MovieChat Forums > The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970) Discussion > Why are Belgians always mistaken for Fre...

Why are Belgians always mistaken for French?

posted 12 years ago by Boromir007
5 replies | jump to latest

Why is it that I whenever I read a review of this enchanting movie that the reviewer seemed to have missed the fact that Mme Valledon is Belgian and not French? Being a Belgian, it is rather fatiguing that almost every French-speaking countryman of mine, either fictious (Poirot, Tintin) or factual (Jacques Brel, Georges Simenon), is mistaken for a Frenchman.

"What If" is a game for scholars.
Timothy Dalton, The Lion in Winter (1968)

[–] D_Ray_Morton 12 years ago

Probably because speaking French most English speaking people think that is a product of France... Most people think Belgians speak Their own language , while in the USA if you speak French we think you are either French or Canadian...

[–] donnydo77 11 years ago

I've frequently heard Brel referred as French. Perhaps errors abound for those mentioned yet everybody recognizes JCvD Belgain origins ... the muscles from Brussels? I'll take the other reference & take Belgian for French, just for grins & give hope to the geograph challenged.

[–] BoultersCanary 11 years ago

Flemish Belgians are often mistaken for Dutch.

The church may shout but Darwin roars

[–] jriley555 (8119) 7 years ago

beats me. i thought she was from senegal.

to be serious, it makes no sense, because a point was made of it explicitly when the men were pawing over the pretty lady's clothing. if you cant watch the movie, dont be a reviewer.

[–] liscarkat (18388) 4 years ago

To anyone but Belgians, it really doesn't matter.

Eddy Merckx is the only Belgian I care about.