really bad British accent by Gwyneth - Sliding Doors (1998) Discussion

[–] pantyhoser1975 15 years ago

After Dick Van Dyke's accent in Mary Poppins, anything is an improvement.

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[–] Breila 15 years ago

The first time I saw it I thought her accent was good but 10 years on and after 8 years of living in London it sounds fake to me. And no one I know here has ever used "shagging" as a verb the way it is used in the film eg "that useless, shagging b*stard" etc. So not sure what that was about!

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[–] somethingstoopid79 15 years ago

Yep the grammar and slang were pretty lame, the accent was above passable if i remember.xs

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[–] hnewstadt 11 years ago

shagging is used as an adjective in the example you gave.

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[–] goleafsgo27 11 years ago

Sorry Briela, but what you meant to say was everyone uses it as a verb, as in "he's shagging X", but no one uses it as an adjective as in "that shagging creep". Hey, I slept through labeling parts of speech too, and had to catch up later.

I have seen enough to know I have seen too much. -- ALOTO

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[–] wastedyuthe 10 years ago

"that useless, shagging b*stard" sounds pretty ok to me. She's referring to the fact that he shags about while she's out at work.

And like someone else said, when I first watched this I actually thought she was British in real life too. Her accent, while a little on the posh side, is perfect in my opinion. And she may not sound like a Londoner, her character could quite easily have grown up elsewhere in England.
I actually really love how she talks in this, and was surprised to find out she wasn't British.

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[–] Dash99 15 years ago

this was the first gwyneth film I saw and I always thought she was british, then again I was like 8 years old when this came out.

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[–] ben_jeffrey 15 years ago

You're right, you're not British. If you were, as I am, you'd know that her accent was bang on the money. She doesn't just sound English, but sounds like a certain kind of well-educated, well-to-do Londoner - entirely in fitting with her character. She's talented. You have no ear for accents.

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[–] wight1984 14 years ago

I'm British and it sounded fake to me.

I've spent plenty of time in London around a more middle-class crowd too, still sounded fake.

It didn't ruin the film for me or really affect my opinion of her performance in general but it jarred at first anyway.

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[–] nicky84493 14 years ago

I have to say i thought her accent was spot on,and had actually thought she was british having only seen her in S.D and Emma.

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[–] zoso_uk 13 years ago

I think she did really well actually. A couple of times it came off as odd sounding but it could just be her voice more than anything because even when I hear her speaking in her natural accent she pronounces words in a rather strange way. Or rather, the inflection she places on words is odd. So accent-wise I thought she did very well. It's just that her voice is strange in and of itself lol.

Oh and I'm a Brit BTW.

The men I adore ...
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=e_IQwcVjsgo

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[–] alau_mudir 12 years ago

@ben_jeffrey
how arrogant of you to think you decide what is a correct accent and what is not! Have you been let out of your cage? or cave...? I have been educated for long years in both countries UK and US (London if you need to know) and I am going to say I understand what everybody is trying to say here. The person that said it is her nasal voice may be up to sth... it may be also that people are used to hearing her voice in an American Accent and they do not buy her Brit accent, but for me, I am going to say it is her intonation. She may pronounce it Brit, but her intonation is not natural. I believe THAT is what puts many people off. My own intonation changes from time to time, intonation is harder for actors to nail down than pronunciation. Lighten up! Nobody cares about the opinion of someone like you telling the world you are right and everybody else is wrong!

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[–] SenoritaTorres 12 years ago

I'm English, and Gwyneth's accent is superb. She is quite possibly one of the best American actresses that do the English accent. I actually thought she WAS English. When I watched her in Great Expectations when she did her own American accent, I thought 'Ooh, that American accent's a bit bad!' Then it turns out that was her own accent, which I thought was insane. She sounds better English.

Justice for the 96
-15th April 1989

YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE

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[–] jescci 11 years ago

I think Brits are less critical of Americans doing British accents and vice versa.

I'm an American and thought her accent was fair at best, perhaps because I/we scrutinize every syllable.

I'll add that I never had a problem with the American accents of (not all Brits):

Kate Beckinsale
Russell Crowe
Hugh Jackman
Keira Knightley
Nicole Kidman
Rachel Weisz

... among others

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[–] BlueNight87 15 years ago

Not quite!It's not like I've never heard a Brit speaking!!!Renee Zellweger is waaay better than her for eg.

And you are about to read a book that my foot wrote.It's called on the road to in your ass

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[–] ben_jeffrey 15 years ago

So let me get this right. Because you've heard British accents in films you know better than a Londoner how convincing or nor a London accent is? Righto.

And that book, foot and ass thing. Brilliant.

Retard.

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[–] elealmail 15 years ago

I always thought her accents were pretty good.

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[–] BillyCR 14 years ago

I agree. I'm Australian and I've probably watched this movie 20 times or something. I always thought Gwen was British becuase of this movie. It's spot on in my opinion.

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[–] Darkfalz1979 11 years ago

It sounds fake and put on, but so do many Brits trying to do a more "posh" version of their own accent. So I guess in that respect, it could be considered accurate - if that's what she was going for.

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[–] Dash99 15 years ago

Yeah Renee Zellweger does a perfect english accent, but Gwens and Renees characters were totally different class wise I think.

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[–] ilovemaccie 15 years ago

Renee Zellweger does a terrible english accent :S Gwyneth's was ok.

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[–] crchadwick 15 years ago

I'm English and I thought Gwyneth's accent was fine.

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[–] prove-yourself 15 years ago

It's her voice that makes it sound so annoying, very nasal.

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[–] nutty_pistachio 15 years ago

You're not English, and yet you think you can tell the difference between a good London accent and a bad one? I don't think so.

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[–] Prelude_in_C_maj 14 years ago

As a Londoner I can tell you she was okay, it's passable. But I think for me it wasn't so much that there was anything inaccurate per se with her accent, just that she sounded annoyingly nasal. Although there are people who sound just like that.

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[–] kitchen-sink-aesthetic 14 years ago

I don't know about her British accent but her Southern English accent wasn't terrible.

Do nothing, eat your chocolates, drink your wine

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