This should have been a straightforward movie-going experience. I buy tickets online, we go to the cinema, we find our seats, and we watch the movie. I have been to the cinema countless times, and everything is more or less the same every time. So what happened with the new Tom Cruise movie?
We watched this movie in French. It did not have any subtitles, it did not have a voice-over, and it was dubbed in French. This was not by design.
In Belgium, you don’t get to see many trailers before a movie. One or two, and then various commercials. Before Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning – Part One, we had the trailer of Oppenheimer, and it was dubbed in French. Which was the first indication that something may be wrong? Then there was the audience in the movie theater. Or more precisely, its absence. We sat in one of the largest movie theaters in the cinema, and it was empty. The movie started at five o’clock, and it was a Friday evening, thus the perfect time to go and see this new movie. Nevertheless, the theater was almost empty. Again, odd. And then the movie started. It was dubbed. Even all the on-screen hard-coded text was in French.
How does this affect my experience? I got to see the movie. Did I hear it? Of course. But did I understand it? No. Even though I am currently learning French, I am still a year or so away from being proficient in this lovely language. I was able to pick up familiar words and expressions, but I could not completely understand all the various plot points and developments.
Could this have been avoided? Yes. Apparently, dubbing is not that uncommon in Belgium. There are cinemas in Brussels where you can choose a language when you buy tickets. Oppenheimer, we will go to an IMAX theater at Kinepolis, and there you can choose online which language you prefer. When I bought tickets for Mission Impossible at UGC, I could not choose. But I should have noticed small two-letter acronyms. Namely, “VF” and “VO”. VF stands for “version francais”, whereas VO is “version originale”. The more you do, the more you learn.
Excluding the language, the movie was worth it. It had action scenes that did not require one to understand French, it had beautiful locations, and the BMW product placement was spot on. Thus, if you are a movie-going person, feel free to spend a couple of euros and go to your local cinema. Just pay attention to the language in which this movie is shown.
Afterward, we went to a bar and drank a couple of beers to water down our recent experience. A lovely movie date night in Brussels.
Kind regards,
Olaaf
