It was sweaty-hot this weekend, so I decided to go to a movie on Saturday afternoon. I've been meaning to see The Beat That My Heart Skipped (De battre mon coeur s'est arr�t�), and figured that was a good choice, since I was going by myself anyway and couldn't think of anyone else I know around here who would be interested.
It was dark, and violent, and moody, and pretty good. Not the best movie I've ever seen, but interesting. Although, whenever I see films in another language, and also when I read books that have been translated, I wonder about how the translation changes the meaning and emotional effect. One scene in particular made me think about this: the main character, Tom, meets his father's new girlfriend for the first time (his mother died maybe 10 or 15 years ago), and he's very snide and fairly nasty to her. When his father asks his opinion, he says she's une pute, a whore. Right after that scene, he's driving in his car and a song is playing with the lyrics (in English), "There's a monkey on my back / Makes me talk like that...". Which struck me as pretty ham-fisted and anvil-y overkill--I think that anyone watching would understand his reaction, and the song is just a little too much. But then again, the average French speaker, who probably doesn't know English well enough to catch the slurred, echoey lyrics of the song, might not have the same reaction. Anyway, it's a small point, and there are probably lots of other examples of the reverse that I, as someone who speaks French un peu, didn't catch, but it made me think.
The movie also made me think that I'd like to relearn my French. I'm not sure about the best way to do that, besides moving to France, but maybe I'll work on that soon.
Another thing I've been wanting to do lately is learn how to ride my bike in the city. I've never done it, because it kinda scares the poop out of me, but I think it's time to suck it up and do it. I mean, I probably won't get run over, right?
Posted by thevieve at August 15, 2005 10:00 AM