French titles in the DVD store

While trying to think of what to write about today, since I'm not in Paris till later this month, I looked through the stash of images in my Paris file and found this one:

 
It reminded me of the frustrating hunt through the Virgin Megastore on the Champs-Élysées (a fun store otherwise) when you are looking for a specific DVD in English. The store sells lots of DVDs in version originale (abbreviated V.O.) but the title is rarely the one you are looking for-- it's always sold by its French name. Charlie's Angels, for example, becomes Drôles de Dames ("a strange kind of lady").  And that's just the beginning.

The Other Boleyn Girl

Season of the Witch

Family Guy

Godfather 2

Comments

[Veronique Savoye]

So true... and funny too! More recently, I noticed another interesting habit: Replacing an American title with... another American word or expression. Hmmm. For example, "the Hangover 2" became "Very Bad Trip 2"-- Hysterical. I wonder why, since they could have renamed the movie: "La Gueule de Bois2" --- Veronique (French Girl in Seattle)