MovieChat Forums > Breakfast on Pluto (2006) Discussion > Unintelligible dialogue

Unintelligible dialogue

posted 16 years ago by pat102853
82 replies | jump to latest

I'm getting very tired of British or Irish films that assume that Americans understand their often unintlligible burrs or brogues. Enough already. Provide subtitles. Upper class English accenst are fine. Even Australian I understand. Cockney not OK. I know Neil Jordan wanted authenticity and that's fine. However this film lost me because I could not understand half of what Kitten was saying. Please provide subtitles. US English is not the same as British English. I wonder if they have as difficult time understanding Southern US inflection as we do their regional speech. If Jordan provided subtitles for the so-called robins in this film (they bore no resemblence to any robin I've seen), he called have provided subtitles for his main characters. This film was just OK. Had I understood the speech it would have been better.

[–] Saxe-Coburg-Gotha 14 years ago

I just watched this film on Logo and liked it;however, the OP is correct. Murphy is unintelligible much of the time in this film. Those who have attacked the OP are snobbish little prigs.

[–] BronzeKeilani26 14 years ago

OMFG! And I thought it was just me, lol....I've never seen anyone mention it anyhwere in film forums or blogs. Thats why I couldnt watch In Bruges, or any other of Colin Farrell's w/o subtitles. It's not just his accent, I just cant stand the way he speaks period...fast than slow. It's like he's trying to hard to sound a certain way & it makes his acting irritating. But I like the accents on other Irish & Brits...I just cant understand them in films.

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[–] thin_pink-cellophane 14 years ago

Colin Farrell is a terrible actor, in my opinion. His accent isn't even close to being the problem. He's just a bad actor.

Anyways, on the subject of the movie; when I first watched it when it was released, I had trouble with about 15% of the dialog and only when Cillian spoke (that camp accent threw me off at points). Watching it now, years later, no trouble at all.

All those people bashing on the OP are only reacting the way they are because he stated it all so hostile. And some probably didn't bother reading the whole thread to see his apology. So seriously, generally speaking, they all have a reason to say the things they do - no one has to try and tell other people that their reactions to the OP are invalid.

[–] franzkabuki 13 years ago

I couldn´t catch about a third of what was said so definitely subtitles would have proved very useful.

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

[–] Apophos 13 years ago

American is a mix of Irish and Scottish. I find I need subtitles for not only Irish and Scottish movies but also American movies as they tend to mumble sometimes, especially when they are speaking quietly.

[–] Lets_talk_about_that 13 years ago

I actually loved the way Kitten spoke and the things she said, but I do think that the sound quality of the movie is the problem. I have to turn the volume up practically to the max when I watch my Breakfast on Pluto DVD to be able to hear much of what is being said. So yeah, for me it's not the dialect or accent, it's the poor sound quality of the dialogue.

"I'm a mannequin. That's what I am, I'm a mannequin." -The Twilight Zone

[–] sam-vanroelen-2 13 years ago

come on!! make a little effort please, even i understand english (& american) accents; altough i'm not even a native speaker (i'm from belgium & speak dutch)... just a matter of wanting to understand!!

[–] skuhmm 13 years ago

what's wrong with wanting to understand EVERY line ssid on a film? You might even learn how to understand different accents quicker thanks to subtitles.

I agree sometimes americans act as if they were the centre of the universe, but in this case I think the OP has a point. What if he DOES have a learning disability? What if he has very poor language skills? So in this case this film is not for him? Following this nazi logic, the film isn't also for deaf people (they can't hear the dialogue, so it's not for them: get out of the cinema, you inferior people! Subtitles? That's insulting!). Then there's the fact that this movie is being released outside the english-speaking world as well, in countries where, you know, people speak other languages. Maybe we should ban this film for those inferior people who don't speak english or any of its dialects?

So, you accuse the OP for acting as if the US are the centre of the universe, but YOU act as if this movie was just made for YOU. There's nothing wrong with subtitles, in fact they're great. I speak castillian spanish, and sometimes we have latin american movies released here, and I can tell you that certain south american spanish accents are almost incomprehensible for many of us, so I can understand the OP very well.

[–] cactusx 13 years ago

Don't get me wrong. The American market is large, but it's not the only market.
This is an Irish film, they shouldn't have to cater to you if you have problems with accents. Just don't watch it.

Formerly cactusx + Grant_Mitchell

[–] janet2 13 years ago

I think many people are lazy when it comes to listening to other accents/dialects.
Pay attention! After a while, it's fairly easy to pick up what's being said. Let's not dumb everything down!

I have to say this does seem to be more of a problem for US filmgoers. Don't they realise that we in the UK can have similar problems listening to say, southern accents?
Do we complain? No, we listen and tune into the accent.

[–] Lets_talk_about_that 13 years ago

It's not just the accent though, there are also different idioms & slang words to try and figure out...lol

The measure of a human being is how one treats those weaker than oneself.

[–] Merrida 12 years ago

Excellent post, and thank you for that.

I'm an American, and I quite enjoyed this film. I rarely have a problem watching/listening to films with various accents. The closest to an exception may be Welsh, but...

Film-watchers, you have a choice. If you lack the ability to either comprehend or appreciate accents other than your own, then by all means, exclusively watch movies featuring actors from your own country. Just stop whining about it.

I find most non-American accents easy to follow (and if I want to watch the movie, it's up to ME to learn it and understand it, it is NOT up to the actors or directors to stunt their performances under any misapprehension that only a select few Americans with limited appreciations will be their target audience).

I suppose if people like the OP travel to other countries they're angered if they're put out because not everyone speaks American English. How sad.

This movie was quite funny and well acted. Loved it.

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[–] SuperhumanChichi 13 years ago

I must admit there were some *really* small segments in the film that I couldn't decipher because of the accent. But the cure is quite simple: TURN ON THE SUBTITLES. Geez.