Cate's German?

Well, between Blanchet, and Cloony there was a difference.

1. She was playing a German, so her German had to sound on point.

2. He was playing an American who spent some time in Germany, so it's more likely that his German wouldn' be that great, and it's realistic that he would speak with an American accent.

His german was absolutely right, for the character.

What did you expect fluency?
No he is an English speaker butching the lanaguage.

Having seen the movie (I'm German, btw), her pronunciation is absolutely terrific! Even the parts that are tricky to pronounce for people from English-speaking countries (like the different 'ch'-sounds in German), she mastered with ease; Only her intonation is slighty off.

Clooney, OTOH, didn't seem to give a lot about sounding right in his German-speaking parts (watch when he asks the boy floating his boat)...it sounded rather unintentionally funny.

Another "cringe" example is Rene Russo speaking German in "The Thomas Crown Affair"- I didn't recognise my native language for a second, and when I did I couldn't believe it! Like Clooney, they must have saved on the dialect coach. Ick!

Nadine :)

I read that Arnold was refused the German dub for The Terminator or one of his other big movies, because his Austrian accent makes him sound like a farmer.

The equivalent would be a redneck accent for Americans, or a Cornish pastie for the English. (or munchie for the Irish :P)

Well of course. She's an Australian, what do you expect? haha.

Cate's German was pretty good, although I don't see why they couldn't have cast a German actress in that role. It's not as though there's a shortage . . .

George's German was off (didn't understand all of what he said) but that doesn't matter seeing as he's playing an American and therefore isn't expected to speak German well.

~psychos don't explode in the sunlight, I don't care HOW psycho they are~

The crew/cast didn't DARE appear after the film for questioning, you say?? - well, don't forget, they were in Germany and may have been a bit nervous - catch my drift?

You were the one who said it, not me.

to me cate's german sounded very stilted compared with that of her husband

Don't Care What The Governments Say
They're All Bought And Paid For Anyway

- Sun Green

I heard that Cate was not dubbed in it. Its really her speaking German. She was supposedly only told just before they shot the scene that they wanted her to speak German instead of English.

There was a voice coach hired apparently but he was terrible. Absolutely inaccurate. They had to dub Clooney in the film.

life is full of censorship.i can't spit in your eye. -katharine hepburn

And the line is true...if you have ever been there then you know what I mean. Great city, wonderful people...loved it and moving there soon.

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I just read through this whole thread and the posts protesting that George's or Cate's German was unintentionally funny are ... unintentionally funny. In a sad and bitter kind of way.

In the rush to be huffy and holier than thou and more Teutonic than Hitler, the posters quick to take offense at any mislocation of any umlaut are missing the obvious aesthetics.

"The Good German" is a salute to Golden Age, Studio films like "Casablanca" and "The Third Man."

In such films, Paul Henreid, Viennese, could play a Czech -- not at all the same thing. Claude Reins could play a Frenchman. Cary Grant passed as American in film after film. Myrna Loy, in her early career, was Asian.

That was how it worked in the studio era. it was all artifice. Beautiful, beautiful, artifice.

Before Political Correctness became the humorless cop breathing down everyone's neck.

It doesn't matter how Cate or George pronounced "Wienerschnitzel," "Götterdämmerung," or "Endlosung." What matters is if they have the glamor to match the studio's best.