Parisian love for American films

I didn’t think there could be a worse title for Jackie Chan’s latest family comedy disaster than “The Spy Next Door,” but leave it to French film executives to decide renaming it “Kung Fu Nanny” would vastly improve the success of that particular film in Paris.

Unnecessary name changes of a number of popular American films were the first things I noticed upon visiting Paris, and that eye helped me spot McG’s “Terminator renaissance” and the literal translation of France’s title for “The A-Team,” “The agency all hazards.”

But upon closer examination, the renaming of iconic titles is the least of the problems plaguing French cinema-goers, as well as American tourists.

Film distribution is in as much trouble overseas as it is at home. Why the theater along the Champs-Elysees is dominated by American blockbusters and not native French cinema is beyond me. But for a tourist trying to see even “The Girl Who Played with Fire,” a Swedish film that requires subtitles for audiences of either French or American decent, doing so will be out of reach, held back by films shown in “VO”, or “version originale.”

Such films are shown in their original language no matter where they are from. Normally, I would be pleased to know that in a country otherwise content with sloppy dubbing of English television programming on TV, they have enough respect for the filmmaker’s intentions on how it should be seen to leave it alone.

But to an American, this means your choices will be limited to English-spoken films, and that could mean sitting through “Kung Fu Nanny” or “The agency all hazards.” That’s not exactly my idea of a cultural experience. It’s a shame, because lining the streets and the subway walls in Paris are the posters for the competitors from this year’s Cannes and potential future Oscar nominees.

Stephen Frears’s “Tamara Drewe” and the directorial debut of Cannes Best Director winner Mathieu Amalric in “Tournee,” may as well be as mainstream as they come in Paris. It’s a sickening feeling to know that there is a chance these films will never get an American theatrical release and almost worse to know that I wouldn’t be able to see them in the way I’m used to while they’re staring me right in the face.

It is refreshing to know there are some things that, no matter where you go in the world, you will never escape. The local Virgin Megastore had a 3D TV on display, and everyone in the world can appreciate the charms of The Beatles.
Oh, and “Avatar” will follow you to the ends of the Earth.