It was on my hard drive for whatever reason, so I just tried it out of boredom. I lasted 15 minutes before giving up. The acting was bad, and the first NC scene was cringey as f*ck. I must have been really desperate the day I downloaded that thing. Dropped and deleted. If you're considering watching it just for the NC scenes, I mean... just watch gay porn instead? It's a drama, good NC scenes should be the cherry on top, not the only redeeming quality.
I finally finished it. It wasn't easy, what a trainwreck! Heng is insufferable from the first to the last second. Secondary characters are barely there. It is hands down one of their worst adaptations, everything that makes the original version watchable & funny is lost.
I'm sorry but Sarin's pronunciation was really bad. I have a hard time to believe he "put in a tremendous amount…
It's difficult to give a definitive answer to your last question because I only majored in History haha. If we're talking about Old French as the language spoke during most of the middles ages (~800-1400), I would say yes the pronunciation of some determiners like il/le/la was probably *mostly* the same. But also, as a general rule, the more you go back in time in French, the more silent letters where actually pronounced. And alghough "il" or "le" do not have silent letters, "les" does have one so the pronunciation must have been different. And old French did had more of these determiners (ex: "li") because alghough it already got rid of the neuter, it still used declensions and determiners could change depending on the class of the word.
And I will probably the special episode 'cause it seems interesting!
I'm sorry but Sarin's pronunciation was really bad. I have a hard time to believe he "put in a tremendous amount…
I listened to Sarin's lines again, and I think his French does come across as good enough for people non-proficient in French because he got one essential thing right: the overall flateness of French that allow us to spot many non-native speakers. The vowels aren't bad either (I think he got right the infamous nasal vowels that give issues to English speakers). The main issues for me are really the consonants & the fact that I'm pretty sure entire syllables are missing at some point. And now that I listened to it more carefully, it's frustrating lol, because I'm pretty sure it actually must have took time to achieve that and he probably wasn't that far from being understable. I don't know if a French teacher was on the set to help him... I feel like it wasn't the case considering the missing syllables? Or maybe the production didn't gave him enough takes/didn't keep the best ones. The main issue to me is probably that the show doesn't have a big enough budget to make sure that Sarin is in the best conditions for this kind of challenge.
About the other thai actors playing charaters supposed to only babble a few words, since you're talking about them, they were good. I can definitely understand the words I'm supposed to. Regarding the man playing Rati's father, on second thought he's not a native speaker as he got a gender agreement wrong. A native speaker would never make that mistake, which makes his overall performance even more impressive.
Regarding the kind of French they used, if I judge by what western actors say, it's rightfully 99% standard modern French in a formal setting. Apart from that, they used one slightly older word that is nowadays only used by some old people ("point" instead of "pas" to form the negation). And they got that right. The pronunciation from late 1800 to early 1900s in France was basically the same as today anyway (we could find a few differences if we REALLY nitpick like the famous R but even in French shows it is never ever taken into account).
It’s a rare occasion when I feel the urge to dissect a single episode, but here I am, propelled by a tidal wave…
I'm sorry but Sarin's pronunciation was really bad. I have a hard time to believe he "put in a tremendous amount of effort". Apart from the very first French word "oui" said perfectly on the boat, his other lines are utterly incomprehensible even when putting some effort like I would with a stranger. I was able to guess some of it using the English subtitles, but a good half of it was really not understable even with that help. Maybe Rati won't speak French in the other episodes so it wasn't worth to put more effort in it (after all he only has 3 or 4 lines in French in this episode). Maybe it was just too difficult (I can definitely understand that as it's not a easy language for him). And maybe it will improve in the next episodes, I don't know.
It's not all negative on that front however, they obviously did take the time to cast actors speaking French at a native level (or able to make a good enough impression to fool me) for the French characters. And I really appreciate that. I've seen too many k-dramas where they cast any western looking guy to play an English/American man, hopping that nobody will notice their strong accent.
Mac's age is an issue, but far from the bigger one. That fact that THREE screenwriters worked on it and THIS is the result is appaling. Don't waste your time.
So to sum up the comments section, some people explain us this is the most realistic ending – and the best one – because both leads are sad and do not end up together. WTF?! Like gays are some sort of tortured creatures. Other are throwing a tantrum because they didn't get their big kisses and fuck scene with the leads, or/and because this open ending is not a true ending for them. And in the middle of that some people are able to appreciate this season and the great acting Benjamin and Dong Qin gave us. Yes it was a slow burn, but it was at the same time less boring and more coherent that 95% of thai BLs. And if they can make this second season happen, they will be able to make a good one with the rest of the story. And not make a second very dispensable season just for the money like some do.
If you're considering watching it just for the NC scenes, I mean... just watch gay porn instead? It's a drama, good NC scenes should be the cherry on top, not the only redeeming quality.
But also, as a general rule, the more you go back in time in French, the more silent letters where actually pronounced. And alghough "il" or "le" do not have silent letters, "les" does have one so the pronunciation must have been different.
And old French did had more of these determiners (ex: "li") because alghough it already got rid of the neuter, it still used declensions and determiners could change depending on the class of the word.
And I will probably the special episode 'cause it seems interesting!
And now that I listened to it more carefully, it's frustrating lol, because I'm pretty sure it actually must have took time to achieve that and he probably wasn't that far from being understable. I don't know if a French teacher was on the set to help him... I feel like it wasn't the case considering the missing syllables? Or maybe the production didn't gave him enough takes/didn't keep the best ones. The main issue to me is probably that the show doesn't have a big enough budget to make sure that Sarin is in the best conditions for this kind of challenge.
About the other thai actors playing charaters supposed to only babble a few words, since you're talking about them, they were good. I can definitely understand the words I'm supposed to.
Regarding the man playing Rati's father, on second thought he's not a native speaker as he got a gender agreement wrong. A native speaker would never make that mistake, which makes his overall performance even more impressive.
Regarding the kind of French they used, if I judge by what western actors say, it's rightfully 99% standard modern French in a formal setting. Apart from that, they used one slightly older word that is nowadays only used by some old people ("point" instead of "pas" to form the negation). And they got that right.
The pronunciation from late 1800 to early 1900s in France was basically the same as today anyway (we could find a few differences if we REALLY nitpick like the famous R but even in French shows it is never ever taken into account).
It's not all negative on that front however, they obviously did take the time to cast actors speaking French at a native level (or able to make a good enough impression to fool me) for the French characters. And I really appreciate that. I've seen too many k-dramas where they cast any western looking guy to play an English/American man, hopping that nobody will notice their strong accent.
And overall the episode was good.
Yes it was a slow burn, but it was at the same time less boring and more coherent that 95% of thai BLs. And if they can make this second season happen, they will be able to make a good one with the rest of the story. And not make a second very dispensable season just for the money like some do.
Definitely one of the best BL of the year for me.