Dubbing taboo words: insults and swearing in the French TV series Lupin

This article aims at analysing conflicting movie (acting) lines embedded in the third season of Lupin, an acclaimed TV series among French and Italian audience and currently available on the famous streaming service Netflix. In particular, we will focus on the terms and phrases ascribable to taboo language from a contrastive perspective, in order to assess the accuracy (of the French-) Italian dubbing. In this respect, taking into consideration impoliteness categorizations available in literature about swear words and conflicting language, and considering the artificiality of movie conversation, we intend to systematise high frequently used terms in French colloquial speech presented on the screen such as putain, merde or foutre, in all its variants, without overlooking on insults, whose perlocutionary effect has surely less strength although they are often found in authentic daily interactions. In conclusion, we will briefly reflect on the concept of verbal violence strictly connected to cultural identity.