc, but less distorted)

Alternate mix: Scanbox Nordic PAL DVD

Surround remix: HK Video France 4K Blu-ray (5.0)

Arrow used the alternate mix, but with extra filtering and lowered dynamic range. The alternate mix has much better fidelity.

Imprint presumably used the Shout! Factory original mix and left it as is, though no official confirmation.

Additional Info:

Arrow has a much better translation.

Arrow LE has the Taiwan Extended Cut which will not be present on the standard edition. However, Imprint is FiM and has its own archival extras not present on the Arrow.

Director: Richard Brooks

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from Original Camera Negative

Director: Vincent Sherman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from Original Camera Negative

Director: Jonathan Demme

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

Criterion Blu-ray has exclusive extras

Edit history

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Researched and maintained by

sgramvanshady

· last reviewed 11 months ago

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