Man, was *that *disappointing. A pretty impressive performance by Cotillard–though it was stagey and mannered, like a Dustin Hoffman performance. Still, an impressive effort. But set in a laughably cliche mess of a by-the-numbers celebrity biopic. Once again a reminder that Roger Ebert has lost it.
shrug I liked it when I saw it in the theater six months ago.
I liked it…oh. La.
I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t the OMG! movie I wanted it to be. Cotillard’s was a brilliant, Oscar-worthy performance in the midst of only a decent, not great, movie (though with great music). The movie let her down badly. However, I do hope someone puts up on YouTube the scene where Piaf as a young girl sings the French anthem. That was the best scene in the movie. I had tears running down my cheeks in the theater, and I get goosebumps just thinking about it.
Dang, I was hoping you were talking about the Canadian Underwear store. (They sell great women’s underwear)
I got my wife a beautiful cotton nightgown & robe from them about 8 years ago, and would love to buy her another. They don’t carry anything of the like any more.
Plus, I took 3 years of French in highschool. Enough of it has remained with me to’ve noticed that whoever did the subtitles had absolutely zero respect for the script. I don’t think I’ve ever noticed a movie with a greater degree of just made up, totally winged and rewritten dialog in the subtitles as compared to the spoken dialog. I estimate it was about 75% inaccurate. Plus plus, none of the songs were translated. At least on the DVD. And the director, true his devotion to cliche, placed each song in a spot that was thematically relevant, according to my fundamental knowledge of French. So unless you understand some French, you are completely unaware that the song that ends the picture is saying “I regret nothing,” and the final line of the entire movie is, roughly, “today I begin anew with you.”
Pretty shoddy subtitling all around.
That blows my mind. It never occured to me that a movie, any movie, would be purposely mistranslated. I always know that we’re not getting everything said with the subtitles, but to think that 75% was inaccurate (as opposed to just missing) is outrageous. Knowing that makes me hate the movie now.
I still want that scene with the young Piaf, and I still hope that Marion gets an Oscar nom, but my opinion of the movie itself just went into the dirt.
Edit to add: I know it’s not the filmmakers’ fault that the subtitler was an asshole, but still, I can’t think of the movie in the same way anymore.
Maybe we’ll get another film, a better film, about Piaf’s war years. Marion could come back and play Piaf again.
I agree–I saw it in theatres, and I thought that scene was wonderful.
Want to know just how much of a nerd I am?
Every time I see this thread on the CS page, I think it’s a thread about this thing for a moment.
I’ve heard accusations before about the unreliability of translation in subtitles. I’m dubious about the 75% claim (sounds like hyperbole to me), but I’d love to see a discussion about this with people who are more knowledgeable about the field.