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> Date: Sat, 18 Nov 2006 23:16:30 +0000 > From: CAROL OSULLIVAN <[log in to unmask]> > Subject: understanding transcending language > > I am looking for examples from film and/or television of 'conspicuous' understanding between human beings which in some way transcends apparent language differences. I was interested recently to come acros= > s several examples of language contact portrayed on film where understandin= > g is achieved despite absolute, or at least apparent, ignorance of the othe= > r's language. In several cases subtitles are used ironically to demonstrate= > to the audience that characters are in fact in gestalt. This happens in Am= > istad, between Simbe and the McConaughey character; in Love Actually, betwe= > en Colin Firth's character and his Portuguese housekeeper; briefly also in = > Lagaan between Aamir Khan and the English commandant's sister. Much more interesting and provocative example of this can be found in two recent films by Manoel de Oliveira, A TALKING PICTURE and MAGIC MIRROR. In the former, a dinner scene on a luxury liner involves no less than John Malkovich, Irene Papas, Stefania Sandrelli and Catherine Denueve. all carrying on a scintillating conversation about culture and history in their respective native tongues. In the latter, the great Portuguese actor Leonor Silveira plays a wealthy landowner (in Portuguese) besotted with the Virgin Mary, discussing matters--in separate scenes-- with a nun played by the great Spanish actor Marisa Paredes (in Spanish) and an intellectual skeptic played by the great French actor Michel Piccoli (in French). What makes these scenes so remarkable is that they involve not just everyday chat but dense, complex ideas in a multiplicity of languages--and everyone understands one another! Robert Koehler * * Film-Philosophy Email Discussion Salon. After hitting 'reply' please always delete the text of the message you are replying to. To leave, send the message: leave film-philosophy to: [log in to unmask] For help email: [log in to unmask], not the salon. **