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Can you judge an actors performance in a foreign film?

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Can you judge an actors performance in a foreign film?

Old 12-07-02, 01:50 AM
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Can you judge an actors performance in a foreign film?

Do you think it is possible to judge the performance of an actor if you are not fluent in the language they are speaking in the film?

I personally don't think it is possible, how about you?
Old 12-07-02, 01:55 AM
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Can you judge the talent of a singer who is singing in a different language? (99 luftballoons comes to mind)

There are actors I like who speak languages that I don't know, Chow Yun-Fat in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon for example.
Old 12-07-02, 02:04 AM
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Yes, you can judge how good a singers voice is even if they are speaking in a foreign language. Acting is completely different, how often are foreign actors criticized when acting in english films(Jet Li comes to mind)? Chow Yun-Fat wasn't speaking his native language in CTHD, so for all we know his acting could have been horrendous in that movie.
Old 12-07-02, 09:48 AM
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Well, Chow Yun-Fat's Mandarin in the movie was bad, by most native speakers' accounts. I think his performance otherwise was very good.

Language can impact a performance. Stumbling over a language you don't know can cause a performance to be stilted. Even if the person is able to deliver the lines with conviction, the horrible pronounciation can turn off native speakers. CTHD might be a case where it's better not to know the language, since then you rely more on the physical performance and facial expressions rather than verbal clues.

If the actor is fluent in the language but you are not, again you can still judge the performance based on the physical aspects. Also, you can still tell from a person's voice whether they are angry, sad, whatever, even if you don't know what they're saying.

so yes, I think you can judge an actors performance in a foreign film.
Old 12-07-02, 11:00 AM
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I was thinking about this myself for some time now.

I've come to the conclusion that you can only partly judge an actors performance if they speak a language you don't.

We can rely on the actors body language and facial expressions, as well as the tone of their voice.

Unfortunately, by not understanding the language they're speaking in - we miss those important details.

We partly judge English speaking actors by how they deliver their lines, and it goes a long way in building the performance.
William H. Macy's role in Fargo comes to mind... there are so many little details in how he delivers his dialog, that I feel sorry for those who don't understand English - since they're missing those little (or not so little) details (accent, the words he emphasizes, the words he stutters on, etc)
Old 12-10-02, 01:51 PM
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Of course you can! Just look at the amazing performance of the lead in La Femme Nikita (1991)!
Old 12-10-02, 01:57 PM
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Coral is right. You "can" and you "can't". Just looking at american movies (particularly comedy, but really all genres) there are nuances of the languge that often don't translate. But, by and large you can tell when an actor is doing a great job, even if you miss the nuances.
Old 12-11-02, 12:16 PM
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I think it depends on how much experience one has watching that particular form of foreign films. The more one experiences foreign films the more one gathers experience to judge an actor's skill or peformance. The same hold true for American films...

Evaluation or judgement comes from being able to compare and contrast. This requires building an informational database to judge against.

Originally posted by Pants
Coral is right. You "can" and you "can't". Just looking at american movies (particularly comedy, but really all genres) there are nuances of the languge that often don't translate. But, by and large you can tell when an actor is doing a great job, even if you miss the nuances.
Old 12-11-02, 12:40 PM
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Absolutely. You know how much of a performance is non-verbal. And then, with the verbal part, you have the words in english subtitled, you know what they are saying, and if they are saying it with conviction in their tone, and delivery of the lines. You don't need to know each and every word in the other language to be able to judge the performance, IMO.

You won't be able to judge as well as you might an English performance, but you can definitely judge.
Old 12-11-02, 08:49 PM
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In Anime (or other animation,) there is NOTHING on which to judge the performance except their voices, and I have heard many great performances by Japanese voice actors.
Old 12-11-02, 08:54 PM
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Why wouldn't you be able to? It all depends on what kind of film it is, then on whether you believe the performance is credible. Not everything in acting boils down to verbal gymnastics. Part of what I like about movies which people sometimes just don't get is their 'other-ness' or 'difference' with my own experience. When I watch a foreign film, that means I look at it with fewer preconceptions about what 'those people' should be like.
Old 12-11-02, 10:52 PM
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It's a factor. I think the experience is fuller and richer for someone who speaks the language of the actor. But that's only part of the equation. You have the same access to the visual aspect, and that's a lot of the battle.

It's essentially the same as reading a novel in translation. It alters the context and the end product somewhat, just in the act of transmuting it. It's up to you if that makes that much of a difference. If you're aware enough to ask and/or consider the question itself, I think you're most of the way where you need to be to jump the divide.
Old 12-11-02, 11:09 PM
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As most seems to concure...it depends. Certainly in some situations you can't tell as well as a native speaker. But it depends, on the language and on the role. An english speaker watching a French movie will have an eaiser time because the languages are very similar in terms of verb strucure and the teneses we place on words to display emotion. Watching a movie in Mandarin or another non-Indo-Eurpoean language will be much eaiser to a "false" reading...Stresses in one language may sound approiate and in others sound silly...We have all heard non-English speaking natives and some sould obviously "foreign".

The other factor is the nature of the role. In, for instance, Amelie, Audrey Tautou had a major role that relied very little on her spoken dialogue. A role like this almost trancends language and anyone would be able to judge her performance fairly, whether they think it good or bad....But, if you were watching a foreign MacBeth with looong soliqies.....Language plays a larger role...

[edit] That said...I think it IS fair to say that you would be a better judge if you were a native speaker in every case. Wheter this is a significant enough difference for a native speaker to say, "You can't truely understand the ______ of this performance" I think is not so clear...

Last edited by Verbal Gorilla; 12-11-02 at 11:12 PM.

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