Star Wars: La Guerre des Etoiles? Une Traduction qui n'en est pas une

If one dons one’s translator’s and linguist’s hats, one quickly notices that the French translation of the title of the famous saga Star Wars is a non-translation, or at the very least, not a faithful one. Translation Studies have recently set aside the notion of faithfulness in favour of a translation’s function and effects, thanks in particular to Skopos theory. This novel approach works well for the translation of film titles. However there is more to Star Wars-La Guerre des Etoiles than just an application of Skopos theory. At play are issues of how works of art are given their titles, how the cinema culture in France is marked by resolute anglicisation and, finally, how linguistics can help explain this non-translation. The main point of this article is to demonstrate that Star Wars-La Guerre des Etoiles can be labelled an intertranslation, a coinage inspired by the linguistic notion of interlanguage.