It's hard to believe that a French film would have dialogue recorded in English.
If the filmed dialogue was dubbed into English for the DVD (the new Netflix DVD appears to have been made in South Korea, of all places), it was the technically-best work in language dubbing for a movie that I have ever heard.
And, yes, the English subtitles were terrible, for all the mistakes in translation and all of the spoken words missing on the screen.
E pluribus unum
It was recorded in French. The English dubbing was added later; but was done with an eye to maintaining the tone of the original, which was rare.
Fortunately, Ah keep mah feathers numbered for just such an emergency!
I once tried watching it with the English language track but it just wasn't realistic. I watch this movie a couple of times a year and I always now watch it in French, I like it much better that way. I don't find the English dubbing to be very good.
..*.. TxMike ..*..
Make a choice, to take a chance, to make a difference.
While I agree the film is much better with the original French vocal track, the English one was a lot better than other films of the era. It was at least voiced with the correct emotion and tended to match the pace of the film, which was rather rare, in an English dub. That said, the performances are so much better with the original voices, especially Ann Paurillard and Tcheky Karyo.
I first saw the film with the English dub and watched it several times, so I got used to it. It took quite a while to find it in the original French recording, which was so much better. The current dvd release has a slightly different translation, in the subtitles, than the previous version (from the same vhs release).
Fortunately, Ah keep mah feathers numbered for just such an emergency!
I just went back and watched a few scenes with the English language track selected. It is much better than I remembered it from several years back. Or it could be that I recently bought the BluRay version, and maybe they did a new English language track?
But the funny thing is, if you listen to the English version and also have the English subtitles turned on, the two are quite different, so turning off the subtitles is the thing to do.
I still prefer the native French, I understand enough French that I can re-watch it without subtitles now and enjoy it the way it was filmed. As one might imagine, "dubbed" voices don't always sound natural because instead of being recorded on set, where it can actually include some spacial information, dubbing in a studio can sound kinda "flat" in comparison.
The best English dubbing I ever heard in a foreign language film is "Das Boot." When they did the dubbing for English for the DVD, all the original German cast (at least all the main ones) dubbed their own voices so the vocal quality is the same in German or English. It sounds a lot more realistic that way.
..*.. TxMike ..*..
Make a choice, to take a chance, to make a difference.
C'est drôle. Je viens de vous répondu sur Mad Max et je suis venu ici et à Lola rennt ( Run Lola Run ) parce que je cherchais un bon film pour les féministes idiots .
And I agree with you on the translation. One of my favorite exchanges was at the gun range when she tears up the target and he asks, "You've done this before?" Nikita, "Not on paper."
Yeah the one I seen was only half subtitles missed out on some important lines, still enjoyed it cause it was a kick ass movie though.
I am the son of a man named Tom.