Cinema and England

To The Cinema
I went with Mana, a local friend, to see Slumdog Millionaire at the cinema in Buis yesterday evening and was impressed. I found the mixture of realism and fantasy, Bollywood and other genres effectively blended and the whole well acted and photographed. A thoroughly engaging film, if not a great one. Mana was not impressed, having read the book and finding the detail on the poverty from which Jamal had emerged lacking and dismissing the tinseltown episodes as American, although I think they were Bollywood. Plenty to talk about afterwards, anyway.

The film was dubbed into French, which is what happens to most films here that will run on the main cinema circuits (which doesn't include Buis and neighbouring towns). I find the range of films shown locally much better than that I was used to in Reading, primarily because the French seem to accept subtitles easily. Subtitling is what happens to any film that is not going to be a blockbuster on the main cinema circuits. That turns out to be a very important difference. If you can accept subtitles, then you don't have to bulk out cinema programmes with inferior films because you are constrained by a single language. You, literally, have the whole worlds films to choose from. So, since I have been here, I have seem films originated in, for instance, Morocco, Mongolia, Algeria, Spain, and China, all good films that I would never have had the chance to see in Reading.

The cinema in Buis has promoted a debate on whether films in languages other than French should be dubbed or subtitled. The general argument is that dubbing compromises the integrity of the film, whilst subtitling obviously introduces some visual interference, with the inference that purists will opt for subtitles. I suspect the debate is academic; economics rather than aesthetics will determine whether films in other languages are dubbed or subtitled. However, sometimes you can take your pick; Slumdog Millionaire was earlier showing in a subtitled version. The important point for me is that, if you accept subtitles, then a far wider variety, and a greater overall quality, of films becomes available.

And Back To England.............
Tomorrow I fly back to England to see my kids and my mother for a week. I gather that the weather in England, or the southern part, has changed for the worse: lower temperatures and rain. Which is a pity because here the weather is forecast to stay fair for the next several days. However, I love England in the spring (“Oh to be in England.....etc) and so will doubtless find things to please me. And I shall no doubt bring back various plants in my suitcase for my garden here.

Résumé en Français
Je suis conscient de ne pas avoir fait les résumés que j'avais proposés. C'est plus difficile que je ne l'avais pensé: pas le français mais le résumé. Cependant, je les écrirai de temps en temps.