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Astérix et Obelix: au service de Sa Majesté

     Goscinny & Underzo’s bandes dessinés are beloved by the French, and quite a few English people too. Trying to figure out how our copies of Asterix and Cleopatra and Astérix et Cléopatre corresponded with one another was the first time I really wanted to learn French. For those who have never read them before, it’s all about a tribe of Gauls who are the last stand against the Roman Empire, and spend their days hunting wild boars and occasionally chugging down some of Getafix’s magic potion so they can beat up their surrounding legionnaires with super-human strength and some very satisfying comic onomatopoeia. Oh, and they go on adventures around the world with their little white dog, meeting various different cultures, making jokes and sorting out people’s problems, so it’s kind of like Tintin, only, you know, good.
     The studio may have been jumping on the Anglomania bandwagon following this summer’s Jubilee and the Olympics, but for a group of Brits and Irish living in France, this was perfect. Astérix et Obélix: au service de Sa Majesté (at Her Majesty's service) sees the adventuring pair strike off to help the Queen of the Britons (first of many anachronism klaxons) fight off Julius Cesar’s beskirted legions, and do a healthy amount of anglo-bashing along the way. The Principles of a Gentleman, Rules of Etiquette and general British Stiff-Upper-Lippedness all came up against Gerard Dépardieu with a fake belly and stripy trousers and a moody French teenager, and for all the cartoon colours in the world, it all looked surprisingly lifelike. And if there's anything that will make you feel stupendously British, it is seeing another culture rip off our own and having a jolly good laugh about it. Tally ho!
     The one thing I was worried about was the language barrier- of course a French cinema wouldn’t put subtitles on a French film, so this was a flying by the seat of our pantaloons kind of cinema trip. For the most part our team of linguists understood, at least the simplest of jokes, and certainly the ones told by British characters. The stubborn English accent behind the fluent French language was one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard, and I’m sure it made understanding a whole lot easier.
     So, if we’re to take the French view on the British from this film alone, it is simply this: We are all moustachioed, tartan-clad gingers who can’t discuss anything more emotional than the weather, and who, in the face of adversity, will always keep calm and carry on. The day ends at 5 in the afternoon, our food is awful, and all we really want in life is tea.
     Oh, and un gentilhomme ne court jamais.
     Sums it all up rather nicely, wouldn’t you say, sir ? Pip pip!

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