Belleville Rendez-Vous
December 22, 2003
For those of you who will be in the UK on Christmas day, do not miss Belleville Rendez-Vous, 7pm BBC2. This is how it’s described on my TV guide:
Quirky feature-length animation from the imagination of Sylvain Chomet. Old lady Madame Souza is determined to rescue her Tour de France-obsessed grandson from the Mafia, who have kidnapped him. She is supported by her faithful sidekick, the fat and elderly dog Bruno. An epic adventure leads them across the Atlantic to a vast seaport metropolis named Belleville.
It’s a French/Canadian/Belgian animation film with hardly any dialogues. It’s fantastic. Amazing. Hilarious. Moving. Clever. Gorgeous. Superlatives and expletives come to mind, but you’d accuse me of being an overexcited southerner who exaggerates everything.
PS: It’s the best EVER.
Interesting - the international English title of the film is "The Triplets of Belleville," and the original title seems to be "Les Triplettes de Belleville," but the UK release gets the special re-titling of "Belleville Rendez-Vous."
I wonder why?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286244/
Posted by Elias Peterson on January 5, 2004 8:16 PMInteresting indeed! Thanks a lot for the info Elias, I've changed the French entry accordingly.
Posted by Céline on January 5, 2004 9:07 PMRegarding the name change specifically for the English Market, 3 reasons spring to mind -
1. 2-word titles are catchy (Jagged Edge, Intolerable Cruelty, Basic Instinct etc etc etc)
2.English audiences faced with a title mentioning "triplets" would assume that the film had a medical-miracle slant, or possibly some menage-a-trois type pornographic content (yes we are that stupid and that base).
3."Rendez-Vous" is one of the few French phrases that the English understand and are familiar with (apart from menage-a-trois!), and keeping a French title clearly signposts that this is a Foreign Film of an Art-House Nature. Rendez-vous has vague suggestions of illicit trysts to the English, however, which may have confused some viewers!
Whaever the title, it was the best thing I saw over the festive period.
I agree with Su. Americans think of Triplets as 3 children born at the same time and any title involving that would indicate a "family" relationship.
If we wanted to indicate "three" in a title, we would say something like "The Three Amegos", or "3 On A Match"... :o)
Posted by Rym Rytr on January 28, 2004 7:13 PMPrevious: December 19, 2003
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