In France, They Call It ‘Happiness Therapy’

Studiocanal French movie poster for “Silver Linings Playbook.”

PARISâ€"Friends will sometimes ask if you’ve seen a movie. You will say no. They will tell you what the plot is, and you will immediately realize that you have in fact seen the movie, just with a different title.

In France, where something like half of the movies released are American, movie titles in English are often translated (for example, “The Iron Lady” was “La Dame de Fer” in French, “The Ides of March” was released as “Les Marches du Pouvoir”), but recently, a number of films have been released with an English titleâ€"but a different one from the original. “Date Night” became “Crazy Night” “The Hanover” became “Very Bad Trip,” and “Get him to the Greek” was released as “American Trip.”

The most recent film confusing Anglophone Frenchies is “Silver Linings Playbook,” which in France is called “Happiness Therapy” Cécile Dehesdin, a writer for Slate.fr, called English title translations into simpler English her pet peeve. “Happiness Therapy” is her latest heartache.

The curious trend leads a person to believe that the French public would rather the title remain in English to keep its American cool, but that producers seek a more understandable title.

“It’s a true debate,” said Stéphane Réthoré, head of marketing at Universal France. “Every time we have a foreign film it’s a question we study carefully! .”

Giving the movie a French title could risk losing its “cool” because the English language still carries cachet, he explains. A French translation runs the risk of giving the film a ridiculous image and be counterproductive. A literal translation of “Silver Linings Playbook,” for example, would be incomprehensible to the general French public. Ms. Deshedin conceded the translation would be complex.

I’m not saying it’s easy. The title, “Silver Linings Playbook” is relatively opaque even for English speakers.… A literal translation into ‘Mode d’emploi du bonheur’ (Guide to Happiness) would be very cringe-worthy.

Google Translate proposes “Playbook doublure argentée.” Probably not the best option either.

Henri Ernst, head of distribution at UGC in France, has been responsible for many translations. He saw “Silver Linings Playbook,” a funny-sad love story about a man who returns home after a stay in a mental institution, at he Toronto film festival last autumn. “First thing I thought was, how on earth will they translate that” he said in a recent phone interview.

When his team starts planning the distribution for a movie, there are five key elements to the package they need to create: the title, the synopsis, the photos, the poster and the trailer. “With foreign films, the title is the first thing we think about; it’s the first thing people say and it’s extremely important,” he said.

“We have three options when we get a foreign film to distribute,” he explained. “Translation, adaptation or just keeping the original title.”

When they translate, they have to be careful to avoid a cheap and heavy result. Take Steve McQueen’s “Shame,” about a sex addict, for example, it could’ve never become “Honte” ; “it just doesn’t work,” said Mr. Ernst. The word “honte” is more about embarrassment; “shame” can carry a seedier connotation. They stayed with “Shame.”

When! the distributors adapt, they need to be careful to maintain the buzz that is already created around the movie on the Web, which argues for keeping the original title when possible. Today, release dates are also much closer together internationally than they were a decade ago. So a film that creates a buzz when it’s released in the United States will be talked about in Europe. Marketing campaigns have to be much more global, which is one of the reasons so many titles remain the same, or at least stay in English.

“Today, before they come out, films already have a life online. So distributors have to keep that in mind when they come up with the marketing package,” said Mr. Ernst.

It never used to be like that. Foreign films released in France had thought-out titles in French. “All titles used to be translated, and a lot of effort was put into it,” said Mr. Réthoré, giving the example of “High Noon,” which is known in France as “Le Train Sifflera Trois Fois.”

But now, evenfranchise films that used to carry French translations are retaining their American titles.

“We’re seeing films like ‘Die Hard,’ of which the first film that came out in the ’80s was translated into ‘Le Piège de Crystal,’ go back to their original title and come out today as ‘Die Hard 4,’ even in France. Or ‘Star Wars’; in the ’80s, we knew ‘Star Wars’ as ‘La Guerre des Étoiles,’ but now the younger generation knows it as ‘Star Wars.’ ”

In an online poll the Web site Newsring recently asked its readers if they were pro or con film title translation; 78 percent responded against.

In 2003, Mr. Ernst was in charge is distributing Stephen Frears’s “Dirty Pretty Things.” “It was a difficult decision,” he said. “It was the author’s title, and a beautiful one, so we didn’t want to change it. It was also quite easy to understand.”

In the ! end, they went with the same title, but with “Loin de chez eux” (Far From Home) as a subtitle.

And sometimes, keeping the English titles, as complicated as it may be, works out fine. The perfect example: “Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind,” which kept its mysterious title and did very well at the French box office.

But the approach depends on the genre. “You won’t think about a title the same way if you have a auteur movie in your hands, or one about alien terrorists attacking the White House,” says Mr. Ernst. Mark Wahlberg’s next movie “Pain and Gain” about the bodybuilding culture will be released in France under the name “Big & Bad,” or that “No Strings Attached” was simply translated into “Sex Friends.” No chance anyone won’t know what those films are about.

Children’s films are another story. The are almost always translated.

“Kids go and see films their mothers will allow them to see, and using an English title leads the mothers to beieve it’s too grown up for their kids.”

That is how “Up” became “Là-Haut,” “Despicable Me” became “Moi, Moche et Méchant” (a title Mr. Réthoré’s team came up with) and how “Finding Nemo” became “Le Monde de Nemo.”

But then France’s film market is a very particular one. According to a European Commission study from 2011, France is the only European country to offer showings of a foreign film in both a dubbed version and in its original language.

“Our country has a very specific cinema public,” says Mr. Ernst. “We have a very cinephile audience who has a good American movie culture. They’re fine with some titles being in English.”

How important is the title of a film to you Should titles be translated Have you come across translations that worked well, or didn’t