Ratatouille

I watched the animated movie "Ratatouille" this weekend, a delightfully comic and sweet tale of the rat that becomes a famous French chef. What's interesting about it is the way that the film-makers use the French language in the movie. Obviously, they did not choose subtitles, even though the setting is Paris, France, because the story is meant for American children and families, not for native French speakers.

But little bits of the French language slip into the script. Some of the characters have French accents (especially the head chef), making you feel like you're actually in Paris, not the movie theatre. And French words are tossed around, mostly names of ingredients in the kitchen or other somewhat recognizable words...the viewer can understand what the characters are referring to but it still sounds exotic and foreign. I think the balance between writing a script for Americans, who for the most part are not bilingual, and giving off an aura of being in Paris was reached successfully.