Netflix slammed by Xavier Dolan in open letter for screening Mommy incorrectly
'Who has bestowed on you the right to revise my choices'
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Your support makes all the difference.As brilliant as Netflix is for consumers who want to binge watch films and TV shows, filmmakers aren’t always best pleased with the service.
One such director is Xavier Dolan who has blasted the streaming site for changing the aspect ratio of his seminal Mommy, a film that won the Prix du Jury at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.
In a key scene, the aspect ratio changes from 1:1 square to 1:85 wide - in other words opening up the movies narrow format. However, when streaming the film on Netflix, the aspect ratio does not change, diminishing the cinematic and emotional impact of the scene.
While viewers may feel a little annoyed they cannot witness the film in all its glory, none were as disappointed as Dolan, who penned an open letter to Netflix protesting the aspect change.
The letter - posted to Twitter - details how the service “shut down the emotional capacity of the scene, disregarded the narratively-crucial sentiment of social oppression elicited by this ratio, and made the end credits look cropped."
He continues: "Who has bestowed on you the right to revise my choices, and how competently have you pondered the impact of such decisions on my film and the public?
“You did not direct this movie. You did not write this movie. You did not produce this movie. So can anyone or anything expect me warrant the liberty you took upon my work? No.” Read the entire letter below.
Netflix has since responded to the post, Tweeting back: “Hi Xavier, thank you for letting us know. We are looking into this.”
While not annoyed at Netflix for any reason other than it is a streaming service, fellow filmmaker Quentin Tarantino has previously detailed how he refuses to watch anything on Netflix, which you can read about here.
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