This might be too Tarantino with his "I also have a very good ear for accents", but is it just me or did anyone else wonder why Meryl Streep speaks English with a German accent, when her character is actually from Denmark. People from Denmark speak Danish, hello, and that language basically has nothing to do with German apart from belonging to same string of languages ??? 7/10
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In addition, Denmark is close to Germany which can impact accents. They even refer to this in the movie with one person mistaking her accent as German. Also, during another scene someone asks her who will Denmark side with because their neighbors to Germany.
Finally, if anyone can do an accent, it is probably Meryl Streep...
If she'd spoken in a Danish accent rather than a German one, how many people would have noticed?
shareBaeksu, you have to be VERY drunk not to be able to distinguish a Danish accent from a German - it's like the difference between Korean and Japanese for C's sake. Did you also think that Michael Fassbinder spoke high German in Inglorious Basterds ? Just asking.
shareThere are recordings of Karen Blixen, and Meryl Streep, perfectionist that she is, listened to them very carefully.
shareDoug7347 - you're absolutely right that Meryl Streep is a perfectionist. What I believe is the case here is that she was misled. Someone who doesn't care gave her recordings of a G.W. Pabst movie and told her it was Danish. That's very sad coz in my book, details of languages, dialects and accents are very important, just ask Quentin Tarantino ;-) Trust me when I say that Meryl Streep speaks in a German accent and not a Danish. I grew up speaking both languages and they are not comparable.
shareYes, she is famously known as a perfectionist, she just didn't nail this accent. No shame, danish is a very hard language.
Youuu got me!
I'm pasting what I wrote on another thread about Streep's accent in this movie:
I think what many don't realize is that, during the time period in which this story takes place, Danes, like much of the world, learned "British English". This greatly affects an accent. Another example of this is the classic "Apu" Indian accent, which is the accent of an Indian who has learned British English....today, it is not as pervasive as it once was because many Indians have learned "American English".
Forty years of Meryl and her damn accents has gone way beyond annoying. She does these roles to win Oscars. She's been nominated what - 20 times? Look how many "Academy Award winning performances" are given to those who use accents or portray a disability. I'm a movie buff, but I have lost all respect for Oscar.
shareGlad I'm not alone in thinking her voice work is decidedly sub par. There must be an awful lot of fellow actors, critics and movie goers with tin ears.
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