French use of 'vous' vs 'tu' in the movie Blue

This is a room for the discussion of travel plans or experiences and the culture of places you have visited or plan to visit.
MarkLondon
White Belt
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2016 11:13 am
Location: London
Languages: English (N), decent French, okay Spanish and Italian and very rudimentary German.
x 49

Re: French use of 'vous' vs 'tu' in the movie Blue

Postby MarkLondon » Sun Jan 14, 2018 11:27 am

I realise that this thread is really old, but I happened to recently re-watch this (first time since it came out, which was quite a while back . . . ). I noticed the vous usage between them too. I put it down to a intentially forced formality between them, to actually force out with language the actual state of intimacy created between them as a result of the prior illicit affair. At least that was what I read as her motivation. From his side it might have been a bit of guilt of the betrayal of his deceased colleague, coupled with respect for her widowed position, and also his viewing her as a sort of unattainable perfection. Lots going on there but I thought it added an interesting nuance and was a nice example of something that is literally untranslatable in the subtitles. In a more flexible English narrative translation you could probably signal this dynamic between then in a more roundabout way with subtle formality markers, but it would be challenging. But definitely cool nerdy fun for linguistics fanatics like us lot!
2 x

User avatar
sfuqua
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1642
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2015 5:05 am
Location: san jose, california
Languages: Bad English: native
Samoan: speak, but rusty
Tagalog: imperfect, but use all the time
Spanish: read
French: read some
Japanese: beginner, obsessively studying
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=9248
x 6299

Re: French use of 'vous' vs 'tu' in the movie Blue

Postby sfuqua » Mon Jan 29, 2018 9:27 pm

Sir and Ma'am can be used in the American South as a way distance oneself from someone you are mad with. I have no idea about French.
0 x
荒海や佐渡によこたふ天の川

the rough sea / stretching out towards Sado / the Milky Way
Basho[1689]

Sometimes Japanese is just too much...

User avatar
reineke
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3570
Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2016 7:34 pm
Languages: Fox (C4)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=6979
x 6554

Re: French use of 'vous' vs 'tu' in the movie Blue

Postby reineke » Sun Feb 11, 2018 3:31 am

0 x


Return to “Travel and Culture”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests