MovieChat Forums > Murder on the Orient Express (2017) Discussion > Branagh's french accent was so overdone....

Branagh's french accent was so overdone...

posted 6 years ago by AaronSynn (284)
9 replies | jump to latest

I missed half of what he said.

It's intended to be a Belgian accent.

In any case, your right it does obscure his dialogue too much.

There is no "Belgian accent". The official languages of Belgium are French, German and Dutch, and Poirot is French-speaking.

[–] keithmovies (627) 6 years ago

True, but as I've found out it's not a simple matter to say that a plurality of languages exist in Belgium - some people there identify culturally very closely with the language they speak, and the form of the language can be mixed with other linguistic elements including the influence of their Flemish language. French is not exactly the French spoken in France though maybe close - it can sound different when spoken based on my research:

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_French

- http://nadeaubarlow.com/the-so-called-belgian-accent/

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Qw9C0gA6J4

- http://articles.latimes.com/1986-12-29/news/mn-1129_1_belgians

- https://www.quora.com/How-do-Flemish-people-Belgian-Dutch-sound-when-they-speak-English-in-the-ears-of-a-natively-English-speaking-person

[–] woollybully07 (32) 6 years ago

Well the English do have a long and proud tradition of making fun of those damn silly sounding French so it's not too surprising. lol

[–] Renovatio (2990) 6 years ago

it vaz de intension, no? 😁

[–] DracTarashV2 (4474) 6 years ago

Branagh doing an accent and especially one like this? I for one expected it to be over-the-top. :) But had he not played this character, I wouldn’t expect another actor to tone the accent down. It did fit the film and character here.

[–] whoanelly (1558) 2 years ago

Me too. In fact, I thought it would be way more ott than it was. Imo it was rather subtle for Branagh.

[–] Diddy1111 (364) 6 years ago

Between not being able to understand the main character and the movie being an absolute bore, I quit halfway through. What did I miss? There was a twist?

[–] MichaelJPollock (649) 3 years ago

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