Cinema of Quebec

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Calvin
Joined: Sun Apr 10, 2011 11:12 am

Cinema of Quebec

#1 Post by Calvin » Wed Apr 16, 2014 9:23 pm

Elephant has made 40 Québécois films available to rent on iTunes in the US, Europe and Africa with the aim of expanding to their full catalog of 200 titles. It looks like there's a good initial offering, including films by Claude Jutra, Denys Arcand, Michel Brault and Jean-Pierre Lefebvre.

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: Cinema of Quebec

#2 Post by Michael Kerpan » Wed Apr 16, 2014 10:52 pm

No subtitled versions yet?

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willoneill
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Re: Cinema of Quebec

#3 Post by willoneill » Wed Apr 16, 2014 10:55 pm

Michael Kerpan wrote:No subtitled versions yet?
The ones on iTunes Canada have English subtitles.

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: Cinema of Quebec

#4 Post by Michael Kerpan » Wed Apr 16, 2014 11:20 pm

A number of things on that list that I want to see (like Kamouraska).

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htshell
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Re: Cinema of Quebec

#5 Post by htshell » Thu Apr 17, 2014 10:41 am

Lots of good stuff.

Calvin
Joined: Sun Apr 10, 2011 11:12 am

Cinema of Quebec

#6 Post by Calvin » Thu Apr 17, 2014 7:08 pm

I've given À tout prendre a rental and it seems to be a bit problematic. There's optional English subs and also a choice between the original French track and an English dub. However, those English subs are seemingly only for about one line in every twenty and two of those subtitled lines have consisted of "BLAH BLAH BLAH" and "YAP YAP YAP". Even my extremely limited knowledge of French is enough to tell me that certainly wasn't what was coming out of the characters' mouths. The subtitles appear to come more readily from the 10 minute mark, but I still don't think they're entirely accurate translations. I'll try out the dub. I also rented Kamouraska without checking À tout prendre first so I'll also have a look at that one later.

EDIT: It appears to be only a partial English dub and those parts where the track switches to French are the parts they've chosen to subtitle. Clearly not ideal.

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: Cinema of Quebec

#7 Post by Michael Kerpan » Thu Apr 17, 2014 9:48 pm

À tout prendre was originally part of the NFB's Jutra box set -- but seems to have been dropped from the second pressing of this set. I can't recall now whether this had portions in English or not....

Calvin
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Cinema of Quebec

#8 Post by Calvin » Fri Apr 18, 2014 8:24 pm

Having now watched it in its entirety (it's a fantastic film), it's clearer to me how they've approached the subtitling. The only lines dubbed in the English audio track are narration/internal voice - dialogue is left in the original French and is subtitled. The parts that are dubbed in English have not been subtitled, and as there is only one subtitle track these lines are also left unsubtitled if you select the French audio track. I've emailed Elephant with some feedback and asked them to address the issue but it's perfectly enjoyable - if a bit jarring - as it is.

Calvin
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Re: Cinema of Quebec

#9 Post by Calvin » Tue Apr 29, 2014 10:45 am

Elephant have said to me that the film is supposed to be a French / English hybrid, so I'll retract my earlier comments and apologise for my mistake! Kamouraska looked wonderful.

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Re: Cinema of Quebec

#10 Post by Perkins Cobb » Wed Aug 13, 2014 4:20 pm

Has anyone explored this catalog further, and if so, can you comment on the English subtitle situation for any of the other films?

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