2008 Woodie Awards
I just returned to Pau after spending a week in Amsterdam. We had a break between June and July courses, and I thought I might as well head to the Pays Bas, or the “Low Country.” The break signaled not only a pause in homework and three hours of class every morning, but was, in fact, the mid-point marker.
This realization, along with feeling overjoyed to return to Pau at the end of the week, put my whole study abroad experience in perspective. Amsterdam was great, don’t get me wrong. I learned that 1) a society where everyone rides bikes is possible, 2) the Dutch are the tallest people in the world, and 3) more tourists frequent the “coffee shops,” which pedal pre-rolled joints and hash by the ounce, than local Netherlanders. But the strongest thought that kept reappearing during the week was: my days in France are numbered.
That said, I snuggled back into my life here as fast as I could. The first night back I had dinner with my host mom, chatting in French about fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, balsamic vinegar, and eggplant pate. The conversation turned to languages and translation. It started with magazines and moved to film. She pulled out Fenêtre sur cour (Rear Window) an Alfred Hitchcock film, and we settled in to watch the movie. It was in English with French subtitles. We both swooned over Jimmy Stewart and marveled at Grace Kelly’s beauty. We discussed Hitchcock’s style and brilliance.
I reflected, thinking that of the many films I’ve seen while in France, Fenêtre sur cour was one of the few in English. Pau is home to a small, independent theatre called Les Méliès. This cinema brings in international films and rather than the usual practice of dubbing foreign films with French, Les Méliès keeps the film’s original language and adds French subtitles.
In keeping with the “Interview Week” theme at blogs.dailyiowan.com/arts, Lindsay Blotzer, a study abroad student and fellow film dilettante, joined me to discuss the films we’ve seen.
Kate Casper: Hey Linds, glad we could chat. So, we’ve both fallen in love with Les Méliès and many of the films that have been shown there. I don’t think either of us are true movie buffs, but we enjoy film and practicing French.
Lindsay Blotzer: Yeah. I had never sought out [foreign] films without English subtitles before. The first time I was introduced to Les Méliès was during our walking tour of Pau, the first week we were here. Since it was an independent theatre I was immediately drawn to it because films shown in places like that end up becoming some of my favorites.
KC: Being that all the films shown at the theatre are either in French or have French subtitles, were you ever worried about the language barrier, about not understanding the movie?
LB: Seeing the posters of the films coming in all looked interesting. For some reason I wasn’t fazed that they’d be in French or with French subtitles, so there was no guarantee that I would understand them. I just knew I’d be going there a lot.
KC: What were some of your favorites?
LB: I’ve seen a lot, but the ones I’ve really enjoyed have been Irina Palm, which was made in Britain. It was in English but it was still neat because I read the [French] subtitles anyway. I also enjoyed La Vie des autres (The Lives of Others), which is a German film. It was interesting hearing the German and reading the French. It wasn’t too hard to understand because so much of the story was in the characters’ expressions and was played out in front of you. I think film is a great way to get to know language because you don’t have to just rely on the words.
The last film I saw there was Persepolis, which was fun because I was reading the series [by Marjane Satrapi] in its original French. Generally I find it easier to read French subtitles because I’m able to see the words and process them in time. Whereas when I just hear the French, like in this film, I’m also hearing an actual French accent spoken very quickly, which makes it more difficult to understand. But it’s good to see a film in French to get used to the pace of the language.
KC: Have there been any films that you haven’t understood because of language barriers?
LB: Une vieille maîtresse I found difficult to follow. First the language of the film was French. Second, much of the plot relied on storytelling and they didn’t always act out what was being described.
KC: So how did you make sense of the film?
LB: I didn’t make sense of the whole film. I feel like I got the gist, but one of my friends who’d seen it before me had really enjoyed it, and I feel maybe he got a little more out of it than I did.
KC: One film we found particularly interesting. Tu marcheras sure l’eau (Walk on Water) is an Israeli film with dialogue in English, German, and Hebrew and we watched it with French subtitles.
LB: Oh yes, it was fabulous. First, it was great because I enjoyed the film and the English kind of felt like it was thrown in, just for me. I found it pretty easy to understand the subtitles and what was going on. Some time would go by where they would’ve been speaking a little bit of English a little bit of German or Hebrew, and I’d read the subtitles the whole time because I didn’t realize when English was being spoken. It got to the point where I didn’t know if I’d read the French or heard the English, but I understood it so well. It was a nice little victory.
KC: Any other films you saw that were impressive?
LB: Le Scaphandre et le papillon. It had beautiful imagery and a very interesting story. The former editor of Elle magazine had an attack, I forget what the syndrome was called. But he was paralyzed except for one eye and he wrote a book by blinking. It was very moving.
KC: Any last comments?
LB: I recommend all of the films we talked about, except for maybe Une vieille maîtresse. But then again, perhaps it’s better with English subtitles.
That’s it in this edition from France. Hope you all have a great Independence Day in the states, complete with sparklers and fireworks. Until next week, ciao.
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