MovieChat Forums > The Returned (2015) Discussion > This or the French original?

This or the French original?

posted 9 years ago by shanayneigh
5 replies | jump to latest

Which one should I watch? Which one do you prefer (if you've seen both) and why?

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[–] johnnymike91 9 years ago

The French version, not only because it paid more attention to artistic detail, but also because it was renewed for a 2nd season, while the American version was canceled.

The American version also seemed to simplify alot of the mysteries from the original version.

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[–] dkulpy 9 years ago

Why watch anything?
It will get cancelled.

[–] Sandoz 9 years ago

That's not true anymore. There's a lot of shows--good ones-now that are designed to tell their stories in a certain amount of seasons and then end on their own terms. Breaking Bad and Mad Men are just two recent ones that said what they had to say and then ended their runs.

But this show deserved to be cancelled. It was just a poor carbon copy of the French series and brought nothing new to the story, except it was in English instead of French just so all the Americans whose brains can't handle reading sub-titles while watching action on screen could enjoy it, too.

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[–] SataiDelen 9 years ago

That's merely your opinion. Yes, the French version is good (I tried to watch it when it first aired on Sundance), but many (myself included) felt the American version was just as good.

I don't mind watching movies with subtitles, however in this case, I tend to do other things while "watching" T.V., and subtitles for the French version made it more difficult for me to keep pace with what was going on. However, I'll take subtitles over dubbing ANY DAY, so when I have the time one day, I'll maybe give the French version of this show another try. It just won't happen any time soon.

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[–] cgocallaghan 9 years ago

I watched the original two years ago when it first aired in UK. Since seeing that a new series was coming this Autumn, I thought I would reacquaint myself with it. I noticed on Netflix that they also had the US version so I have spent the last couple of days watching both versions in tandem. Boy what a mistake. The first half of the US one stays pretty close to the original but with obvious plot and situation signposts (for an audience too stupid to pick up on subtleties? ) that were unnecessary in the original. In the second half, the writers completely ignore the original plot and go off on a travesty of immense proportions. The show has now been cancelled and it's just as well. With the new French series launching, they were so far removed from the storyline, there really was no way back. The whole show is completely lacking in the atmosphere and gritty suspense created by the believable characterisation, the lighting, the music, etc of the original.