The Long Road

06/06/2005 Archived Entry: "The French"

While in Old Quebec City, I ran into an Archambault - a french chain for video, music, and books. I had actually been looking to go to one for a while now since I knew they stocked some BD (Bande Dessine (comics/graphic novels)).

Sure enough, upon looking around, they had an entire wall of the stuff! Actually, they only had a somewhat small collection of the books I was looking for. Most of their comics were of the Tin Tin, Asterix variety while I was more looking for the recent sci-fi books that I've read so much about. But regardless, I was more happy about finding comics in their original french language than I was dissapointed about not finding specific books.

What really got my blood pumping though was the huge amount of French DVDs available. Almost everything I remember watching as a child, and tons of stuff I had forgotten about, were available in DVD box sets. Stuff like Les Mysterieuses Cite d'Or, Ini Mini Magi Mo, and Maya l'Abeille. I suppose they're around due to the same nostalgia wave that hit a few years ago. Frankly, it never really occured to me that this stuff was out there.

Upon returning to Ottawa, I rechecked Archambault's website and they have finally opened a store in Gatineau! When I have the time (and money), I will be going there and reclaiming bits of my childhood, one dvd at a time!

Replies: 12 comments

Hey, that's great! That'll at least save you a trip to Montreal if the urge becomes irresistable...

Posted by Will @ 06/07/2005 10:43 AM EST

did they have "the dog that stopped the war"? i can't remember the original french title of it. that was the first movie i remember really crying in. and then after, i ate lasagna. (ah, the nostalgia of snow days ... i miss having those).

Posted by melpie @ 06/07/2005 01:51 PM EST

La Guerre des Tuques?

Posted by Rayne @ 06/07/2005 01:55 PM EST

Écoutais-tu Sherlock Holmes (la version avec les chiens)?

Posted by Étienne @ 06/07/2005 06:43 PM EST

Il y a beaucoup de series que j'en ai vu seulement une ou deux episodes. Je pense que Sherlock Holmes est parmi eux.

Posted by Rayne @ 06/08/2005 01:44 AM EST

Je savais pas que ton "site" est bilingue...:P

Posted by dAN @ 06/08/2005 09:55 AM EST

J'ai plusieurs "entries" qui sont en francais, si tu t'en souvient.

Posted by Rayne @ 06/08/2005 12:32 PM EST

yes ... i believe it was la guerre des tuques. my quebecoise roommate had a copy of the dvd when we were in university - she was amazed that i had even heard of the movie, let alone seen it.

Posted by melpie @ 06/08/2005 02:19 PM EST

I was astounded to learn here that "La Guerre des Tuques" was named "The Dog that Stopped the War" in english. Reminds me of how "La Grande Séduction" was translated to "Seducing Dr. Lewis" 2 years ago... English title translations often sound awkward to me.

Small website on La Guerre des Tuques:
http://www.lafete.com/Francais/Contes-pour-tous/guerre.html

Thai, you'll notice plenty of other french kids movies linked at the bottom of the page, such as "Les Aventuriers du Timbre Perdu", "Opération Beurre de Pinottes", etc. :)

Posted by Étienne @ 06/08/2005 05:09 PM EST

Is Beurre de Pinottes originally french? I know it better as The Peanut Butter Solution, though I dont remember if I saw it in French or English first.

HAHAHA!! La Grenuille et la Baleine!! We read that in class or something!

Posted by Rayne @ 06/09/2005 02:26 AM EST

i like seeing how titles are translated from language to language.

like when i was on a french exchange back in the day and my exchange buddy person kept wanting to go and see "legendes de vengeance" ... she told me that it was a french film ... yadda yadda

i was really surprised to see that sharon stone, gene hackman and leonardo di caprio were so fluent in french

(it turned out to be "the quick and the dead")

Posted by melpie @ 06/09/2005 11:39 AM EST

Yep The Peanut Butter solution is french :)

About title translations, recently the movie Saw was translated into Décadence, which I heard has nothing to do with the movie.

Posted by Étienne @ 06/10/2005 12:03 PM EST