Voice in French dubbing: the case of Julianne Moore

ABSTRACT

It is an acknowledged fact that dubbing practices vary across countries. In France, it is common to have different dubbing artists lending their voices to the same foreign actor. For instance, Julianne Moore has had 11 French voices since the beginning of her career, and her French designated voice, Ivana Coppola, also dubs several other actresses, including Michelle Yeoh and Vera Farmiga. This paper presents a short case study on the voices of Moore in France. I consider four films that were all released in 2014 in which she has four different French voices. The possible effect changes in her voice might have on French audiences is discussed using Freud’s concept of the uncanny. This discussion is underpinned by a presentation of the different agents taking part in the dubbing process and a reflection on the methodological tools used, with a view to contemplating further research. My main goal is to show what happens to the voice of foreign actors in French dubbing, using Moore as a case study. The article also emphasises the importance of voice choice as part of a film’s artistic content, and eventually aims at triggering more conversations on voice as part of the dubbing process.

KEYWORDS:

• Dubbing
• voice
• uncanny
• France
• Julianne Moore

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Dr Charlotte Bosseaux is a senior lecturer in translation studies at the University of Edinburgh. She has worked on literary translation and point of view, and is the author of How does it Feel: Point of View in Translation (Rodopi, 2007). Her current focus is on voice, performance and characterisation in audiovisual material. She has authored a monograph on this topic – Dubbing, Film and Performance: Uncanny Encounters (Peter Lang, 2015). Other publications include work on Marilyn Monroe (2012 and 2012a), as well as on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2008 and 2014). She is currently writing on documentaries dealing with gender-based violence, investigating how the voices of women are translated in this context (forthcoming, 2019). Other publications include work on music in translation (2011) and crime fiction in translation (forthcoming, 2017).

Notes

1. For a full presentation of these terms, see Bosseaux, 2015.

2. /L/ (frictionless fricative) and /r/ (semi-vowel), can also be added as they also involve some constriction.

3. http://www.rsdoublage.com/acteur-4709-Julianne-Moore.html (last accessed 17 November 2017).

4. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julianne_Moore#Voix_fran.C3.A7aises (last accessed 17 November 2017).

5. Dubbing Studio: Dubbing Brothers [Allo Doublage, http://www.allodoublage.com/glossaire/definition.php?val=1665_hunger±games±-±geai±moqueur±-±part±I, last accessed 24 November 2017].

6. Dubbing Studio: Dubbing Brothers, dubbing director: Barbara Tissier (RS Doublage).

7. Dubbing Studio: Cinephase (RS Doublage).