Foreign language films often have their names altered for different markets and – for the most part – improve on them. Anyone up for a watch of I Will Marry a Prostitute to Save Money?
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ince it is the sequel to a modern classic – an iconic film that managed to introduce no end of quotes and terms to the cultural lexicon – you could assume that The Devil Wears Prada 2 wouldn’t have to work much to attract an audience. But this is where you would be wrong.
For example, someone unfamiliar with the first film might wonder if, since the title invokes Satan, it might actually be a horror. Or maybe the name scans as an angry indie documentary about the role of designer clothing within this period of late-stage capitalism. And so it makes much more sense to do what the Vietnamese have done and simply call the film The Woman Who Loves Luxury Goods 2.
Isn’t that perfect? The Woman Who Loves Luxury Goods 2 is an almost perfect name, because it instantly lets the viewer know that a) there is a woman in this film, b) the woman loves luxury goods and c) this is a sequel. True, you might be able to argue that the film isn’t specific enough about which woman loves luxury goods (the statement is equally true of many women in the film), and maybe that it isn’t quite specific enough. After all, the title could work just as well for Breakfast at Tiffany’s or Confessions of a Shopaholic or Sex and the City or The Bling Ring or Marie Antoinette. But this is merely a quibble.
