curious movie-title translations, and what they say about us

MADE IN DAGENHAM aka WE WANT SEX EQUALITY The British dramatisation of the 1968 Ford sewing machinists’ strike was originally going to be called We Want Sex. The working title was based on a real-life rally mishap, where a protest banner declaring “We want sexual equality” failed to unfurl in full. I assume the filmmakers thought We Want Sex might have been too racy (or misleading) for the British public, because in the end, they opted for something more twee and, well, British. Thankfully France was more than happy to honour the original title. Put it down to the country’s long history of protest culture, or perhaps the French marketing team’s knowledge that sex sells (many of France’s adapted film titles do seem to go out of their way to be extra saucy. Cruel Intentions, for example, was adapted as Sex Intentions, and Not Another Teen Movie as Sex Academy). Either way, I’m here for it.

ABOUT A BOY aka ABOUT A BOY OR: THE DAY OF THE DEAD DUCK If the French like sex, apparently Germans have a fascination with death. The Day of the Dead Duck joins a long history of ‘death’, ‘dead’ or ‘die’ being added to German translations. American gangster movie White Heat became The Jump into Death. Spanish novel The Manager’s Loneliness became Carvalho and the Dead Manager. They’re also generally partial to expanded titles – including a German addition alongside the translated English name. It’s a move that gives the country a little more cultural ownership over the film, and says “We’ll pay homage to the original, but we could have named it better.”

MEN WHO HATE WOMEN aka THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO Yep, the original Swedish title of Stieg Larsson’s book was way more hard-hitting. It wasn’t Hollywood’s fault this time, though. The name was first changed for the book’s publication in America, where editors scrapped Larsson’s designedly blunt statement on sexism and misogyny and shifted the focus to the female body. Maybe it was America getting back at Sweden for translating F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby into A Man Without Scruples. Or maybe it was to save the fragile egos of American patriarchal society. Either way, it begs the question: are title translations uniting us by making foreign movies more accessible to international markets? Or are they protecting us from facing up to our own cultural hang-ups?

TWILIGHT aka TWILIGHT: PUPPY LOVE I’m not going to lie. I was (am) a huge Twilight stan. It came at just the right time in my tweenhood for me to fully project myself into the narrative and spend sleepless nights furtively Googling ‘How to be like Bella Swan’. So 13-year-old me is a bit bummed at the Japanese title, which makes the movie sound way less dark, sexy and mysterious than I remember. Is this a case of a foreign translation accidentally (or intentionally) cutting a film’s self-aggrandising notions of itself to the quick? Is it saying “Calm down, Bella – it’s just puppy love”? I kind of respect the condescension. Both Edward and Bella could probably benefit from taking a chill pill.

BAD SANTA aka SANTA IS A PERVERT Thank you, Czech Republic, for another classic case of ‘English insinuation being absolutely incinerated by candid overseas film marketers’. Billy Bob Thornton’s Father Christmas is not merely ‘naughty’ as Bad Santa implies: he’s a sex addict. When I was a kid, this film came on TV as mum and I were having a sofa dinner (RIP free-to-air). Both of us thought it was going to be about a wayward Santa who no doubt finds his way to moral purity by the end of the film. We soon realised this was not the case. I’d have been grateful for the blunt Czech translation in that instance. Anything to signal that this is not an appropriate film for a mother to watch with her daughter.

LÉON aka THE KILLER IS NOT SO COLD The French called it Léon after the titular character. Australia and the UK removed the accent, while the US added The Professional. Hong Kong, however, took a different route. It’s speculated that The Killer Is Not So Cold is a reference to a popular album (The Winter Is Not So Cold) released around the same time by beloved singer Jacky Cheung. It might also pay homage to a popular Hong Kong action thriller from the ’80s – The Killer (similarly about a kind-hearted assassin) – which apparently influenced Léon’s director, Luc Besson. All in all, The Killer Is Not So Cold is a case study in the Hong Kong film industry’s commitment to indicating genre and/or plot in film names. I, for one, appreciate the hint. The Killer Is Not So Cold serves as a useful memory jog: it suggests that the film is likely an action–thriller with a heart-warming twist. What the heck does Léon tell you? That it’s probably centred on a male protagonist. Big whoop.This dive into movie titles comes straight from the pages of issue 107. To snap up a copy, swing past the frankie shop, subscribe or visit one of our friendly stockists.