Learning French: can you guess the film behind these translated titles?
Paris' Nuit Blanche 2025 shines a spotlight on cinema – here we look at the some of the surprising choices for translations of film names
Watching TV and films in French is a great tool for immersion
Stock-Asso / Shutterstock
The 24th edition of Paris' Nuit Blanche (June 7) highlights the world of cinema and its 130-year history. Visitors to the city will have the opportunity to experience a range of artistic projects, concerts and cinema screenings late into the night.
To mark the occasion, we take a look at some of the translation choices made when marketing English-language films to a French-speaking audience.
Film titles in France
Mystified by the name of the Beatles’ “mockumentary” film A Hard Day’s Night , the French translators gave up and called it Quatre Garçons dans le Vent (Four Trendy Boys).
These days the French distributors of English-language films often do not even make as much effort as that: increasingly they just assume their audiences know enough English to cope without them bothering at all.
For example Fantastic Mr Fox and Kick-Ass left untranslated, or token efforts like Mytho-Man: The Invention of Lying (a mythomane is a compulsive liar), where something was added to the English name.
Read also: A French ‘cop thriller’ film recommendation
At other times a title is left in English but modified because of a tricky expression, cultural reference or word (Harsh Times = Bad Times, Step Up =Sexy Dance, The Hangover = Very Bad Trip, Made in Dagenham = We Want Sex Equality), or a possible unfortunate connotation in French (Capote = Truman Capote).
Then some film titles are translated fairly literally into French, such as La Guerre des Etoiles (Star Wars) or Autant en Emporte le Vent (Gone with the wind).
Others, however are less obvious.
Read also: Ten French film titles that differ (widely) from English originals
Can you guess the film or series behind these translated titles?
1. Agence Tous Risques (literally: “the all-risks agency”, from assurance tous risques, comprehensive insurance)
Click to show answer
A) The A-Team
2. L’Or se Barre ( literally: “the gold clears off”, a pun on se barrer and une barre, a [gold] bar)
Click to show answer
A) The Italian Job
3. Maman, j’ai Raté l’Avion (literally: “Mum, I missed the plane”)
Click to show answer
A) Home Alone
4. S.O.S Fantômes (literally: SOS ghosts)
Click to show answer
A) Ghostbusters
5. Chapeau Melon et Bottes de Cuir (literally: “bowler hat and leather boots”)
Click to show answer
A) The New Avengers
6. Les Dents de la Mer (literally: “the teeth of the sea”)
Click to show answer
A) Jaws
7. Docteur Folamour
Click to show answer
A) Dr. Strangelove
…and a couple that were only used in Quebec (which tends to be stricter on avoiding anglicisms than France):
8. Du Soleil Plein la Tête (literally: “a head full of sun”)
Click to show answer
A) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
9. Mon Fantôme d’Amour (literally: "my ghost of love)
Click to show answer
A) Ghost
Read also: Films dubbed into French: meet France’s Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise