What Kind of a Title is THAT?

In my last blog text Rights, not Privileges! It’s that easy. I criticized the ,German’ title of the British film MADE IN DAGENHAM, which was WE WANT SEX, and half jokingly I suggested DIE AUTOFRAUEN VON DAGENHAM (the car women from Dagenham) as an alternative. This was followed by a short trialogue online:

Of course it is not easy translating titles that contain a regional reference (as was the case for MADE IN DAGENHAM), or that contain a pun or figure of speech (as is the case with DER BEWEGTE MANN or A LEAGUGE OF THEIR OWN)

But then there are film titles that are altered without much need for that, for example – another film with cars – as with DIE DREI VON DER TANKSTELLE (The Three from the Filling Station). In Sweden it is called KÄRLEK OCH BENSIN (Love and Petrol, which is quite funny really) and in France LE CHEMIN DU PARADIS (The Road to Paradise?).

So let’s start collecting!
What titles do you know that were translated in a weird way? And what are your suggestions for better translations?
I’ll begin.

• MADE IN DAGENHAM. Director Nigel Cole, UK 2010
• D and I: WE WANT SEX
• F: WE WANT SEX EQUALITY
• S: FLICKORNA I DAGENHAM (Girls in Dagenham)

•  COMME UNE IMAGE. Director Agnes Jaoui, F 2004
• D: SCHAU MICH AN! (Look at me)
• UK: LOOK AT ME
• P und NL : COMME UNE IMAGE
• I: COSI FAN TUTTI (Thus Do They All)*
• Schweden: SE MIG (See Me)
•  * interesting! Mozart’s opera is called „Cosi fan tutte“ – so in that case the tutte / all refers to females. In this case the tutti stands for males (I think)
• The French expression „sage comme une image“, translates to being very good. So before attempting a new translation I would consult with the film’s authors Jaoui and Bacri.

•  DIE DREI VON DER TANKSTELLE. Director Wilhelm Thiele. D 1930
• UK: THE THREE FROM THE FILLING STATION
• F: LE CHEMIN DU PARADIS (The Road to Paradise?)
• I: LA SIRENETTA DELL’AUTOSTRADA (The little Siren from the Highway?)
• S: KÄRLEK OCH BENSIN (Love and Petrol)

•  A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN. Director Penny Marshall. USA 1992
• D: EINE KLASSE FÜR SICH(A class of its own)
• J: プリティ・リーグ (puriti li-gu)
• I RAGAZZE VINCENTI (The victorious Girls?)
• S: TJEJLIGAN (The Girl Gang)
• (a comment on the translation„Tjejligan is a tricky word to translate. “Tjej” is a word for girl. “gan” is a kind of a gang, usually used when it comes to criminals. So “the Girl gang”, but in a much more badass way.“ Tack så mycket, Julia!)

• DER BEWEGTE MANN. Director Sönke Wortmann, D 1994
• (Here we go, this IS difficult. Literally it means „the man in motion“ or „the emotional man“ but then it’s a play of words, because it also contains ,emancipation movement’ as a second meaning)
• UK: THE MOST DESIRED MAN
• USA: MAYBE… MAYBE NOT
• E: EL HOMBRE DESEADO (The desired Man, The Dream Man?)
• F : LES NOUVEAUX MECS (The New Blokes) – the French sounds trés cool!
• MEZCZYZNA, PRZEDMIOT POZADANIA (Man, Object of Desire)
• (Dziękuję bardzo, Julita! – and the correct writing is: Mężczyzna, przedmiot pożądania. And it’s man as in male person not as in human being)

•  東京物語 TOKYO MONOGATARI (Tokyo Tale). Director Yasujirou Ozu, J 1953
• S : FÖRÄLDRARNA (Parents)
• UK: TOKYO STORY
• E: CUENTOS DE TOKIO
• F: VOYAGE À TOKYO
• D: DIE REISE NACH TOKYO (The Journey to Tokyo)
• NL: TOKYO MONOGATARI
• FIN: ENSIMMÄINEN MATKA (First Journey)

•  BANDE DE FILLES. (Girls Gang) Director Celine Sciamma, F 2014
• USA: GIRLHOOD
• D: ?
• S: ?
• (The film just premiered at Cannes, as far as I know it does not have a German title yet, so there’s still room for suggestions. And also I am wondering what the Swedish title will be since TJEJLIGAN is already taken.)

•  GRAVITY. Director Alfonso Cuarón, USA UK 2013
• D, DK, E, F, FIN, NL: GRAVITY
• J:   ゼロ・グラビティ zero gurabiti (zero gravity)
• TR: YRçEKIMI (gravity)
• P: GRAVIDADE
• (Yes, there are films that use the same title in a lot of countries.)

And now it’s your turn!
Which translations of titles did you like a lot or found really badly done?