Is Polishness (non)translatable? Reflections on the reception of cultural elements in Wesele by the French viewer

Urszula Kochanowska

Uniwersytet w Białymstoku

Abstract

The article is devoted to the interpretation of cultural elements in the audiovisual translation of Wesele by Andrzej Wajda and their reception by the French viewer. The choice of the film was dictated by its strong rootedness in Polish culture. The analysis of the film translation makes it possible to group the cultural elements into several categories. In each case, we try to clarify how the analyzed scenes are understood by the French viewer. This analysis leads to the conclusion, that most of the cultural elements in Wesele remain incomprehensible. Although the role of non-verbal code (picture, music) is to explain and to complete verbal code (subtitles), this function is not completely fulfilled in the case of Wajda’s movie. Many scenes, especially images lacking words, do not induce any cultural associations amongst French viewers, which may be caused by their lack of contact with Polish culture. The film may, however, provide a lot of information about Polishness, which is its advantage.

Keywords:

(un)translatability, reception, Polishness, verbal code, non-verbal code, audiovisual translation