Where are you watching this? Netflix?

chisue, have you seen Dix Pour Cent, called 'Call My Agent' in English? It's a very funny look at a French talent agency, with guest appearances by some wonderful French actors like Juliette Binoche and Isabelle Adjani.

I watched a bit of French Village when it was on PBS, but DH couldn’t get into subtitles for a series. I see that the library has it on DVD, so perhaps I will get it to watch after he goes to bed!

We just watched a delightful movie called The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch on Netflix (it seems to have other names, but that’s how it is listed on Netflix I think.) It’s pretty multicultural for us: a Swiss movie about a young Orthodox Jewish man whose mama is trying to marry him off. Very funny.

dedtired, I had to go back and check the "how", I didn't remember.

On Amazon. Seasons 1-4 are free for Prime members. Or, you can buy each season for something like $30 for the 12 episode seasons. Season 5 I can get now because of subscribing to MHz through Amazon Prime but I didn't have it at the time. MHz is also available via other means. MHz is a service showing continental European TV series.

Seasons 5-7 I got via DVDs from the public library. Larger library systems will have the entire series. Note that not all seasons have the same number of episodes, I think season 7 has only six.

Watching TV or movies with subtitles has something in common with listening to audio books, something that was discussed in a thread not too long ago. In this way - when you first do it, it seems difficult, uncomfortable, awkward, more difficult than it's worth. Except that with both, with a bit of experience (not too much), it becomes easy and comfortable. I'm pretty capable in French but it's rusty at the moment so I can listen to the dialog and refer to the subtitles only for what I missed. Which varies but is usually 1/3 to 1/2. It's funny because the subtitle translations are cultural as well as vocabularic.

Elmer, subtitles have a funny effect. When I’m watching something that is in heavily-accented English (like Outlander, sometimes), I turn on closed captioning. I think the same is true in French and Spanish, especially since I’m not up on current slang and expressions.

When DH and I watch movies in unfamiliar languages, even with subtitles we still turn up the volume, to match the subtitles with the way they are talking (tone, inflection, etc) and if we are somewhat familiar, we feel like we are actually listening!

The movie we just watched was in German and Yiddish. I took two years of German in school, and have picked up some Yiddish vocabulary by exposure, so I enjoyed listening to the actors to listen for the differences. And the subtitles helped me with that.

bpath, speaking of Yiddish, have you watched Shtisel (on Netflix)? It's in both Hebrew and Yiddish, and a fascinating look at Orthodox Jewish life in Israel.

Thanks for the leads on yet more titles!

I'm *curious* about the actor, Thierry Godard (starring roles in two series we like). When I look up an actor's bio, there's usually tons of information on every one. Not this one!

My search did explain something else. My ancestors are from Berne and the Jura area of France, and Besancon is where family documents were registered. It's frequently mentioned in the series. Yet, the only Villeneuvre I could find isn't IN the Jura, but farther south in France. Ah-hah! This 'New Town' was made up for the series.

Great tips here. Thanks everyone.

Bookwoman, thanks, I will look for that.

Chisue, 20 years ago we hosted two students for a few weeks In the summer. One was from Paris, the other from a village near Besançon. The village, where his parents had a restaurant, was small enough it didn’t have a high school, and too far from the school to commute, so he (age 14) and his sister had an apartment by themselves in Besançon during the week, and went home Friday afternoons. I wish I could remember the name of his village!

As in many other countries and indeed true for some states and municipalities in the US, a number of regions of France offer incentives and special assistance to encourage production companies to "film" in their areas. I remember seeing such a credit for French Village, and I think it was Limousin. I'm not sure if I saw something similar for Capitaine Marleau.

Villeneuve is a fictitious town name. The scenery depicted in the series was often stunning. The scenes taken in the village - narrow cobblestone streets and the old church- were very typical of old French villages in hilly places. Not necessarily all taken in one place but very quaint all the same.