Is Les Miserables popular in France?

[phantom8019]

Posted: 2/26/13 at 3:38pm

Seems like the movie is not as popular in France as it is worldwide. For example, the opening weekend in the UK was 13 million. But according to boxofficemojo.com: "Oddly, in spite of its French connection it only opened in eighth place in France with $865,000."

Any theories on this?

[Dave19]

Posted: 2/26/13 at 5:40pm

It seems that musical theatre is not popular in France in general.

Also, they do not know the English language at all, so they only watch completely dubbed films.

Does anyone know what kind of version of the film was playing in France? The original film or completely dubbed?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 2/26/13 at 5:53pm

Dave is right. Not a single French person knows any English at all.

[RaisedOnMusicals]

Posted: 2/26/13 at 5:57pm

PRS, you took the words right out my bouche. Sacrebleu!

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 2/26/13 at 5:58pm

THEY do know know it AT ALL.

Case closed.

[MarkBearSF]

Posted: 2/26/13 at 5:59pm

I have heard that American musical theatre historically has not been popular there, but that dubbed movies are not nearly as popular as "vo" (version originale) subtitled ones.

[peachesr82]

Posted: 2/26/13 at 7:19pm

I've lived in Paris for a number of years and musical theatre just isn't really a big thing here. Mamma Mia is running and Theatre du Chatelet are doing short runs of Carousel, West Side Story and Sunday in the Park with George (with Julian Ovenden) this year, but that's about it. They do quite like their Sondheim, there was a great production of A Little Night Music a few years ago with Leslie Caron and Greta Scacchi who stepped in for Kristen Scott Thomas .

I can't say I've ever been to a dubbed movie, most are subtitled. I actually saw Les Mis in a cinema a few streets over from where the real June rebellion took place. Undubbed with subtitles. There hasn;t been a massive buzz about it though I have to say.

[bobs3]

Posted: 2/26/13 at 8:16pm

Part of the problem with a Les Miz film or musical play in France is that EVERYONE knows Victor Hugo's novel. It is taught in every public, private and parochial school in France. Most french people consider the musical and the various film productions to be bastardizations of the beloved great French novel. Even the French-language version starring Depardieu was a failure in France.

As far as French citizens not speaking English, I can't speak for the rest of the country but most Parisians speak some or even fluent English (you basically have to if you are in anyway involved with US, UK, CAN--non-Quebec, and AU visitors).

And yes, the earlier poster was correct, most foreign language films shown in Paris are subtitled.

Le problème avec un film de Les Miserables ou de jeu musical dans les Frances est que chacun connaît le roman de Victor Hugo. On lui enseigne à chaque école publique, privée et paroissiale dans les Frances. La plupart des personnes françaises considèrent comme étant le musical et les productions cinématographiques des insulter du grand roman français aimé. La film version française de tenant le premier rôle Depardieu était un échec dans les Frances.

(My French can be a little rusty so feel free to correct any mistakes.)









Updated On: 2/26/13 at 08:16 PM

[ken8631]

Posted: 2/27/13 at 8:13am

Merci!

[Dave19]

Posted: 2/27/13 at 10:03am

Do you guys have any idea why the English language is banned from the country?

They have their own French pop music scene and there are no English spoken movies available in theatres. People in France are just never exposed to the language. They even have their own French internet, just like in Japan.

I know French people and their knowledge of English is even worse than it is in Japan.

So, this could be very well the reason the do not understand the show or film "Les Miserables". Did the filmmakers insist that the songs stay in English?

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 2/27/13 at 10:14am

Oh.

This is going to be fun...

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 2/27/13 at 10:16am

Dave19, do you read anything before you post to a thread?

This is an honest question and I am not trying to be sarcastic.

Two people, including one who actually lives in France posted that English films are shown in theaters with subtitles, while another stated that some Parisians speak some or even fluent English because they have to if they are in anyway involved with US, UK, CAN--non-Quebec, and AU visitors.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 2/27/13 at 10:26am

No language is banned in France so far as I know, though it's true that the Academie francaise has a list of words that they say shouldn't appear in government documents. They also encourage journalists to use a French equivalent.

Roughly 39 percent of French people speak at least some English.






Updated On: 2/27/13 at 10:26 AM

[mrcacou]

Posted: 2/27/13 at 10:39am

Guys. You have to stop watching Fox News. English is widely popular in France. If you want a country where people only speak one language go to the UK or the US where your own language is not even mastered (I lived in South Carolina and NY for a few years). Kids are taught two foreign languages in school here sometimes three. Oh, and we have running water and electricity just so you know and French fries are actually from Belgium. Sorry for the obnoxious French rectification but some of the comments pissed me off (or maybe were they meant to sound funny but I doubt it).

In big cities, like here in Paris movies are mostly subtitled. Cartoons are dubbed during matinees for kids and subtitled in the evening.

The film was shown sung in English with dialogs (like 10 sentences) in French according to what I've been told. I saw the English version.

Musicals are not big indeed here. Well, musicals like you intend them. Our big shows are concerts in costumes. I loath them but they seem to attract masses.

The movie of Les Miz does not reflect the Victor Hugo we are taught here, at all. It is 2 hrs 30 minutes of heavy crying scenes. The books of les Miz are a lot more than that.

Bobs3, si tu veux parler français de temps en temps ce serait avec plaisir.

We are not used to having people singing every sentence in a musical. People were laughing each time HJ would sing after 1 hour and a half. I was hurt to be quite honest and felt alone with my boyfriend.
I could go on and on and on why Les Mis where a flop in 1991 in France, again during the UK tour that stops in Paris and again as a movie but to cut a long story short, the 1985 version has nothing to do with the original French show that was more of a "spectacle" like the one I wrote about above.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 2/27/13 at 10:51am

Mrcacou, thanks for the information!

[MCfan2]

Posted: 2/27/13 at 10:54am

And Fox News has what to do with any of this . . . ?

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 2/27/13 at 10:55am

They're french, no?

[MCfan2]

Posted: 2/27/13 at 10:59am

Oh right, I forgot.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 2/27/13 at 11:05am

From Wikipedia's entry on "Francophobia":

"The swell of anti-French sentiment in the United States resulting from 2003 episode was marked. Various media personalities and politicians openly expressed anti-French sentiments;News Corporation's media outlets, particularly the Fox Entertainment Group's Fox News Network, were specifically implicated in a campaign fanning francophobia at the time of the war."

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 2/27/13 at 11:11am

FAUX News < - - - FRENCH!

[Valastairekelly]

Posted: 2/27/13 at 11:22am

Being french, and an avid musical fan, I've followed closely how the french media handled "Les Misérables". And what happened was exactly what I thought would happen. Most of the reviews I have read were mixed, reviewers thought that the original Victor Hugo novel lost of its impact and strength in this version...Then again, it's such a HUGE part of french culture that it had, sadly, almost no chance of being well received in an adaptation coming from anywhere else than France...

Updated On: 2/27/13 at 11:22 AM

[Dave19]

Posted: 2/27/13 at 12:06pm

Carlos, I always read first :) But I'm at work now and the page was still open and I typed and I finished the post a while later.

"I actually saw Les Mis in a cinema a few streets over from where the real June rebellion took place. Undubbed with subtitles."

That's interesting, when I was there I couldn't find the original versions of movies at all (Les Mis was not playing then). Is there a fully dubbed version too?

"Being french, and an avid musical fan, I've followed closely how the french media handled "Les Misérables". And what happened was exactly what I thought would happen. ....reviewers thought that the original Victor Hugo novel lost of its impact and strength in this version...no chance of being well received in an adaptation coming from anywhere else than France..."

This is what I mean. Why is it so bad to appreciate something else?

"People were laughing each time HJ would sing after 1 hour and a half. I was hurt to be quite honest and felt alone with my boyfriend"

That's quite sad, but there has to be a reason for them to "not get it". Is it the language barrier? Is it the fact that HJ's singing sounds embarrassing?

I think this is an interesting issue.










Updated On: 2/27/13 at 12:06 PM

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 2/27/13 at 12:29pm

"Why is it so bad to appreciate something else?"

I would be surprised if American audiences didn't have a similar response to a French musical based on, say, "Huckleberry Finn."

[Dave19]

Posted: 2/27/13 at 12:33pm

But the writers of the show are actually French in this case.

Are they popular in France?

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 2/27/13 at 12:44pm

The original source matieral, yes. But given that this is a Hollywood adaptation of a British version . . .

Again, imagine the response of U.S. audiences to a French version of a German adaptation of "Oklahoma."