MovieChat Forums > El Lobo (2004) Discussion > How did they fare?

How did they fare?

posted 18 years ago by Roublardise
10 replies | jump to latest

How did the French-speakers Patrick Bruel and Mélanie Doutey fared in your opinion acting in Spanish/ Castellano and at some points in Basque?

Where they realistic enough in your opinion? Where they good choices for their characters?

Thank you in advance.

I begun to wonder that after seing on Youtube the clip of Mélanie Doutey as Amaia singing 'Ikusi mendizaleak' in the movie and i thought she did well, then i remembered Basque was far from being my mother toungue (lol !) so i couldn't say if she was realistic or not...

I think i've read somewhere that she had learnt Spanish at school during all her childhood/ teenage years but i assume she doesn't know Basque and had to 'do her homework' before getting this part...

That's why i ask any Basque that may happen to post in here who saw the movie, what he/she thinks...

Here's the clip : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWl0H9vWipg

Thanks in advance...

[–] baumgarten_jose 18 years ago

There isnt any problem in having french speaking actors performing Basque characters, there are Basque communities in both Spain and France.

[–] Roublardise 17 years ago

Yep but either from Iparralde or the Spanish part of Euskadi, Basque people are good Basque speaker... Whereas a French or a Spanish person might not speak Basque well, have an accent etc... Mélanie is Occitan (like me), she's no Basque so it's still a relevant question i think to try to know how she fared... I can't tell. I'm no Basque speaker.

Thanks in advance for the answers...

[–] eljuma_1 17 years ago

I'm not a Basque speaker, but I can say that Mélanie had a strange accent all the time she was speaking in Castilian.

[–] pablodiazgutierrez 17 years ago

I don't know if it's true that whether French or Spanish, "Basque people are good Basque speaker". Last time I checked, only around 30% Basques speak the language.

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] CalvinJarrett 15 years ago

Kind of like Yiddish, I suppose?

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] pietti 15 years ago

Not really. In Basque country almost all kids are required to take at least some courses in Basque. I'm working in a school right now where all the classes are taught in Basque with Spanish being taught as a foreign language. I have met young kids here who don't know Spanish because their families speak Basque at home and they don't learn Spanish until they get into upper grades at school. There are TV stations with programming only in the language right down to the Burger King and Mattel commercials.

So I wouldn't compare Euskera to Yiddish, Ladino or any other dying language with no official standing. It's more like Kichwa in Ecuador, with the national language dominating in cities and the regional and traditional language being more prevalent in the villages. And like Kichwa there are variations over relatively small distances.

BTW, never ask a Spaniard any question related to Jewish culture. They're completely clueless. Have been since the Inquisition.

[–] eljuma_1 15 years ago

"BTW, never ask a Spaniard any question related to Jewish culture. They're completely clueless. Have been since the Inquisition."

And the winner in the Most Gratuitous Stereotype Category is...

[–] spookyrat1 10 years ago

How did ... Mélanie Doutey fared in your opinion acting ... ? Not being Spanish, her accent seemed fine to me. I appreciated the fact she is a fine looking woman, as was The Wolf's wife.