Darth Vader or Dark Vador? France gives Star Wars a Gallic twist

While Star Wars unites die-hard fans from Boston to Beijing, fans of “The Force Awakens” and all the other Star Wars films will notice subtle differences in character names or locations. And while cinephiles may reject anything but original versions with subtitles, fans will cherish the familiar voices and names in "Reveil de La Force" or "El Despertar De La Fuerza." The French are drawn to Dark Vador with as much passion and enthusiasm as the English speakers are connected to Darh Vader.

Darth Vader or Dark Vador?

From the first Star Wars film in 1977, foreign adaptations have used different names for planets, starships, and central characters. Some of them have stuck around, like Dark Vador in France. Others changed as the world – and the industry – globalized, with Hollywood originals overtaking local versions.

In France, C-3PO used to be Z-6PO, but for the prequel trilogy, the producers opted for the name in the English version. That sparked heated debate among French fans, with some lamenting the lack of continuity and others claiming that the French version was a 'bloodbath' of the original.

When asked which is better – the original or the dubbed version – Mathieu Tedeschi, dressed in black robes outside the Rex theater, answers immediately. “Come on, English!” he says. “It's more real.”

The name Dark Vador, he says, may sound better to French speakers than an accented attempt at Darth Vader, but the original meaning is lost in translation, he says. And the accents of the heroes and imperials in the original version – American and British respectively – are also lost in dubbed versions, leaving viewers to spot the differences only in the way they speak.

'Que la Force soit avec toi'

In fact, preference is generally a matter of habit, whether English or not. When the original trilogy was released in Italy, the opening crawl was in English. So when it was changed to Italian in 1999 for the prequel trilogy, he says there was a lot of outrage. “They wanted to see the opening crawl in English because that's what they were used to in the old movies.”

In France, C-3PO was the most celebrated character because it was the voice of Roger Carel, a voice actor associated with many title roles in dubbed children's classics such as Winnie the Pooh. “This man's French voice means so much to so many generations, because it was the voice of so many beloved characters,” says Girod. “He is our Star Wars.”

Today, ten years after the last Star Wars release, most fans say they don't care which version they see. Tedeschi chose the Grand Rex, whose showing was in French, because it's the place to see a Star Wars opening – the "French Chinese Theater," he calls it, referring to the cinema palace in Los Angeles . He turns on his blue lightsaber or 'saber laser'.

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