Our nearest cinemas are just metres apart in Petrer about 25kms from Culebrón. In the Cinesmax we tend to go and see Spanish language films and films which have been dubbed into Spanish from languages other than English; French, Brazilian, Chinese etc. In the Yelmo, where, for the past couple of years they've had one performance of films every Tuesday (and some Thursdays), in their original language with subs in Spanish, we usually see English language films. Hearing Ian McKellen or Margot Robbie (and legions of others) sound like themselves rather than some dubbing actor from Pozuelo de Alarcón is a joy.
Now back with Legado de los huesos; I heard the principal actor from the film, Marta Etura, talking in a radio interview. Her character is supposed to be married to a North American, James, who speaks English. Consequently from time to time, in the film, Marta speaks in English. An English that was very laboured and heavily accented. During the radio interview she was complimented on her English in the film. Her on screen husband, Colin McFarlane, speaks some Spanish during the film and that is equally laboured and heavily accented. In the books which gave rise to the film and which I'm reading, James has no trouble with keeping up his end in the Spanish conversations in the family home. His use of the subjunctive has me in awe.
Last night we were going to see the new Clint Eastwood directed film Richard Jewell before we realised that with better planning we could see Mujercitas, Little Women, on Tuesday and still catch Richard Jewell on Thursday. So when Little Women starts it's in Spanish. To be absolutely honest I didn't notice for a moment or two but then I did just as the audience started to grumble, people went to tell the cinema staff and the film, was stopped. A woman came in and told us, in Spanish, that for technical reasons the film couldn't be shown in English and we were offered free tickets, refunds and the like. There was quite a lot of confusion as the generally British audience didn't know what was being said too them. We chose to stay as did the two Spanish families. English language films are not as good in Spanish and sometimes I get lost but we don't, usually, have a problem with understanding a dubbed Hollywood film. It's harder to understand Spanish films and it's hardest when the film is from South America because the Spanish in both is more idiomatic and less clear.
And that was it really. There was some vague point about the trickiness of bilingualism but I seem to have lost the thread so that will have to do.
