French Titles

Browsing the local Fnac for some Xmas gift ideas last week, I was struck by how the French feel the need to elaborate on American TV show titles. Some examples:

24 is called "24 Heures Chrono"

House is called "Docteur House"

Lost is called "Lost: Les Disparus"


Alas, the need to elaborate on the title is not limited to TV shows, as a few minutes of browsing on the DVD aisles revealed:

Brokeback Mountain is "Les Secrets de Brokeback Mountain"

The Crucible is "La Chasse aux Sorcieres" (the Witch Hunt)

Flatliners is "L'Experience Interdite" (Forbidden Experiment)


Curiously, Trainspotting was left to be Trainspotting. So not sure if the title changes are purely due to untranslatable idioms or undecipherable (to the French) symbolisms or what.


Of course, there is also the pressing need to change titles altogether. Examples are plentiful in the DVD aisles:

G-Force became "Mission G"

Terms of Endearment became "Tendres Passions" (not sure if that was an appropriate change)

Kiss the Girls became "The Collectionneur"

Steel Magnolia became "Potins de Femmes"

Mean Girls became "Lolita Malgre Moi"


My all time favorite is how the French translated the movie title "Home Alone" (yes, the one featuring Macaulay Caulkin - where is he these days??) - the title here for that is:

"Maman, J'ai Rate l'Avion!"

Literal translation: "Mom, I missed the plane!"

Don't you love it!?