You are going to release a DVD or Blu-Ray edition of a movie for which you now have the rights. You are also going to include some bonus DVD to improve the viewers’ experience. But there is an issue: the subtitles adaptation is too literal and consequently, your French audience could miss all the humour and the cultural references when watching them. That’s why your subtitles should be reviewed. Learn in this article how I reworked Forgetting Sarah Marshall bonus DVD French subtitles to make them understandable and fluid for their French viewers.

What was my client’s project context and goal?

Before getting to the matter, let me give you some context about this English-to-French subtitling project. One of my long-time clients, the French DVD and Blu-Ray distributor Elephant Films, was going to release a 3 DVD/Blu-Ray set of movies from American producer Judd Apatow:

• Forgetting Sarah Marshall;
• Bridesmaids;
• The Five-Year Engagement.

They wanted me to spot* and review the three movies bonus DVD subtitles before burning them onto the DVD and Blu-Rays. I was given a month to do so, that’s why I had to identify an efficient method to complete this task. Moreover, what is funny is that for a long time, I wanted to watch these movies. In other words: a perfect way to mix business with my favourite hobby. But let’s stay focused, shall we?

*Spotting here means that the subtitles were delayed on screen compared with the sound.

What is Forgetting Sarah Marshall about?

Before moving forward, let’s talk about the movie briefly.

Released in 2008, Forgetting Sarah Marshall is directed by Nicholas Stoller. The cast includes Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis and Russell Brand. The story is about Peter Bretter (played by Segel), a musician and composer who is dumped by his girlfriend Sarah Marshall (Bell), a famous television series actress. Therefore, Peter decides to get distracted by going on vacation to Hawaii. But once there, he meets Sarah with her new boyfriend, the famous singer Aldus Snow (Brand)…

One thing to notice is that a spin-off about Aldus Snow character, Get Him to the Greek, is released in 2010 with Russell Brand reprising his role.

(And by the way, I laughed so much when watching this great American comedy. I clearly recommend it to you!)

How did I work on this subtitling project?

To review Forgetting Sarah Marshall bonus DVD French subtitles, I obviously followed my working method described on my service page. But I also implemented other steps required for that specific project.

Watching the movie before reviewing the bonus DVD subtitles

As a translator, when I work on a project whatsoever, I need context. In this case, what is the movie story? What is its general tone? Is it a drama or a comedy? Do its characters use a familiar or formal language? All these elements are essential to apprehend such a subtitling project like this one. Especially when you have to review the movie making of or bonus scenes. Of course, it’s better to watch it in its original version. If I had watched it in French, I think it would have been harder for me to perfectly recreate the original English tone in the French subtitles.

A specific example: Crime Scene: Scene of the Crime

While spotting the bonus DVD French subtitles, I realized they were not so well or even bad in some cases. Then, my objective was to « rewrite » them so they were more understandable and fluent. To better demonstrate that to you, I will take the example of Crime Scene: Scene of the Crime.

This bonus DVD is quite particular, because it is the fictive TV show where Sarah Marshall plays the lead role. Crime Scene: Scene of the Crime is more or less a parody of the famous crime series and legal drama Law and Order: Special Victim Unit. By the way, it’s worth a shot! Unfortunately, I didn’t find the bonus DVD on YouTube. But don’t worry, I will describe the scene to you. In the meantime, here are two videos so you have an idea how spoof this show is:

• Clip #1;
• Clip #2.

The context of the scene

Sarah Marshall and her partner, detective Hunter Rush (William Baldwin), get hold of the killer they were looking for. Later, they meet in their laboratory to perform an autopsy on a savagely murdered female stripper’s corpse.

The English original dialogues

Firstly, here is the English scene transcript. I will also describe both characters’ look and actions, so you can visualize the whole scene in your mind.

• Sarah and Hunter are examining the stripper’s corpse. Both wear a blue coat and safety glasses. Sarah starts speaking:
• “He took off more than her stripper’s clothes. He took off her skin.” She drinks her coffee.
• Hunter replies: “Something tells me it wasn’t the lap dance she’s barging for. Can you say ‘tip not included’? Can you say ‘all nude review’?”
• Sarah responds to her colleague’s comments: “I can, but she can’t.”
• She keeps examining the corpse, holding a scalpel in her hand: “The bullet entered her brain through her frontal cortex.”
• She turns to Hunter and asks him: “So how did it exit through the lower right cerebellum?”
• Hunter then concludes: “Holy Lee Harvey! Can you say ‘Grassy Knoll’? Can you say ‘Warren Commission’? Can you say ‘magic bullet theory’? Can you say ‘David Copperfield’?”
• Sarah responsively invites him to take a closer look at the female corpse: “Take a look. What do you think?”
• Her teammate makes the following observation: “Can you say ‘bad hair day’?”

Dialogues quick analysis

You notice that Hunter uses the sentence “Can you say…” to make jokes or references to this very famous historical event: President John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s murder. Moreover, Hunter mentions it through various key terms:

• Lee Harney is Kennedy’s alleged murderer;
• Grassy Knoll is the nickname of Dealey Plaza, the place where this tragic event took place;
• The Warren Commission investigated the murder;
• The magic bullet theory suggests that only one shooter was implied in this case (for further information about it, you can click here);
• The famous American magician David Copperfield, whose Hunter connects with the “magic bullet” he talks about just before.

Of course, as an English-speaking person, you heard about this tragic event a lot. But for French viewers, these cultural references can be hard to understand. Consequently, the main goal here is to make them comprehensible for this bonus DVD French target audience.

The first French adaptation

For informational purposes, here are the scene original French subtitles:

• Sarah Marshall: Il a enlevé plus que ces vêtements de strip-teaseuse. Il lui a arraché la peau.
• Hunter Rush: Ce n’est pas à ce genre de danse contact qu’elle s’attendait, d’après moi. Peut-on dire : « Pourboire non compris » ? Peut-on dire : « Examen à nu » ?
• Sarah Marshall: Je peux, mais pas elle. La balle est entrée dans le cerveau par le cortex frontal. Comment a-t-elle pu sortir par le côté droit du cervelet ?
• Hunter Rush: Nom de Dieu. Peut-on dire : « Tertre herbeux » ? Peut-on dire : « La Commission Warren » ? Peut-on dire : « La théorie de la balle magique » ? Peut-on dire : « David Copperfield » ?
• Sarah Marshall: Regarde. Qu’en penses-tu ?
• Hunter Rush: Peut-on dire : « Coiffure ratée aujourd’hui » ?

There is no need to translate these subtitles for you, as they are too literally the same in English (in terms of sentence construction). As a result, the dialogues second part about Kennedy are unintelligible for the French audience, thus for two reasons:

• “Grassy Knoll” litterally means Tertre herbeux in French, but this French translation doesn’t mean anything in this context;
• “Holy Lee Harvey” is translated as Nom de Dieu here. At first sight, this translation is okay because of “Holy”. However, this translation misses the point according to me: “Holy Lee Harvey” clearly alludes to Kennedy’s murder.

Therefore, I had to rewrite the French subtitles to make them more understandable for its audience.

My French adaptation

Following correction, here are my French subtitles (that I will translate into English, so you can understand them):

• Sarah Marshall: Il lui a enlevé plus que ses vêtements. Il lui a arraché la peau. (“He took off more than her clothes. He took off her skin.”)
• Hunter Rush: Ce n’était pas le lap dance pour lequel elle avait signé. Lui a-t-il vraiment filé un pourboire ? Ne l’a-t-il pas examinée à nu, plutôt ? (“It wasn’t the lap dance she was barging for. Did he really give her a tip? Didn’t he eye her up, instead?”)
• Sarah Marshall: Je peux te répondre, contrairement à elle. La balle est entrée dans le cerveau par le cortex frontal. Comment a-t-elle pu sortir par le côté droit du cervelet ? (“I can answer you, unlike her. The bullet entered her brain through her frontal cortex. So how did it exit through the lower right cerebellum?”)
• Hunter Rush: C’est digne de Lee Harvey. Serait-ce un assassinat à la Kennedy ? Que dirait la Commission Warren ? Parlerait-elle de balle magique ? Est-ce un tour digne de David Copperfield ? (“It’s up to Lee Harvey’s level. Could it be Kennedy-style murder? What would say the Warren Commission? Would they speak of magic bullet? Is it a magic trick as only David Copperfield knows how to perform?”)
• Sarah Marshall: Vas-y, regarde. Qu’en penses-tu ? (“Go ahead, take a look. What do you think?”)
• Hunter Rush: Sa coiffure est un vrai désastre. (“Her hairstyle is a complete disaster.”)

As you can see, I did several translation choices:

• I had to make Kennedy’s murder explicit in the French subtitles while keeping the key terms as the English original version (except “Grassy Knoll”, as it can’t be understood by the French viewers);
• I also rewrote the lines as questions to be consistent with English. And as in the original French adaptation, Sarah affirmatively answers Hunter, this translation choice also appears to be more consistent to me. However, I decided not to literally adapt “Can you say”.
• Regarding “Grassy Knoll”, I chose to directly refer to Kennedy, so the French viewers immediately understand Hunter’s cultural reference to this matter.

Here, my goal was allowing the French audience to directly link the key terms to each other, so they understand what Hunter’s point was. Of course, other adaptations could have been possible (mine is not the absolute!).

A quick comment about the subtitles

For this adaptation, I obviously applied the current subtitling standards such as:

• The number of characters per second;
• The number of characters per line;
• The number of frames between each subtitle;
• …

If you want to know more about subtitling standard, you can visit my frequently asked questions section.

Conclusion: literal adaptation should better be avoided

I think that this title perfectly sums up what I demonstrated to you in this case study. That is why you need a professional translator who really understands your needs as a client and those of your target French audience. In other words, your French viewers fully enjoy their experience, as they clearly understand your subtitles cultural references.

So, if you need a French adaptation of your subtitles for your movie, television series or bonus DVD, you can contact me here so we can talk about your project!