Okay, I'll stop arguing now.

(And I regrettably missed Lust, Caution when it was on in Oslo, I'll have to rent it.)

"What credit card do you want to put that on?"
"Caash, prease."

 You don't have to understand a foreign (how twee and provincial that sounds) language to get the nuances. You develop an ear for inflections and forget you're having to multi-task and watch the film and read the subtitles at the same time. I love listening to dialogue in 'foreign' films. It sounds absolutely beautiful. American-English can sound as incomprehensible (to me at least) as Italian, French or Spanish. I saw Transformers recently and couldn't undestand a word anybody was saying.  At one point I was tempted to watch with subtitles, but it would have diverted my attention from the lavish special effects which at the end of the day were far more important than the dialogue!

I never said I was completely bewildered by listening to different languages. But you are going to miss things in the writing, semantically, that might not translate exactly if you're not fluently multi-lingual. Some that don't even fit what the actor is saying. I can see and hear the vocal acting going on, but it's not going to match what I'm reading. (Plus, if I'm reading, I am missing some of the acting.)

I just feel like I end up getting half a movie when it's in another language, or at least a different movie than the authorial audience is getting.

(get off my ass, snobs)

 I understand what you're saying. I'm suspicious of how accurate subtitles are because I know there's going to be words and phrases that don't translate. I worry I'm getting a dumbed down version of the film but that'll teach me to only speak one language I suppose!

I have the same problem with travel. I'd feel hideous if I went to another country expecting people to speak English so I have to communicate with people in a very basic way (think flailing hybrid of Scooby-Doo and sign language). It's like sensory deprivation. When I get back to the UK I'm aware of how much harder my brain's having to work to process everything going on around me. It's like the world goes from VHS pan-and-scan to high definition widescreen.

"Did they scoff the whole damn Smörgåsbord?" (Audrey) 

"Gimme a donut!" (Coop)

... therefore, accept the foreign language film as an inferior viewing experience (like watching a movie on your iPod, or a distractingly bad transfer of a movie you've already seen *cough* Lost Highway *cough*) whether or not it's a great film.

As an aside, I'm sure this isn't just an American issue. There's this myth perpetuated here that in Europe, everyone speaks four languages, and they, like, stone you if you don't. Just like that one about all black men being enormously endowed-- Few will contest it until someone has seen otherwise firsthand. So we're all in the same boat of language barriers.

Let me also say I admire all you multi-linguals on the board. Your English is better than most of my classmates. I took French for 6 years and pulled A's, but it never stuck. Embarrassing that, since my mother has been a French teacher since I was a baby and goes to the EU twice a year. I envy you.

I´ve always considered Lynch as an independent director who makes films of very commercial genres (and I mean by this mystery, thriller, terror...) I love his movies because they tell very complex and very profound things in a very entertaining way for me, which I think it´s a big merit. Not all the moviemakers that have a personal style are as enjoyable as Lynch (from my point of view). For example, maybe Peter Greenaway says a lot of interesting things in his films but the way they are told make me feel REALLY BORED. I´m not necesarily a fan of movies in which you have to make the plot for yourself but with Lynch is the exception. It´s like when at school you may hate, for instance, maths, but suddenly, one year you get a teacher who gaves incredibly funny maths classes. Probably you will continue hating maths the rest of your life, but you´ll already know there´s a better way to explain things.

I like the power of Lynch´s images. I had never understood what is often said about poetry (that you don´t have to understand it to enjoy it always) until I saw Lynch´s movies. What they suggest me makes me feel the high potential the art of cinema has. To see them as pictures and see that one image can have a lot of different meanings for different people is something not everybody can achieve... I love Lynch films because the film really starts in my mind when the final credits appear on screen. I love his movies because I prefer to be trapped by a mystery for weeks, months, years... maybe all my life.... rather than to be trapped only for one hour and a half.

Me too, but those movies are more "entertainment" than "art", and Senor Spielbergo explicitly sets out to make works of entertainment, not art - so he's a very successful director in that sense. Lynch, however, sets out to make works of art - and he is as successful at that as Spielberg is at entertaining. Money isn't the issue here.

This isn't to say that Lynch films can't be classed as entertainment nor to say that Spielberg's can't be classed as art - but they occupy different areas of the spectrum, I'm sure we can agree on that. Hell, Andy Warhol taught us that a can of soup can be a work of art, but that doesn't mean we should have as much respect for the art of Campbell's as we do for the art of Monet! This seems fairly self-explanatory to me.

Intriguing that we're seeing this tug-of-war over the significance of subtitles/the precise meaning and position of "foreign" films in the Anglo-American psyche. Some of you may have surmised that this very issue is one of the many themes at the heart of INLAND EMPIRE. It's not something I noticed until the 6th or 7th time i saw the movie, which in itself is a good example of how it is a magnificent work of art, but not exactly a great piece of entertainment.

 I totally agree. Have you seen Oldboy? The vocal deliveries of Choi Min-Sik and Yu Ji-Tae in that movie are just incredible. Even now, I sometimes find myself sitting at my desk during a busy day at work and muttering to myself in Korean, "One month. In one month, I'm getting out of here."

I can also say "you can't find the right answer if you ask the wrong questions" in Korean, along with a host of other bizarre phrases like "tell your cooks to put less spring onion in the dumplings".

12R: don't be put out by some of the responses to your post! I think the surprise of some users here is only down to the fact that you normally make some of the smartest and most informed comments here - plus, we have to prove to the world that Lynch fans are not all automatons who tow the party line, and this thread has certainly taken us a few steps closer to that goal!!

You're right, dude! INLAND EMPIRE is also a reflection on this "foreign films" thing... The opening sequence is about that also... Not to mention the scene where Nikki meets those old friends of her husband's and they talk about Polish and how she knows a bit of it but doesn't understand it totally.

Which, by the way, is another way of defining how our recurring dreams work. We have the certainty that we know that language they are speaking and yet we still don't know what's the meaning.

By the way, I love your 'Spielbergo' Simspons reference. :)

"Did they scoff the whole damn Smörgåsbord?" (Audrey) 

"Gimme a donut!" (Coop)

 I haven't seen Oldboy yet TITG but I found your post very poetic!