Les Films Américains

Summer's here, and in full swing -- and with that comes oven toasty heat making it sometimes even too hot to go to la plage, and rainy days leaving you staring out la fenêtre wondering, what to do? What to do? Allez! Let's go to the movies! 

I often had students asking me if I'd seen this movie or that. They were always talking about American films. They of course would give me the name en français. I'd say...Do you know the original name, in English? Eh, non, désolée.

An American film is not always translated word-for-word into French. To make things even more of a challenge when translating movie titles, we don't always have the same vocabulary meanings, we have vocabulary that simply doesn't exist in French, and then there are expressions and idioms that are almost impossible de traduire. So the French find the closest meaning and that becomes the French title for an American film. Voila.

Case in point: Look at this movie poster for one of my favorite action movies. You know which movie it is by looking at this poster, but if a French person were to ask you if you'd seen La Mort dans la Peau, you might do what I do - tilt your head and go Huh? You translate it word-for-word into English and think.....The Death in the Skin? What the HECK is that? We know this movie as The Bourne Supremacy. Now, the word 'supremacy' exists in French, sort of. It's suprématie. Close enough, non? So maybe the French should've called this movie: La Suprématie de Bourne. Ca marche! (That works!)

The Bourne Supremacy's French movie poster

In addition to being lost in translation with discussing movie titles, my students and I were often lost in hilarious pronunciation too when mentioning the actors! Talking about another blockbuster, (in French) they'd say, You know...the one with Al Bairhee. 

Al Bairhee? 

Oui! Al Bairhee! You know, Cat Woman?!!

Ohhhhhhhhh, I'd say, you mean Halle Berry!!!
Oui, Al Bairhee!!
Not quite. And that would lead us to a fun exercise on pronunciation. It's not the easiest thing for a French person to pronounce an H and a hard R. Likewise, it's not easy for an American to pronounce the French almost non-existent R. I'd bet that 9 out of 10 Americans would pronounce merci in such a way as to make the Frenchman cringe!

Here are a few more random movie posters - some with a pretty good translation and others, not so much!

Eat, Pray, Love  - a good translation!

This says: Sex in/at New York. Why not, Sexe et (and) la Ville (the city)??

What a beautiful and sad love story. And some of it was filmed in my home state of Maine! "Message in a Bottle" - the name of this film, is a common phrase. 

Even The Police sang about it. 

The French title means "A Bottle in the Sea"

How about this in French instead?: "Un Message dans une Bouteille" - which literally
translates to the original title.

Ca marche, non?!

Good grief, Sex Crimes? LOL Not even close, 

and completely changes the feel of what the film's about. It's not about sex crimes.

Literally, this translates to: The Man Who Whispered in the Ears of Horses - 

9 words to say what we say in 3 (The Horse Whisperer)

This French title says: "You Have to Save the Soldier Ryan"

Oookay, so this one's close. But I'm tempted to ask my friend, a fun-loving and beautiful mother/wife/teacher/writer/business owner who somehow has time to also be an actual expert translator in France, if you can in fact say "Saving Private Ryan" in French. 
It's the "saving" part that I wonder about.  

Not bad, not bad! This says: Dance with the Wolves

It says: My Father-in-Law, My Parents and Me 
How about Rencontrez (meet) les Fockers?

 Love this movie!

And this one probably cracks me up the most. Because to us, it's just one terrifying word - JAWS! Duh-dun... 

In French, this says: The Teeth of the Sea

Well, enjoy your summer, everyone! And if you haven't seen it, go see the French film called The Intouchables. I think it's playing everywhere in the States, or at least it was a few weeks ago. Intouchables is un mot français. The English word is 'untouchable'. So the Americans decided to do a little franglais with this one, opting to use "The" instead of "Les" - the latter being better. 

This is one of the best films I've ever seen. It's wildly funny, and will move your heart and soul, and even if you don't know who the actors are (one is such a great comedian!) you'll love it anyway. The movie's in French of course, but it's got English subtitles, and even if like me, your French is just comme si comme ça, you will enjoy what you do understand, and just rely on the helpful words at the bottom. 

The French do a lot of movies of the heart, with not a lot of shoot-em-up-bang-bang. So don't expect car chases - wait, actually there IS one! Just expect an absolutely wonderful French film. 

Oh, and did I mention that it's based on a true story? Love those : )

Stay cool!