My First French Film

“So how much French did you understand?” my aunt asked as we walked out of the theater.

“A bit.” I mumbled, slightly embarrassed that after two years of studying the language all I’d understood during my first French movie was “a bit”.

August in Sydney is like any other month in the city – mostly sunny, crowded and endless blue sky. Of course August in the southern hemisphere also means freezing (by Australian standards anyways) temperatures, thus sunbathing is off the table.

Which is why it’s the perfect month to catch a new movie, exactly what my Aunt and I had done on a sleepy Sunday afternoon. We’d glanced at the entertainment section of the Sydney Morning Herald that morning and chosen a new French film called “Mozart’s Sister (Nannerl, la soeur de Mozart in French)” on a whim. With that choice hastily made we rushed to the Opera House location of Dendy – alway’s my Aunt’s favorite for it’s eclectic selection of foreign, indie and popular film offerings.

Although listed as a French film, I’m not sure why I didn’t clue in that it would be in French. I mean we were in Australia…surely they would dub it into English, no?

So imagine my surprise during the opening scene when all the characters started speaking French and English subtitles popped up on the screen. Uhhh okay…I see how this goes (please forgive me, not only was it my first French film, it was also my first time watching a movie in another language, I had no idea how it was done).

Once I recovered from the initial shock I tried  to listen and pick up the French, I really did. However, this proved quite impossible. The reason? Subtitles. I detest subtitles, always have and likely always will. Why? Well I don’t know about other people, but when I watch a movie, I want to watch the movie, not read with moving pictures in the background. Or in this case, watch English with French in the background.

Don’t get me wrong, I completely understand the importance of subtitles; to increase accessibility for deaf and hard-of-hearing moviegoers, but personally they are one of my largest pet peeves. As I said before, I want to watch (and listen to!) the movie, not read moving pictures.

This is especially true as a language learner, when I watch a movie in French I want to listen to the French! Not read English while occasionally catching a French word. Even as a novice language learner this “Englishfying” (yes I just made that up) of the film really frustrated me.

While I had initially been shocked that Mozart’s Sister was going to be in French, once I warmed to the idea I really wanted to enjoy the experience. Up until that point I’d only ever spoken French with other American students in my high school. This was my first exposure to native speakers and subtitles were messing it up!

Again, totally understand the importance of subtitles. However, I hate using them as a crutch when learning a language. Watching a foreign film is the perfect opportunity to test your listening comprehension skills, and English subtitles completely ruins the opportunity. Even French subtitles in this case would’ve been a bit of a crutch, as I would’ve mostly been practicing reading French instead of listening.

However, that’s not to say it wasn’t an enjoyable experience (Auntie if you’re reading this I loved the opportunity and thanks so much!), I loved the movie and storyline (I’m a sucker for historical fiction). I’ll always cherish the day as an idyllic setting (anyone who’s been to a Dendy in Sydney should understand) to watch my first movie in French.

I’m happy to say it wasn’t the last French film I watched either. Over the years as my French ability has reached near fluent levels I’ve enjoyed many movies en français. However, Mozart’s Sister was the last French movie I watched with subtitles. These days I opt for Netflix or other home viewing options where I can control subtitles and/or languages – it’s been much better for language acquisition.

I’d love to re-watch Mozart’s Sister again today and see how different the experience is sans subtitles and with an increased French ability. Unfortunately as it’s not a super in demands film, and thus hard to come by in the U.S. it’s proven difficult to do so. If anyone knows where to find it please let me know!

What about you? What was your first foreign language film? Did it have subtitles?

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