Plus Belle La Vie is France 3's very popular soap opera. It's also the only one. While the French enjoy American and British sitcoms dubbed into French, they have no home-grown versions, and just one sitcom. Why ? I think probably because, to the French, concepts such as société, solidarité, famille etc are too important to joke about or take lightly. That isn't a criticism, just an observation.
However, in Plus Belle La Vie, the actors are good, the personalities engaging, and it's set in Marseille, so the sun shines. And the characters, unlike those in British soap operas, don't spend their time screaming abuse at each other.
But it is for the linguistic interest that I have decided to consecrate a page to this programme. Plus Belle is at once extremely easy to watch and understand, and terribly difficult to transcribe. It is easy, because the stories are simple, the emotions obvious. Even if you miss 75% of the detail of what is said, you will be able to follow, and enjoy, the programme. However, in order to make the acting 'realistic', the actors use the intimate style of speech very popular in modern films, they speak very quickly, and, if they are young, they speak pretty much incomprehensibly.
It makes for a fascinating listening study
On this page you will find the usual five minute extracts (video, text), each one featuring a particular character. The idea is to capture the range of voices, from the local doctor who, as a professional, is immediately comprehensible, to the young people, who aren't.
Click (or right-click to download) on the top half of the picture for the video and on the lower half for the text
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We start with Mélanie, the very pretty waitress in the local bar. Her voice is more or less in the middle of the range of difficulty. We see her talking to an acquaintance in the bar - a very intimate register, difficult to follow. The scene in the doctor's office is more formal, and easier to follow. Then back to the bar, and finally a scene with her colleague in the bar. |
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Here are some (nice) young people who are in trouble with the law, having got themselves involved with an extreme left terrorist group. You just have to go with the flow and pick up the sense - and be grateful that these young actors don't speak anything like as incomprehensibly as the real thing. But for us, it's hard enough. I like the bit where the flic urges them to collaborate, and Barbara says her history lessons have put her off the idea. |
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Now a lady who has become a victim of these young activist/terrorists, and wants her story told in the local paper. But the young journalist does not want to reproduce her extreme views on dealing with terrorists. Here, is the interview, then, a couple of days later the subsequent debate. Linguistically this is extremely clear: it is just the speed that confounds the ear. |
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Céline Fremont is the beautiful, sexy, but unstable business woman who often adds a little emotional violence to the show. But here we have the obligatory moment of comedy, as she tells the gay barman Thomas about her torrid encounter with a Moroccan businessman, followed by her attempt to fob this limpet-like lover onto her partner. Four voices here, ranging from highly comprehensible to real earache |
| Click (or right-click to download) on the top half of the picture for the video and on the lower half for the text | |
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In December we were treated to a feature length dollop of Plus Belle in which the girls went off to Morocco to stay at the hotel of the wealthy businessman whom we met above. However, this selection of extracts starts with Franck, a plumber, whose look is described as ténébreux and who is clearly up to no good. Then Charles Frémont, a businessman so deeply dishonest that he ought to have moustaches to twirl. All good fun - and excellent listening practice. |
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I don't watch Plus Belle normally. All soaps pick up the current themes of society, but the writers of this take it a bit too seriously. However, it is a very good way to check how one's ear is progressing. I still find I lose about 50% when I listen 'live', but the transcriptions are getting better. So - Odile Nascéri's dad seems to be in trouble, Céline Fremont is always on the edge of a nervous breakdown, the doctor's son is becoming a young entrepreneur, and the writers give us a moment of relaxation before they get on with anti-terrorism. Just a typical day in Marseille... |