# WHY Don't WE See MORE French Films In The USA? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 14, 2004, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-see-more-french-films-in-the-usa/224474 "2004-01-14T23:07:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-see-more-french-films-in-the-usa/224474/1 "2004-01-14T23:07:14Z")
I just saw “THE BROTHJERHOOD OF THE WOLF” on DVD-excellent movie! In spite of a rather weak ending, the movie was very well acted and kept your interest high. The photography was excellent…I’m sure that it was an expensive film to shoot. Anyway, I’m curious…the French film industry released about 168 films in 2003…how come so few make it to the USA? I was in the frech Club (Cercle Francais) in High School-and we saw all of the classics by Truffaut, Godard, etc…I just don’t understand whay so few products of the French cinema get released here! 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-see-more-french-films-in-the-usa/224474/2 "2004-01-14T23:10:59Z")
Why? Two words: Freedom Fries. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-see-more-french-films-in-the-usa/224474/3 "2004-01-14T23:12:33Z")
The American movie industry seems to think that Americans don’t like either subtitles or dubbed films. ---
**Author:** ![medstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@medstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medstar)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-see-more-french-films-in-the-usa/224474/4 "2004-01-14T23:16:14Z")
I have a few theories: 1. Most Americans don’t speak or understand French well enough to enjoy a movie that is entirely in French. 2. Most French films that come here only show up at out of the way theaters; not in the huge megaplexes so popular today. 3. Most Americans are too lazy to read the subtitles. Me, I don’t speak French at all, but I’ve seen quite a few french films; not that I can remember the titles of any. I can usually follow the action on the screen and the subtitles are very helpful. I enjoy listening for the word “merde”. 😛 Incidentally, there was a miniseries of **The Count of Monte Cristo** starring Gerard Depardieu on cable TV a few years back that was entirely in french, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-see-more-french-films-in-the-usa/224474/5 "2004-01-14T23:23:46Z")
I don’t see any reason to single out French films. There are plenty of good films from other countires that don’t get shown here. To the larger question… subtitles hurt movies. You just can’t appreciate the cinematography or the subtlety of the acting if your eyes are constantly darting down to the bottom of the screen. ---
**Author:** ![UselessGit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/74df32/32.png) [@UselessGit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UselessGit)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-see-more-french-films-in-the-usa/224474/6 "2004-01-14T23:25:54Z")
Brotherhood of the wolf is pretty good, I was shocked to see Mark Dacascos in a Real Movie, and a French one at that! :eek: You’re missing out on a lot if you don’t get any French movies, surely _Le Haine_, _Le Cité des Enfants Perdus_, and _Le Femme Nikita_ have been shown over there? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-see-more-french-films-in-the-usa/224474/7 "2004-01-14T23:31:43Z")
> [@medstar](#): > > I have a few theories: > 3) Most Americans are too lazy to read the subtitles. I hate this argument. AFAIK, American audiences are the only ones who will tolerate subtitles. Other countries dub American films into their native language and in many cases have voice actors who only “play” one actor so the voices are uniform across many different films. If I recall right the Italian move theater industry had to shut down for awhile a few years ago because the voice actors went on strike and they didn’t have enough Italian films to fill the multiplexes. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-see-more-french-films-in-the-usa/224474/8 "2004-01-14T23:42:03Z")
I imagine it is very daunting to try and break into our market which is already heavily saturated with movies many of which are failures financially speaking. To make a large amount of money from a release here costs dozens of millions of dollars for advertising. And unless you spend that much money for advertising theaters wont want to show the films in any large amounts since they can’t make their money back from tickest and concessions. Which makes it a real gamble. And a very expensive one at that. So while it’s partly the insularism of the American entertainment market I don’t think you can overlook the finances. As I understand it the main way foreign movies (mostly British) break into the North American (Canada & the US) market is for a company already with a large US presence to decide to distribute these foreign films. Can anyone give any examples of foreign film companies making a concerted effort to launch one of their films into our market? I don’t doubt there are examples but I just don’t know any. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-see-more-french-films-in-the-usa/224474/9 "2004-01-14T23:50:29Z")
The simple answer is that there is a niche market for Independent & Foreign films, and French movies must compete for this limited space with films from other countries as well as low-budget, “arthouse” English-langauge films (which are generally easier to market because they don’t have to contend with the language thing). I can think of 15 new films from France that came out in 2003 in the US, and I can’t think of a single country that can come close: _L’Auberge Espagnole Carnage Cet Amour-la Demonlover The Flower of Evil Friday Night He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not In My Skin Irreversible Jet Lag Man on the Train Monsieur Ibrahim Swimming Pool To Be and To Have The Triplets of Belleville_ Now, not all of these films may have opened near you, I suspect. But they generally fall into 3 categories: (1) They have a famous French performer, (2) they are from a famous French director, or (3) they are critically acclaimed enough that they had a reputation that didn’t require a big actor or director to bring in that limited arthouse audience. Still, France also makes a lot of bad or mediocre films that have little likelihood of surviving in the non-French speaking marketplace, so are not worth the effort by a distributor when there are other films (from France, Italy or elsewhere) that are better bets. ---
**Author:** ![widdershins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@widdershins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/widdershins)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-see-more-french-films-in-the-usa/224474/10 "2004-01-15T00:03:06Z")
I tend to agree that mainstream American audiences have a bias against most non-English language films, subbed or dubbed. Some anime (see _Akira_, much of Miyazaki’s recent work, or even unfortunately _Pokemon_, although that’s more of serving a rather large niche audience here - the kids who were big fans of the game/cards/TV show) and Hong Kong action flicks (especially some of Jackie Chan’s films) can be the exceptions, but there even dodgy dubbing can be beat by dazzling action or great visuals. So it’s not just French films, although in our current political atmosphere French films would seem to have even more trouble breaking out of the arthouse circuit in the US than usual for all the wrong reasons. More’s the pity. Plus, US film studios seem much more willing to snap up the rights to French films (mostly comedies) that might play over here and remake them with varying results. Look at films like _Three Men And A Baby_, _The Birdcage_, _Jungle 2 Jungle_, _Just Visiting_. I’ve seen plenty of French films (much later on home video) in recent years that I thought would have a broader appeal than they were given credit for during their mostly limited releases in the US: _The Crimson Rivers, The Closet, Brotherhood Of The Wolf_, and even _Wasabi_. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-see-more-french-films-in-the-usa/224474/11 "2004-01-15T00:21:13Z")
> [@](#): > > You’re missing out on a lot if you don’t get any French movies, surely _Le Haine_, _Le Cité des Enfants Perdus_, and _Le Femme Nikita_ have been shown over there? 😕 Some French films come over here. _La Femme Nikita_ is one of the most popular based on my limited observations. _Betty Blue: 37.2° Le Matin_ is my favourite. _Vagabond_ was shown theatrically on a limited basis, and is available on DVD (unlike _Betty Blue_, dammit!). _City of Lost Children_ also was seen. I remember watching _Get Out Your Handkerchiefs_ and _The Man Who Loved Women_ on cable back in the 1980s. And of course I have _Breathless_ on DVD. Enough people have seen these films that they have wanted to make them more accessable to American audiences by re-making them with “name” stars and in English. Personally, I have been unable to bring myself to watch the re-makes; but I’ve heard they are not as good as the originals. French films tend to play in “art houses”; small, independently-owned theatres that cater to the tastes of the niche audience. Too bad. There are a lot of great foreign films out there; and I, for one, do not mind reading subtitles. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-see-more-french-films-in-the-usa/224474/12 "2004-01-15T00:42:27Z")
Add _The Barbarian Invasions_ to ArchiveGuy’s list. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-see-more-french-films-in-the-usa/224474/13 "2004-01-15T00:50:43Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > Add _The Barbarian Invasions_ to ArchiveGuy’s list. No, it may be _in_ French, but the film is from Canada. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-see-more-french-films-in-the-usa/224474/14 "2004-01-15T00:58:20Z")
Don’t forget Amalie, which played to many enthusiastic audiences in mainstream theaters. ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-see-more-french-films-in-the-usa/224474/15 "2004-01-15T05:19:35Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > I hate this argument. AFAIK, American audiences are the only ones who will tolerate subtitles. Here in Japan, the only movies that are shown dubbed are children’s films (because most children won’t know enough kanji to be able to read the subtitles). And even then, they have seperate subtitled showings for adults and teenagers. ---
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-see-more-french-films-in-the-usa/224474/16 "2004-01-15T06:36:06Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > I hate this argument. AFAIK, American audiences are the only ones who will tolerate subtitles. Other countries dub American films into their native language and in many cases have voice actors who only “play” one actor so the voices are uniform across many different films. Uhh, what about those far-out foreign nations like Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, Singapore or New Zealand? American audiences are certainly not the only ones who are accustomed to subtitling. Similarly, subtitling is not unheard of in non-English speaking nations. ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-see-more-french-films-in-the-usa/224474/18 "2004-01-15T09:22:28Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > I hate this argument. AFAIK, American audiences are the only ones who will tolerate subtitles. Other countries dub American films into their native language and in many cases have voice actors who only “play” one actor so the voices are uniform across many different films. I don’t know anything about the proportion of countries that dub/subtitle, but your categorical statement is certainly incorrect (but then, you said AFAIK 🙂 ). At least in The Netherlands all movies are subtitled, except movies for kids. I think Belgium may have the same system. Germany and France AFAIK do indeed prefer dubbing. Other countries I don’t know about. My guess is that smaller countries (Scandinavian, Middle/Eastern Europe) prefer subtitling. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-see-more-french-films-in-the-usa/224474/19 "2004-01-15T10:51:19Z")
> [@Justin Bailey](#): > > AFAIK, American audiences are the only ones who will tolerate subtitles. On what data, pray, do you base this assertion? It is almost impossible to see a dubbed movie in the UK and Ireland. Foreign-language movies and TV programs are subtitled in most countries in Europe, with the notable exception of Germany. English-language movies and TV (of which there’s an awful lot) are subtitled _de rigeur_ in the Netherlands and Scandinavian, which is often cited as one reason people from those countries are so good at English. ---
**Author:** ![Tarrsk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@Tarrsk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarrsk)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-see-more-french-films-in-the-usa/224474/20 "2004-01-15T10:59:23Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > I hate this argument. AFAIK, American audiences are the only ones who will tolerate subtitles. Other countries dub American films into their native language and in many cases have voice actors who only “play” one actor so the voices are uniform across many different films. Not true. I’ve seen quite a few movies while visiting relatives in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and every single foreign feature is shown with subtitles (even animated stuff like _Mulan_). Hell, even the Japanese _Return of the King_ trailer I recently saw had the original English dialogue, with Japanese captions. If anything, America is (at least from an Asian perspective) remarkably resistant to subtitled films. The only two relatively recent subtitled films I can think of that earned significant amounts at the American box office were _Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon_ and _Amelie_. Meanwhile, wonderful films like _Princess Mononoke_ receive little or no attention until they’ve received a full dubbing job. > [@](#): > > To the larger question… subtitles hurt movies. You just can’t appreciate the cinematography or the subtlety of the acting if your eyes are constantly darting down to the bottom of the screen. I disagree, but I can’t really explain why except anecdotally: I find that, when watching a well-subtitled film, I generally reach a state of mental “immersion” within five or ten minutes, in which reading the dialogue while simultaneously processing all the usual elements of film becomes completely instinctive. In many cases, I actually remember “hearing” the dialogue in English- for example, I have the clearest memory of hearing many of Amelie’s lines being spoken in English by Audrey Tautou, even though obviously that never actually occurred. Just as changing camera angles have become such a basic part of film editing that we frequently don’t register them on a conscious level, so can subtitles become a very effective way of communicating foreign dialogue while keeping all the nuances of the actor’s original vocal performance. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-see-more-french-films-in-the-usa/224474/21 "2004-01-15T11:17:58Z")
> [@Tarrsk](#): > > I find that, when watching a well-subtitled film, I generally reach a state of mental “immersion” within five or ten minutes, in which reading the dialogue while simultaneously processing all the usual elements of film becomes completely instinctive. In many cases, I actually remember “hearing” the dialogue in English- for example, I have the clearest memory of hearing many of Amelie’s lines being spoken in English by Audrey Tautou, even though obviously that never actually occurred. I also experience this. In the French gangster movie _Subway_ there is a song sung in English during the movie. I remember my shock at discovering afterwards that I hadn’t even noticed the transition from subtitles to spoken (sung) English. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-see-more-french-films-in-the-usa/224474.md?page=2)