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époux
Sep 27, 2011 18:34
12 yrs ago
français term

film à deux balles

Non-PRO français vers anglais Art / Littérature Général / conversation / salutations / correspondance Romance Novel
A guy finds a woman at a party in Hollywood attractive and tries to start up a conversation. Her reaction to his words.

Contexte:

" 'C'est drôle, murmura-t-il, en se rapprochent légèrement de moi. Car je ne cherchais rien, moi non plus, et pourtant, je vous ai trouvé...'

Han, le gros naze! C'est quoi, cette réplique de **film à deux balles**?

'Une femme aussi belle que vous, c'est sûr, ça ne court pas les rues d'Hollywood...'

Ok...très beau, mais très con. Quel gâchis!"

Merci beaucoup,

Barbara
Proposed translations (anglais)
3 +3 B movie
4 +6 (line) from a two-bit movie
4 +2 cheap film
4 +1 bad movie
4 +1 cheap dialog
4 twopence ha'penny/two and half cent/shoestring film
4 two-bit line
Change log

Sep 28, 2011 06:27: Rob Grayson changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"

Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

Non-PRO (3): SJLD, Tony M, Rob Grayson

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Discussion

Layla de Chabot Oct 5, 2011:
D'accord avec jmleger "réplique de film" peut être vu comme un seul ensemble, et "à 2 balles" porte sur la réplique.
L'expression (si l'on puis dire) est "c'est quoi ce .... à 2 balles"
Bref, je n'arrive pas à l'expliquer mais "à 2 balles" porte bien sur la réplique. Un peu comme on dirait "c'est quoi ce jeu de cartes à 2 balles"...
Mais bon, la nuance est légère, si la réplique n'est pas terrible, on peut supposer que le film non plus ;)
polyglot45 Sep 28, 2011:
a cheap line from a cheap film basically
Bourth (X) Sep 28, 2011:
Réplique "1 Réponse vive et brève ... 3 Réponse faite avec brusquerie ... 3 Ce qu'un acteur de théâtre doit dire au moment où un autre a fini de parler" [Larousse Lexis]. Consequently we're not talking about the guy's whole spiel up until that point, just his last two-bit line. As I say below, a "line" being "Ce qu'un acteur de théâtre doit dire au moment où un autre a fini de parler", you can probably dispense with film. More below in my answer.
jmleger Sep 27, 2011:
Britaly picked up on my suggestions that it was a dialog related comment, not a movie.
Barbara Cochran, MFA (asker) Sep 27, 2011:
Not Just One Line The come-on conversation had started before this point, so It is just not one line.

It is an entire dialgue, like Britaly has picked up on.
jmleger Sep 27, 2011:
"réplique de film" is to be read as one syntagm obviously it's the line that's being so harshly judged since it's quoted.
Joanne Nebbia Sep 27, 2011:
but that is how I was reading it too! as in "and what was that B movie dialogue all about?"
jmleger Sep 27, 2011:
IMHO Ce n'est pas le film qui est à deux balles, c'est la réplique de film

Proposed translations

+3
8 minutes
Selected

B movie

I have heard the expression "deux balles" used to describe something worthless, cheap or second rate "blague a deux balles" is a cheap joke ... so maybe B or second rate movie is the right road to go down :)
Peer comment(s):
agree Leslie Marcus : that's what I was in the process of answering when your answer popped up. However, after reading the Wikipedia entry on B movies I was wondering if it was negative enough for the context.
3 minutes
agree Theodora OB : second-rate perhaps?
12 minutes
agree John Detre
1 heure
Something went wrong...
3 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "The best option for the rest of my translated context. Thank You."
+2
9 minutes

cheap film

deux balles was a slang expression for two old then new francs, now inflated to 2 euros (t'as pas 100 balles - tramp asks passer-by for money)
Peer comment(s):
agree Joanne Nebbia : Thanks for the explanation - Bearing this in mind I imagine the best translation would actually be a 'two bit film'
7 minutes
two bit is good - I rejected "B film" as not lousy enough
agree piazza d
39 minutes
Something went wrong...
+1
11 minutes

bad movie

There are many possibilities for "à deux balles"--worthless, lame, two-bit, cheesy, etc.--and the list goes on. The choice will depend on what is appropriate for the target audience--for example, I wouldn't use "worthless" but that's because I'm an American in a U.S. context. A Brit, however, may very well use it.
Peer comment(s):
agree Tony M : Yes, "a line out of a bad movie" is just the sort of thing one might well say.
3 heures
Something went wrong...
+1
1 heure

cheap dialog

It's the réplique that's cheap

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2011-09-27 19:40:43 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Althoiugh in the US you would say "A cheap line" One quotes movie lines.
Peer comment(s):
neutral polyglot45 : yes but it's line from a two-bit movie
45 minutes
neutral Tony M : I don't agree with your reading: I feel certain that it is the movie that is 'cheap', and it's just typical of the sort of lines one finds in such movies... a 'cheap line' wouldn't really make a lot of sense in either language, IMHO
2 heures
I respectfully disagree, If it was the moivie, he would have said c'est quoi ce film à deux balles. No need to bring the "réplique" in. You could say "what is this sucky dialog..."
agree Layla de Chabot : Je suis d'accord avec jmleger, c'est bien la réplique qui est à 2 balles. Mais bon, il y a des chances pour que le film le soit aussi...
7 jours
Enfin quelqu'un qui sait lire!
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2 heures

twopence ha'penny/two and half cent/shoestring film

I think this is saying it's a film produced on the cheap
What does twopence ha'penny toff mean - Yahoo! Answers
Twopence ha'penny means 2 1/2 cents. Possibly someone who is trying to come across as ... Show: ...
answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080731114713AA6EzaW - Cached

The Dorothy L Sayers Society - Awards and Scholarships
They started the whole show on twopence ha’penny of their own…but they have just ... Crystal Downing is Professor of English and Film Studies at Messiah College ...
www.sayers.org.uk/awards.html - Cached
Where can I buy Windolene? - Sheffield Forum
Wallace on here may be able to help you! http://www.wallaceandgromit.com/film ... these places like Wilkinsons and Home Bargains sell everything for only twopence ha'penny ...
www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?p=6796430 - Cached

Peer comment(s):
neutral Tony M : I don't think it's literally commenting on the film's budget, but just the type of worthless movie (which happens to be lowcost, of course)
1 heure
yes OK, so maybe just "cheap movie" would do it
Something went wrong...
+6
3 heures

(line) from a two-bit movie

seems pretty straight forward.
Peer comment(s):
agree Elizabeth Slaney : Absolutely!
6 minutes
Thank you!
agree Tony M : I feel convinced it is the movie itself that is 'two-bit' etc.; this really wouldn't be a description one could apply to just a line...
54 minutes
Thank you.
agree cc in nyc : http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/two-bit
3 heures
Thank you.
agree Bourth (X) : That too ...
9 heures
Thank you.
agree Sharon Polson : Line from a bad movie (UK) as I feel two-bit is specifically US, IMHO
12 heures
Thank you. Yes "two-bit" is specifically US (though understood in UK) - In early US history, Spanish silver dollars were used for currency and were cut into eight pieces, hence "two bits" for a quarter (25 cents).
agree Cynthia Johnson (X) : I think 'line' needs to be in the answer, and prefer 'cheap' to two-bit, but all good!
15 heures
Thank you!
Something went wrong...
2 heures

two-bit line

You can probably dispense with the film since a '"line" is, in this context, a réplique de film. Moreover, if you have not more than a line on film or on stage, you play a "bit part"! So maybe having a "two-bit line" is a bit like being a lance-corporal - who has two stripes - to a private.

www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message1638510/pg1
... politicians jumping up and down and clamping like any trained seals on every TWO BIT LINE , all this speech was is Obama's campaign speech ...

cypheroftyr.wordpress.com/category/black-history/
14 Aug 2007 – Thinking that women should be honored because you deign to throw some TWO BIT LINE our way on the street, or talk about us as if we're nothing ...

In this last one, I think "line" probably means something different, i.e. a line of argument :

www.calvincrc.ca/Sermons/mt25'14f.PDF
Tries to justify that to the Master upon his return - comes up with some two-bit line about the Master being an agressive, effective businessman who always gets ...




--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 12 hrs (2011-09-28 07:33:16 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

In addition to the definition of réplique I've given above under Discussion, I would add the following definitions from Websters:

line ... 22 [pl.] all the speeches in a play; esp. the speeches of any single character 23 [Colloq.] persuasive or flattering talk that is insincere.

Now, I have no problem with using "line" as the singular of 23 above, with the meaning of réplique. But if we consider def. 23 of "line", then to say "line of a B movie" etc. is suggesting that such a line in a B movie is "flattering /insincere". It may well be either or both of those things, but it is not intended to be so, in the movie. It's just that it's a poorly scripted/effusive movie, a B-movie by definition (in addition to poor acting etc.). "I wasn't looking for anyone/thing but I found you" is a line [22], in the most neutral, theatrical sense, as well as being a line [23] in the "insincere" sense. French has two words (réplique and something like tchatch) where we can use just one.
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