In the 18th century, the world’s first Schools for the Deaf were established in France, and today one of the most common sign languages shown on screen is French Sign Language (Langue des signes française, or LSF). There is a vibrant Deaf screen culture in France, as shown in its many LSF documentaries and the long-running France TV channel, L’Oeil et la main (The Eye and the Hand). Yet many of the most famous French Sign Language feature films are not Deaf-led, and some even perpetuate dangerous stereotypes.
La Famille Bélier, 2014.
In 2014, the family dramedy La Famille Bélier was released to much popular fanfare. Yet most in the Deaf Community did not share in this enthusiasm, for the Bélier Family cast two hearing stars in the roles of the protagonist’s deaf parents. Knowing no sign before taking on their roles, Karine Viard and François Damiens rote learned their LSF dialogue, and their signing was pantomimic, disjointed and sometimes even incomprehensible to French Sign Language users. French Deaf writer Viguen Shirvanian even describes reading the French subtitles to understand Viard’s signs. When the film was remade in the US as Oscar winner CODA in 2021, the adaptation addressed this issue by casting Deaf actors in all its deaf roles. Yet it retained some of the offensive myths and clichés of the original, such as the assumed dependency of deaf parents on their hearing children, and the supposed tragedy of deaf people being unable to hear music. In both blockbusters, the hearing gaze is still clear.
La Révolution, 2020.
Sign on Screen project lead Gemma King recently published a chapter about the rise of LSF films in France, how they fit into a broader multilingual filmmaking tradition, and what they say about Deaf life and sign language use in French culture. If you’ve seen La Famille Bélier before, this open-access chapter may broaden your understanding of the problematic film. If you’re looking for a trashy new zombie show to watch, it can introduce you to Netflix’s La Révolution. And if you’re interested in learning about the early days of the French Schools for the Deaf, you might appreciate its analysis of Marie Heurtin, based on a true story about a Deafblind child in a C19th Deaf school.
Marie Heurtin, 2014.
You can read the chapter for free here, and the rest of the volume it appears in, Is it French? Popular Postnational Screen Fiction from France, edited by Mary Harrod and Raphaëlle Moine.
