Tim Shadbolt a different character in French

OPINION: Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt was speaking fluent French in the European alps a couple of weeks agowrites Cherie Sivignon in this week's L'expat.

No, he didn't pop over to France as an add-on to his Mongolian journey of student recruitment. He was too busy racing back across the world in time to join the celebrations for Southland's Ranfurly Shield triumph.

Yay for the Stags.

Mr Shadbolt was uttering his word-perfect French on the wee screen, alongside fellow actors from Roger Donaldson's film The World's Fastest Indian. They included Annie Whittle, Iain Rea, Aaron Murphy, Diane Ladd and Anthony Hopkins. And – you know – they all spoke French marvellously well.

Dubbed, of course. Consequently, many of the voices didn't sound right. Mr Shadbolt's, par exemple. His French just didn't ring true. It was too, I dunno. Mais oui, it vas too Frenccchhh. There was no Mayor Tim chuckle desperate to escape the deep, dark reaches of his native Kiwi twang.

I don't know about the rest of you but it was Tim Shadbolt I saw in the original version of The World's Fastest Indian. His character might have been called Frank.

However, in la version Francaise. Renamed Burt Munro for French audiences (I guess The World's Fastest Indian doesn't translate too well), the lack of Mayor Tim-isms – except for that kooky grin – made Frank a different character altogether.

It was still good, though. The shots of Invercargill and Oreti Beach made up for the awful dubbed soundtrack (Hopkins spelling out Invercargill in French – ugh) and, overall, the French version maintained the spirit of its original. Burt Munro let French audiences see Burt Munro as the humble legend he was and it was worth waiting up until 11.40pm to see it.

Burt Munro was the second film with a New Zealand link broadcast on France 3 that evening. The earlier movie, in the prime-time slot of 8.35pm was Le Dernier Samourai (The Last Samurai).

With large chunks shot on location in Taranaki, and Hollywood star Tom Cruise in the lead role, I remember that it was a big deal in New Zealand during its 2003 filming.

I have seen the original version (a ho-hum flick) and I didn't bother to sit through a French-dubbed run. However, I was disappointed to see no mention of New Zealand in the TV guide write-up.

Golly, those studios where all the non-French-made programmes have their French soundtracks created and added must be gigantic and tres busy. Just like New Zealand, television in France is littered with programmes made in either the United States or the United Kingdom and we can't have the good citizens of France hearing all that nasty English (or worse, American). So, we English-speaking expatriates, grin and bear the dubbed soundtracks. Or get an English satellite system and tune into the clipped correctness of the BBC.

Long live the Kiwi accent.

 » Cherie Sivignon is a former Southland Times journalist who has moved to France with her French-born husband and their family.

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