An expatriate’s guide for watching Hollywood movies in France

France has a delayed start for most of Hollywood movies. The exceptions are the movies released with much fanfare. Going to the movies is a different experience in France. If you are not careful, you will end seeing a Hollywood movie dubbed in French. At the same time, it is not difficult to find your way around. And I hope the following checklist helps you.

1. Choosing the right version of your movie. On the billboard, the names of the movies are followed by VO or VF. VF indicates French version while VO indicates the original version. So, you should choose your Hollywood movie displaying VO.
2. Release day for a new movie. In France, the new movies are released on Wednesday instead of Friday! If you are movie buff, it is a convenient day. Being the middle of week, it is not crowded.
3. Arriving for the movie. This is tricky. They movie starts 20 minutes after the show time displayed on the billboard. The first 20 minutes is dedicated to commercials. The previews of upcoming movies are omitted. So, you can safely reach the auditorium after 15 minutes but for one thing. The seating is based on first-come-first-serve basis!
4. Prepare yourself for the annoying subtitles. Most of Hollywood movies are listed as VOST; VO for original version and ST for sub titles (in French!). There is no escaping this!
5. Buying the ticket. Before you buy the ticket online or over the counter, there is one important thing to remember. The tickets are very costly. On the brighter side, there are many deals on the ticket. You can buy a bunch of 5 tickets at less than half the price for each ticket. You can purchase an unlimited card for a nominal amount(which is almost equivalent to Netflix rates!) and see as much movies as time permits.

Picture Courtesy: http://www.artsjournal.com

Tags: Travel,Hollywood,France