How can a film whose original title is "A Single Man" simply be translated into "The Right to Love"? What are the intentions of the distributors behind titles that are anything but literal?
The website report The Cape sought out distributors and specialists to understand the mechanics of choosing titles in the Brazilian market. According to them, there are many reasons why a film like "I Love You Phillip Morris" (or I love you Phillip Morris) is simply called "The Hustler of the Year".
Film critic for the newspaper "Folha de S. Paulo", Cássio Starling Carlos explains: "The choice of a title, as well as the poster and the trailer, are the most evident aspects of the commercial nature of the cinematographic operation and, therefore, are at the mercy of of marketing 'geniuses'."
Starling Carlos reminds us that translation problems, which can sometimes "make up" the real content of a film, are not exclusive to Brazil. "In all markets, distributors have professionals whose task is to 'acclimate' the message based on a pre-conception of what may interest the public", observes the critic.
In the case of Tom Ford's film, "The Right to Love", in which Colin Firth plays a gay professor, the controversy is not just restricted to the title. Both in the United States, where the production hit theaters in December, and in Brazil, where it premiered at the beginning of the month, the publicity posters contradicted the film's obvious gay appeal and showed its protagonists – Firth and Julianne Moore – together in one image aseptic, implying that it was a heterosexual couple.
Marcos Brolia, from the marketing department of Paris Filmes, the feature film's distributor in the country, clarifies that the decision to translate "A Single Man" into "Direito de Amar" does not suggest camouflage in relation to the film's homosexual theme. According to him, it was a marketing strategy that needed to fit "with the standard of the cinema market in Brazil". "It's a commercial decision between the marketing and sales department, so that the title can reach a wider audience and be easier to adapt to the national audience", he says. “Another point that is taken into consideration is how the title will sound to rental store owners and the end public that rents them,” he adds.
Imagem Filmes, distributor of "The Hustler of the Year", a film that stars Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor in gay roles, defines some criteria that are taken into account when a name is chosen: genre, theme, way in which the title communicates and what it conveys to the target audience. "The first attempt is, in fact, the literal translation. But, in most cases, it is not always possible to follow it exactly", says Maria Rosa Di Sabbato, the distributor's marketing director.
Di Sabbato explains that any idiomatic expressions can complicate the translation. "In these cases, let's say that everything starts through a process of evaluating the material we have at hand: synopsis, trailer and, when available, the film itself. We create a Base Text, where we accumulate this information and questions then arise : What is the target? What is the theme? What is the genre? A good option is to choose a single word that can summarize the plot", summarizes the executive.
Another option, according to the distributor, is to brainstorm with the entire marketing team. The suggestions are then evaluated by the board, which also suggests new titles or chooses one of the options provided. "In some cases, when we have a conflict between titles, we carry out a vote in all departments of the company. Obviously, it is not always easy, mainly due to the fact that we have to consider the existence of certain titles on the market, which limits options and suggestions, but even with titles already used previously in other releases that didn't have much expressiveness, we ended up using them too", concludes Di Sabbato.
The drama of translation in other countries
Distributors in France and Spain, as well as in Brazil, also usually translate the titles of all films that are released in those markets. Watching a film in the original language is almost impossible. Commercial films are almost always dubbed and so-called “art” films are shown on restricted circuits, with appropriate subtitles.
In the United States, for example, "O Céu de Suely", the beautiful film by Karim Ainouz, was called "Love for Sale". In Europe, Glauber Rocha's classic "God and the Devil in the Land of the Sun" became "The Black God and the Blond Devil".
How can an original title be preserved and, consequently, its content? "Very few directors are able to control the fate of their work to this extent, as Ang Lee was able to, under contract, by determining that the words Brokeback Mountain appear in the titles that the film received in other markets", recalls Cássio Starling Carlos.
But the result of translations doesn't always sound incoherent or funny. There are times when it really works. "'God Knows How Much I Loved', a masterpiece by Vincente Minnelli, has much more strength than any attempt to adapt 'Some Came Running' into Portuguese. And 'Tubarão' [Steven Spielberg's film] has a more direct and frightening than 'Jaws', a term much less sonorous and full of fears than the original 'Jaws'", observes the critic.
Not even the sensitive Israeli gay film "Eyes Wide Open" escaped the creativity of our translators: in Brazil, where it premieres on April 2, the film was called "Pecado da Carne". "It's a banal title, but it expresses the naughtiness that we wouldn't see in the original. You can tell that someone thought a little and researched instead of just relying on 'creativity'", concludes Starling Carlos.
Some other titles whose translations sounded strange in Brazil*:
Law Abiding Citizen - Code of Conduct
Zack and Miri Make a Porno - Paying well, what's wrong with that!
The Bank Job - Domino effect
Hachiko: A Dogs Story - Always by your side
The Painted Veil – The Awakening of a Passion
Waiting – The Hour of Rango
Eat Early Morning – Random Encounters
Racing Stripes – Zebra!
Hot Tub Time Machine - The Hangover
* Titles released by Imagem Filmes
