Let’s talk about language on quality TV shows. I just finished “Killing Eve”, and can’t stop thinking about it. I loved so many things. I’m going to watch it again. But it loses a star (for 4 out of 5) for the language thing. Spoilers! /1
I wanted to love this show because I love Phoebe Waller-Bridge and “Fleabag” so much I’d watch her read the phone book for eight episodes. I’d watch her eat a bowl of spiders. /2
The show admirably tried to make language a character itself. Jodie Comer’s Villanelle supposedly loves foreign languages so much she is obsessed with her language teacher, writes love letters in French and prefers speaking English. /3
This conveniently explains why she (implausibly) hardly speaks Russian even to Russians. A good effort, but it is undercut by the fact that *nobody* has the right accent, or speaks the relevant languages in real life. /4
Compare the masterful handling of this in “Inglourious Basterds”; the languages always made sense and the actors all were fluent speakers of their characters’ languages. The multilingual characters mostly made sense too. (Not so much the French farmer in the first scene.) /5
In “Eve”, not one of adult the actors is Russian. They may have been given a crash course in Russian accents—but no more. Villanelle—compelling in other ways—distracted me constantly with her accent. /6
Kim Bodnia was better. But the less said of Anna/Susanna Lynch, who sounded like she was reading her Russian lines from cue cards for the first time, the better. Only Yuli Lagodinsky (Russian-Israeli I think), a child, actually speaks Russian well. /7
And this goes throughout. Eve’s husband is Polish; could they not find a Pole in London for this role? (Really?) /8
There were also many missed cultural things. No Russian patronymics (“Hello Vasily Vasilyevich”) nor diminutives (Volodya & Kostya for Vladimir & Konstantin). It seemed like the translator was competent linguistically but slightly clueless culturally. /9
Folks, your shows are now seen around the world, including by people in the country they’re about. A few nerds in your home markets care too. You spend lots getting clothing, location and period details right. Get this stuff right. /10
Get a language consultant in your budget if you’re going to have a multinational setting and language as a major theme. (Or just me! Phoebe, DM me. Kidding about the spiders. But not really.) /11
Get actors who can prove their ability to nail a foreign accent. They need to do emotions, gestures and other things realistically. This too. /12
And best of all, get some native-speaker actors. /13 and конец.
Except for a tag and thanks to @BBCAMERICA for this fantastic show. Again, my consulting fees are quite reasonable, I'm sure.
Oh and @IamSandraOh none of this has anything to do with you, but you are fuggin' AWESOME. Keep doing you forever, and please star in everything.
