Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche in Michael Haneke's Cache (Hidden). Photograph: AFP
Foreign films, we're told, are enjoying an unprecedented boom at the British box office. A recent study from the UK Film Council claims that since 2004, 23 subtitled films have taken more than £1m at the box office, while in the 1990s, only nine foreign-language films crossed the £1m mark. While some cinephiles rejoice, however, others know all too well what lies behind this sudden renaissance.
Indeed, very often, the success of a foreign film in Britain lies in a shrewd pre-release campaign whose main aim has precisely been to deprive the film as much as possible of its foreignness. Instead of fighting famous British prejudices against all things foreign, distributors feel they haven't got any other choice but to accept them and play with it.
There are now marketing rules when distributing a foreign-language film in Britain. First, sell it as a genre film, a black comedy for Volver, a thriller for Tell No One or The Lives of Others, a war film for Apocalypto, a romantic film for La Vie En Rose and A Very Long Engagement, an action movie for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, a horror film for Pan's Labyrinth.
Second, make it look sexy at all costs: promote Penelope Cruz rather than Almodovar, Juliette Binoche rather than Michael Haneke.
Third, make a trailer that has as little foreign dialogue as possible. If distributors could edit all the silent scenes of a foreign film, they would. It may fool the multiplex audience enough for them to think it's just another American thriller. Indeed, The Times reported that: "Focus group research among audiences leaving German and French films this year revealed that between a third and a fifth did not know beforehand that they would be watching a subtitled film."
Of course, there are still a few independent distributors, such as Artificial Eye for example, who don't play those tricks and treat their audience as adults.
While the end (getting the bums on the seats to see a good foreign film) might for some justify the means (tricking the audience into believing that actually they're not going to see a film where people speak funny), I would like to see a more educational approach to cinema in Britain.
For as long as an institution such as the UK Film Council, which is supposed to provide education in films to the British, keeps talking about "specialised" films or "minority-interest" films or even "difficult" films when talking about world cinema, we won't get very far. The responsibility lies also with broadcasters as education starts at home: where have all subtitled films gone from prime-time slots? Bring them back and we won't need to treat audiences like brainless kids.
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