MovieChat Forums > The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970) Discussion > Why are Belgians always mistaken for Fre...

Why are Belgians always mistaken for French?


Why is it that I whenever I read a review of this enchanting movie that the reviewer seemed to have missed the fact that Mme Valledon is Belgian and not French? Being a Belgian, it is rather fatiguing that almost every French-speaking countryman of mine, either fictious (Poirot, Tintin) or factual (Jacques Brel, Georges Simenon), is mistaken for a Frenchman.

"What If" is a game for scholars.
Timothy Dalton, The Lion in Winter (1968)

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Probably because speaking French most English speaking people think that is a product of France... Most people think Belgians speak Their own language , while in the USA if you speak French we think you are either French or Canadian...

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I've frequently heard Brel referred as French. Perhaps errors abound for those mentioned yet everybody recognizes JCvD Belgain origins ... the muscles from Brussels? I'll take the other reference & take Belgian for French, just for grins & give hope to the geograph challenged.

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Flemish Belgians are often mistaken for Dutch.

The church may shout but Darwin roars

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beats me. i thought she was from senegal.

to be serious, it makes no sense, because a point was made of it explicitly when the men were pawing over the pretty lady's clothing. if you cant watch the movie, dont be a reviewer.

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To anyone but Belgians, it really doesn't matter.

Eddy Merckx is the only Belgian I care about.

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