Astrid et Raphaëlle, S05E07

Astrid et Raphaëlle S05E07, "On achève bien les jockeys" (Finishing Off The Jockeys), runtime 47:10
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The wedding looks like it's a go, with Astrid planning to wear her regular clothes for a by-the-book (the Civil Code) administrative ceremony with Tetsuo at town hall-- but her newly minted witness Raph is determined to make it the wedding of the century. Nico and Patricia butt heads.

Meanwhile, Astrid, Raph, and Nico are called to a high class horse farm where the murder of thoroughbred "Fibonacci 2" requires solving. For Astrid this brings back memories, good and bad, of the stables where she and Sami interned as teenagers. But then the horse's jockey is found dead.

Teenage Astrid (Sylvie Filloux) meets teenage Samy (Romain Baele).

NOTES

I would've thought Roman numerals would be used in Fibonacci's name (2'21"), but the Arabic numeral is used in print later. The l'Esterel are mountains west of Nice. The withers is the highest point of a horse's back at the base of the neck.

Gêné (5'40") usually means 'embarrassed,' but here it means 'bothered' or 'uncomfortable.'

The lip-flapping sound horses make (5'51") really is called a 'blow.' A cross between a whinny and a gurgle is a 'nicker.'

A farrier (6'08") is a person who shoes horses and trims hooves. Ironically, the actor portraying the stable groom (palefrenière) is named Ferrier.

The Grand Steeple-chase at the Auteuil racecourse (6'44") is known officially as the "Grand Steeple-chase de Paris."

Google Lens says that ساهيب وا ماليك انتوني اليكساندير
(11'39") is in the Malay Jawi language and does indeed mean 'Sahib Wa Malik [lord and possessor]- Antoni Aleksander.' The general's full name is Antoni Aleksander Ilinski, he was a Pole who was in the Ottoman army in the mid-19th century.

It's a relief to find out that SPOILER isn't responsible for Astrid's PTSD/amnesia.

Matador (24'28") in this case is a brand name.

Binôme de choc! (35'10") is great! 'Dynamic duo' or 'power couple.'

A pas faire tout un plat, 'don't make a whole dish either' (36'02"), means 'Let's not make a big deal about it.'

Montrouge (43'11") is an area on the southern edge of central Paris. The 150-acre Bagneux Cemetery exists in real life.

Nico's Pléiades (43'33") appears to refer to Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, annotated, leather-bound pocket versions of classic literature, first published in the 1930s and still to this day.

C'est un peu soupe au lait, 'He's a little milk soup' (44'56"), means 'He's got a bit of a temper.'

Astrid et Raphaëlle S05E06

Astrid and Raphaëlle S05E06, "Loup y es-tu?" (Wolf, Are You There?), runtime 54:30 Subtitles download link

Hey, it's the first anniversary of Translation Notes!

The squad is called to the murder of a jogger. It's the fifth in a series of killings with the same MO: torn-up face and upper body, the wounds bearing all the hallmarks of a werewolf attack. In fact The Werewolf is what the media is calling the perpetrator. Other squads have failed to solve the previous four crimes, so the prosecutor has handed the case to Commissioner Carl and the Astrid/Raphaëlle brigade. A criminal profiler, Delphine, has also been assigned-- but Raph hates profilers.  Raph and her mom finally talk, a little.  Astrid has studied the marriage laws.

Charlotte Gaccio as Delphine

NOTES

The episode title refers to a children's rhyme which is also a game. Captain Marleau recites a portion of it in the cold open of “La Der des Der.”

Je suis de la maison, 'I'm from home' (5'31"), means 'I'm one of you,' ie 'I'm a cop too.'

Rue des Thermopyles (8'39") is a narrow and quiet mid-block residential street in the 14th, not far from the Montparnasse Cemetery.

The '9 points riddle' (8'50') is the puzzle of how to connect 9 dots with 4 straight lines, but without lifting pen from paper.

Names and terms from voodoo: Erzulie Dantor (14'49") is a Haitian goddess portrayed as a black Madonna with child; Loa (15'01", 17'13") are spirits, a term originating in Haiti; vévé (17'09") is an African symbol for spirits; Papa Legba (17'34") is 'the gatekeeper' deity in Haitian voodoo.

Rougarou (15'43") is a werewolf-like creature that appears in legends across French-speaking places around the world, such as Louisiana. The name comes from loup-garou, 'werewolf.'

Therese calls Nico vous Oyinbo (16'39"), Oyinbo being a word from Nigeria meaning 'white people.'

I honestly didn't catch where they first identified the jogger as Bizet, the name is suddenly dropped at 18'49".

Doudou Masta is 'David' on HPI.

Oswaldo (Doudou Masta) gives Nico (Benoit Michel) the Evil Eye

25'35": Media have reported on 'hyena men' in Nigeria who keep hyenas as pets and for performances.

Enchainer les passes (33'45") means 'string together moves.' Since it's a prostitution ring, I'm translating it as 'turning tricks.'

What does Zaïnab say at 38'21"? Your guess is as good as mine.

Makoko (40'13") is a real city (pop. over 85,000) in Lagos, Nigeria. Partly built on stilts over a lagoon, the community has been called 'the Venice of Africa.'

As Raph is mixing margaritas, Delphine suggests on pourrait peut-être se tutoyer, 'maybe we could use the informal form' (49'49"). Recall that as a Romance language, the French for 'you' has a formal form vous used with people you don't know well, and an informal form, tu, for family and friends. Delphine wants to be friends (unlike Nico and Oswaldo at 32'10") .

I thought 'context' would be a better translation of le cadre (51'59") than 'framework.'

Astrid et Raphaëlle S05E05

Astrid et Raphaëlle S05E05, "Le baptême des morts" (The Baptism of The Dead), runtime 49:03
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The duo are called to the scene of a murder at a Mormon community-- inside their temple, actually. There are, as Nico notes, around 40,000 Mormons in France. The victim is Logan Willis, the church treasurer and the head of an ad agency in the secular world.

They hone in on the likely suspects. The obsequious community leader Adam certainly seems suspicious, Mrs Willis refuses police help, and the victim's lesbian graffiti artist daughter also bore a grudge.

The key is the Mormons' long history of being persecuted. Due to this the Mormons are less than cooperative with the authorities. It turns out that this insularity, as well as the Mormon focus on genealogy, suits the purposes of a very surprising community member. But as usual, the obvious suspect isn't the culprit, at least not on the Willis case.

Astrid lunches with Sami and his parents.
L-R: Pierre-Alain Chapuis as Sami Sr, Christine Kay as Mrs Gourmet, Mortensen, and Dominique Engelhardt as Sami.

Astrid slips away to visit Sami The Figment at his parents place, and they have lunch and a chat. It turns out he is 'Sami Gourmet Jr.'

NOTES

Nico refers to the Mormons as saints des derniers jours, 'Latter-Day Saints' (00'59"), but then Astrid and Raph clearly call the denomination Eglise des derniers jours, 'Church of The Latter-Days' (1'33"), no Saints.

Possibly the most famous actual American Mormon in France is the actual Mitt Romney, who was there for his mission in the Sixties.

The victim was named Logan Willis (2'12") presumably after Logan, Utah, and Willis Creek in Bryce Canyon National Park.

The d'Aboville System (5'38") is a real thing in genealogy research, and uses numbers and decimal points to denote parents and descendants, e.g. if a mother is 1, her first child is 1.1, her second child is 1.2, etc.

Créteil (10'52") is located southeast of Paris, just outside the beltway.

A shot of Astrid and Raph driving to the Mormon community (12'30") is reused from the end of Episode 3, "Mandala" (44'25").

In this case l'alliance (14'45") is better translated as 'covenant' than 'alliance.'

Nephi 18:23 (14'54") is from the Book of Mormon, in which the prophet Nephi reports the arrival of the Jews in the promised land. Esther 4:8 (16'45") concerns Esther being instructed to plead with King Xerxes I not to destroy the Jews, as was desired by a villain named Haman; it's the events that were the basis of Purim.

Legendre says Pour moi, il était rangé de bagnole, 'For me, he's put away the car' (20'22"), meaning retired from the mob. I thought it would be fun to translate it as 'parked the Mafia staff car.'

The department of Gers (24'42") is in southwestern France west of Toulouse. Eauze is a town of 4,000 in northwest Gers.

L'abri (39'00") is an odd one. Nominally it means shelter, cover, or protection. But the place they found in the Willis home search is an attic, grenier, above the garage.

Cleecq (41'15") is the best name yet for a fake search engine!

Glove Story

Capitaine Marleau #35, "Le secret d'Alba" (Alba's Secret), runtime 1:44:19 Subtitles download link

In this episode Marleau is in the Montpellier area investigating a murder connected to the Bernac glove factory, a family business presided over by the matriarch, Countess Alba de Bernac. The factory is struggling and Eloi, a new partner with money, has been lined up. But he is a Solana, a family from a modest background, with whom Alba has long been at odds.

Masiero with Philippe Bas

Soon he turns up dead. Class warfare and grudges left over from the 17th century Protestant-Catholic schism are both in the equation. The suspects: Anselme, Countess Alba's estate manager; Linda the shop steward; Bernard Sire, the Solana son-in-law; Jeanne the pastor ('shepherdess'); the Countess herself.

Catherine Hiegel-not-Heigl plays Alba, and Philippe Bas (Profilage) plays her son Martin.


NOTES

There are no towns in France named Marlot (0'07 ").

Catherine Hiegel is probably best known stateside for her role as Dany in the film French Twist (1995).

Astrid et Raphaëlle S05E04

Astrid et Raphaëlle, "Le dernier des Aztèques" (The Last of the Aztecs), runtime 49:58

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Raph's mom has taken up residence in her place, and the apple couldn't have fallen farther from the tree. This week's case starts with the discovery of a self-styled Indiana Jones with his heart cut out. The trail leads Astrid and Raphaëlle to an Aztec descendant and the National Assembly building, and the possibility of a fortune in hidden gold. Raph thinks she has a way for Tetsuo to stay in France.

(L-R) Lola Dewaere, Sara Mortensen, and Benoit Michel

NOTES

Un petit pétard, a little firecracker (0'08"), is a joint.

Recall from Les Pennac(s), "Mort d'un chef," that SDF (5'50") is sans domicile fixe, 'No fixed address,' or 'homeless person.'

Necalli (6'01") is an Aztec name meaning 'battle' or 'fight.' It is also a character in several video games, including Street Fighter and Call of Duty.

Musée du Quai Branly (6'46"), full name 'Jacques Chirac Museum of Quai Branly,' is a museum of the indigenous art and cultures of Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. It was designed by Jean Nouvel, who also designed the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis (2006).

The Nahua (16'06") are the biggest indigenous group in Mexico, probably settling in central Mexico in the 6th century.

17'32": A vaqueros (Spanish) is like a ranch hand.

The real Tihuapa (19'07") is a river and region in El Salvador.

There are several San Rafaels (20'23") in Mexico, but none are near Guanajuato, which is 160 miles northwest of Mexico City.

The "Codex Borbonicus" (20'48") is real and does reside in the National Assembly library. However it does not appear to mention Eldorado.

On se tient au jus?, 'We'll hold the juice?' (24'56") means 'keep us posted.'

Norah says she's found non plouf linking the Cartel to Desmond (25'54"), meaning 'not a splash.' I'm putting 'not a ripple.'

The Rosicrucian Brotherhood (27'31"), AKA Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross, originated in the 1600s, centering on the existence of secret mystical knowledge. It is either a religious order or a hoax posing as one. There is also a group called the Rosicrucian Order, but it was founded much later in the United States.

Astrid refers to the Aztec water goddess Chalchiutlicue (32'58"), but pronounces it chal-chue. The outline she made of an illustration confirms that she does mean Chalchiutlicue.

Astrid's outline of Chalchiutlicue (L) is very close to how she looks in the actual codex

Nico says, Après, si il s'intéressait au codex, 'After, if he was interested in the codex' (33'56"). Raph was asking him to draw a conclusion, so I think here après means 'logically.'

I can't find a Babora Jungle or Forest in Mexico (41'14"). There is a Babora Zone in Ethiopia.

Astrid et Raphaëlle S05E03

Astrid et Raphaëlle S05E03, "Mandala," runtime 49:02
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A nightmare leads to the reopening of a 28-year-old case involving the murder of a Tibetan monk. We get a chance to learn some of Commissioner Carl's backstory-- he once studied at the monastery which becomes the focus of the investigation. Nico wants to talk about the recent SPOILER, but Raphaelle isn't ready yet. Tetsuo is getting ready to return to Japan, and is desperately (but morosely) trying to get Astrid to have a neurotypical emotional response. 'Sami' makes an ominous imaginary appearance. Raph and Nico get another surprise.

Sara Mortensen with Jean-Benoit Souilh as William

NOTES

Tulko and Lingpa are both names of Tibetan religious figures, but there is no Tulko Lingpa (11'28") who is/was an actual prominent figure.

What? I have no idea where they learned something was hidden in the crime scene room (14'53"). Maybe they inferred it from the 1996 ban on accessing the temple, but it's a reach.

I've never heard anyone likened to a poème before (15'15"), I'm translating it as 'paragon.'

Briançon (20'01") is a picturesque town in the southeast, near the border with Italy. There are many historically important fortifications in the area built to defend against 17th century Austrian invaders.

I don't know of the phrase J'ai récupéré mes dix haricots, 'I've recovered my 10 beans' (23'28"), but I assume it's like 'full of beans.'

La Grave (28'35") is a real village of less than 500, a ski resort, northeast of Briançon.

DDASS (39'12") is the Direction Départementale des Affaires Sanitaires et Sociales, or Department of Social and Health Services.

Astrid et Raphaëlle S05E02

Astrid et Raphaëlle S05E02, "Mais c'est pour si longtemps" (It Feels Like Forever) runtime 53:17 Subtitles download link

The Reptile case continues, only now Astrid and Raphaëlle are rookie secret agents, after being recruited/conscripted by DGSE agent 'Dagobert' (Aurelian Wiik). But spying means lying, which is something Astrid doesn't know how to do.  

Norah (Sophia Yamna) and Nico (Benoit Michel)
detain 'Emily Bradway' (Lauren Versnick)

NOTES

The DGSE (0'52"), founded in 1982, is the French CIA. It took over from the Service de documentation extérieure et de contre-espionnage. It is at 141 Blvd Mortier in Paris.

The original Dagobert (2'47") was King of the Franks in the 7th Century. He was the last of his family, the Merovingians ('from the sea'), to really rule the country. A lot of modern conspiracy theories and alt-history has sprung up around him and his family (see The Da Vinci Code et al). Whereas, the Club of 5 (aka The Famous Five) were the child heroes of a series of mid-20th Century YA adventure novels. The Five were two boys, two girls, and their dog Dagobert.

La pluie aide de protection, 'protection rain aide' (4'05") must be a metaphorical 'protective umbrella.'

Raph must be referring to Quentin (4'45") and Q, James Bond's MI-6 'quartermaster' of gadgets.

I've never heard of ha! (10'36") having a different definition than in the English. Raph seems to be echoing Astrid's 'yes.'

Minitel (11'12") was a French-made communication/information system that networked over phone lines. It existed from 1982 to 2012. Home terminals could be used to send and receive email, buy things, access business information, and look up phone numbers.

Guoanbu (17'50") is the Ministry of State Security for China.

La Défense (21'13") is a district in western Paris named to honor Franco-Prussian War veterans in 1883. Since the 1970s it has transformed gradually into an ultra-modern-looking business district. It has 20 of Paris' 24 skyscrapers.

Norah says to Raph, la CIA vous à mené un bateau, 'the CIA led you by a boat' (25'05"). This expression means to lead astray or down the garden path, bamboozle, and the like.

La Courneuve (34'29") is a town that is part of metropolitan Paris, located 5 miles north of central Paris. It does not have a Rue de Commerce, but there is a Place du Commerce, a residential/retail development in the southwest part of town.

A lanceuse d'alerte (35'06") is a whistleblower.

As Nico explains later, Azathoth (35'46") is a deity in the works of HP Lovecraft, and is indescribable because everyone perceives him differently and he is always changing.

Nous se débrouiller comme une chef (37'02") means 'We're going to handle this like a boss.' In this case, bluff that you have the authority to do something.

DGSE headquarters, Les Tourelles, is at 141 Boulevard Mortier, just inside the Peripherique beltway on the northeast edge of central Paris. A different building plays the DGSE in the episode (39'30").

Palate Cleanser

Mon Crime (The Crime is Mine) runtime 1:42:51
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I took a brief respite from the frantic pace of the year-end holidays to enjoy this Francois Ozon comedy from 2023.

It's 1930s Paris, a city obsessed with celebrities and scandals. Madeleine Verdier is a struggling actress, her roommate Pauline Mauleon is a struggling lawyer. Together they owe the landlord 3,000 francs-- or maybe 1,000 francs, depending on negotiations. Madeleine has just returned from a particularly bad audition-turned-casting couch offer when a detective knocks on their door: it seems the producer Madeleine has just escaped from is now a dead producer, shot in the head about the time she left him. She is now the chief suspect.

Facing a buffoonish investigating judge and an institutionally misogynistic justice system, Madeleine and Pauline hatch a plan to use the circus-like trial to launch their careers. Isabelle Huppert bursts onto the scene at the halfway mark, as a faded star who knows the truth.

Nadia Tereszkiewicz (L) as Madeleine, and Rebecca Marder (R) as Pauline. With Olivier Broche (far L) and Fabrice Luchini.

I extracted the subtitles from the Region 2 DVD and added subtitles for onscreen French text (mostly newspaper headlines).


NOTE

The press portrays Madeleine's trial as the next Violette Noziere case (35'36"), referring to the 1934 trial of a young woman charged with murdering her father. Violette's defense claimed incest; she received the death sentence, which was reduced, and she was freed in 1945.

Astrid et Raphaëlle S05E01

Astrid et Raphaëlle S05E01, "On ne meurt qu'une seule fois" (You Only Die Once) runtime 47:44
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The team searches for The Reptile, a deadly assassin with a unique MO who appears to have returned after a six year hiatus. Raphaelle and Nico continue their affair, and are doing a bad job of keeping it on the down low. A further development is that she thinks she might be pregnant. Astrid and Tetsuo's relationship encounters a hurdle. Raph seeks her father's help. A mysterious figure lurks. An old friend of Astrid's shows up at her support group.

I'm going back to .srt for a while.

Raph and Astrid meet the impound guy

NOTES

Commissioner Carl says The Reptile is chasse gardée du Banditisme, 'the purview of Banditry' (7'25"). Banditry is the brigade known as BRB, or Violent Crime Repression. I'm using 'Violent Crime.'

The impound guy says it takes time pour faire sauter, 'to blow up,' a hardened car door (15'30"). I'm putting 'to jimmy.'

Astrid disagrees with Norah and comments Si (16'01"). Most machines translate this as 'If' when the correct translation is 'Yes.' But it appears in this case that si means 'other' or 'that is to say,' or is short for soit, 'whether,' or sinon, 'alternatively'--or a mashup of some or all.  'So-called' comes closest to the probable meaning here.

'He has the gift of ubiquity' for il a la don d'ubiquity (23'59") is correct, but 'he can be in two places at once' is better for American ears.

The Ministry for Europe & Foreign Affairs is located at 37 Quai d'Orsay (25'01").

Sannois (27'20") is a northwest suburb of Paris. It has a historic windmill, and it is supposedly where Cyrano de Bergerac died.

Raph introduces Astrid as 'Lt. Nielsen' (30'30"), one of the few times in the series her rank has been used. A SPOILER also calls her lieutenant at 46'45".

Here's a good one: à travers les gouttes, 'slip between the raindrops' ('33'04"), is a way of saying 'to escape' or 'get away.'

Bois de Vincennes, 'Vincennes Woods' (35'32"), is an almost-2,500-acre park where kings used to hunt, on the east side of Paris just outside the Peripherique beltway. It is the largest green space in Paris and includes lakes, arboretum, botanical garden, a zoo, a horse racing track, and a velodrome.

Raph and Norah (Sophia Yamna) meet the mysterious American 'Emily Bradway.'

Ashley Omaha (39'35") is a stupid 'American' name.

Coudre, thimble (46'32"), is a reference to the episode "Fulcanelli" (S01E06), in which Astrid gives Raphaelle a thimble as a symbol of something that protects, just as Raph protects her.

Frenemies: A love story

I neglected to write an introduction to Capitaine Marleau when I subtitled "Á contre-courant," so I thought I would do so now.

It all began in 2014 with the two-part mystery Entre vents et marées, in which director Josée Dayan assembled a cast of French all-stars —Nicole Garcia, Jacques Spessier, Muriel Robin, and more— for a whodunit about urban renewal skullduggery which leads to murder.

"L'ami Français": Corinne Masiero, with Jonathan Lambert (C) as Stéphane, and Eric Caravaca as Donnadieu.

But it was a supporting character that got noticed: the chapka-wearing Police Nationale detective sent to lead the investigation. From the opening joke likening the lady mayoress to a horse, to her compassion for victims' families, Corinne Masiero as Captain Marleau stole the show.

Cut to 2015 and Marleau has gone to series. The main changes were transforming Marleau into a Gendarmerie detective, adding a plaid flannel shirt and army surplus coat to her wardrobe, changing her 1980s Land Rover from brown to green, and making her personality even more out-there.