Movies and accents

[chanaleh]

This is a two-part question (which I swear has nothing whatever to do with Sherlock Holmes, hot though that is):

• What accents do you find particularly sexy and/or appealing?
  (You can say "British", but I for one will probably scoff at you. Specific regions are acceptable. ;-)
• What movies present particularly good, squee-worthy, or toe-curling examples of same?

Here are my initial answers off the top of my head:

(1) Russian
• White Nights (Mikhail Baryshnikov as Rodchenko)

(2) Scottish
• Sliding Doors (John Hannah as James Hammerton; see also Four Weddings and a Funeral)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Katie Leung as Cho Chang)

Discuss!

Comments

[tamidon.livejournal.com]

I grew up with Scottish and English so that sounds homey, I find French sexy, but I find Italian always sounds cheesy to me.

[yehoshua.livejournal.com]

1. Scottish (duh)
   
2. Blood Hunt. Crappy BBC2 movie-of-the-week from the mid-80s, but set well back in the hielands, so it features a Scottish accent you seldom hear in mainstream films or telly. The main character is an elderly crofter, but he could have read the phone book for two hours and I'd have tuned in to listen.

Honestly, much as I love to listen to sleepycinderell and zotz's family and nickys and nik_strychnine, the Scottish accents I usually hear on TV or in movies is clearly about as authentic as my own when I'm shitfaced, and usually coming from the mouths of Londoners. It's about as painful sometimes as listening to yankees try to imitate Southern accents.

But I may be a bit of a snob on this score.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Exactly why I'm interested in answers from the likes of you. :-)

[besamim.livejournal.com]

South African. Mainly due to the disproportionate number of sexy Jewish expatriates (mainly from Jo'berg) I met, who came to Canada with their parents in the late eighties. There was just something about the accent (e.g. pronouching short-a as a breathy short-e) that turned me on.

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

I find just about any foreign accent sexy, but I've always been drawn to British accents. Go ahead, scoff - I know there are many of them, but I like them all.

[scholargipsy.livejournal.com]

I find just about any foreign accent sexy

Even this one?

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

Um, well, if you transplanted the accent into someone I found attractive, that would be fine. :-)

[scholargipsy.livejournal.com]

In Soviet Russia, Yakov Smirnov accent find you sexy!

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

When I had a British boyfriend, I remember being stunned that he thought the fact that I was a Jew from New York incredibly sexy.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Just to be clear, it's not the opinion that British accents are inherently sexy that I'm scoffing at! It's the notion of "British accent" generically, when what I'm interested in here are *particular* accents and favorite instances of same. :-) But as a category, sure, that's fair.

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

I know - that's why I was saying that I know there are many different British accents, but I like them all. :-)

[scholargipsy.livejournal.com]

1. Australian. Yes, I know, big surprise. If I had to pick a film with a very cute Australian speaking with a very cute accent, I'd probably go with Naomi Watts in The Dish, a charming 2000 film about the Parkes, NSW, radio telescope crew and their crucial role in making it possible to broadcast the 1969 moon landing.

(There's really no footage in that clip of Naomi Watts speaking, alas, but you can get a good sense of her Aussie accent pre-Americanization in this clip from the perennial soap Home and Away. [It is, apparently, Oz law that every major Australian actor must appear on either H&A or Neighbours at some point in his or her career.])

2. Indian. I've always loved the lilt of many Indian accents (I'm not expert enough to say much about the difference between a Hindi accent, Punjabi accent, a Tamil accent, and a Marathi accent; but there are shared features nonetheless). And Aishwarya Rai in Bride and Prejudice has a lovely accent...and a lovely everything else, too.

Typing this comment reconfirms for me that I am deeply shallow, as both women I've singled out aren't just nice to listen to, but to look at as well. I can live with that about myself, however.

[scholargipsy.livejournal.com]

Kat has, embarrassingly, brought to my attention that the fair-haired actress in The Dish is Naomi Wright, not Naomi Watts. Oh, well: cute actresses with Aussie accents: I'm not splittin' hairs, blonde or otherwise.

[trowa-barton.livejournal.com]

This may sound strange, but when an actress from overseas can pull off multiple accents, including American, it does it for me.
Example: Minnie Driver in "Grosse Pointe Blank" and "Circle of Friends"

[laurion]

Ooh, Circle of Friends. A movie I picked up cheaply somewhere because I like Minnie Driver. One of my very small collection of 'chick flick' movies. As a guy I have to be careful about them... heh.

[laurion]

Russian, eh? "A Fish Called Wanda" springs to mind now. *grin*

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

I... have no comment. :-D

[learnedax.livejournal.com]

Well, I disagree with John Cleese's character there - Russian may have the potential to be beautiful, but I'd never pick it over Italian.

I'm having trouble thinking of a good hot-Italian-accent movie, though...

[muffyjo]

Scoff all you like, a lovely High British accent, an Irish Brogue or a Scottish twang make my heart a happy place. Then again, an occasional Southern Drawl can do it, too.

Depends on the person with the accent and the twinkle in their eye.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Just to be clear, it's not the opinion that British accents are inherently sexy that I'm scoffing at (far be it from me to do so!). It's the notion of "British accent" generically, when what I'm interested in here are *particular* accents and favorite instances of same. :-)

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

I like Russian accents, and American Southern accents, and French accents (goofy Inspector Clouseau-style fakes not included), and Newfoundland accents (Great Big Sea! Great Big Sea!).

I can't always tell the difference among English accents, but I can tell RP from Cockney from Yorkshire from Liverpool. I like Northern English accents. ("Lots of planets have a North.")

The Commitments is a good movie for hearing many different Irish accents in close proximity to each other. Dog Soldiers will give you Kevin McKidd's Scots accent and at least two or three flavors of English accent.

[jehanna.livejournal.com]

Irish or Scottish, as will surprise approximately nobody.

For movies, though, I can't think of any.

[netpositive.livejournal.com]

(1) Boston + Italian. The farther in town, the better. No, don't ask.

(2) But oh, Baryshnikov in _White Nights_ is very sexy, yeah. And Yul Brynner in _The King and I_. And anything Frank Langella does. (I'm too afraid to watch Frost/Nixon for fear I might find "Nixon" sexy.)

[navrins]

Huh. Oddly, I really can't think of any examples of women with accents I find particularly sexy. (Sure, plenty of sexy women who happen to have accents, but it's not the accents I'm attracted to - if anything, I find the accents slightly unattractive.)

But there are several accents I really enjoy listening to in male voices. That of David Tennant as the Doctor. Sean Connery. Some particular flavor of German accent (I remember it from someone I knew in person, but have heard it in other sources I can't think of right now.)

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

Watching Doctor Who Confidential is fascinating, to listen to Tennant switch between his natural Scottish accent (when he's just talking) and the Doctor's "Estuary English" accent (when he's in character).

Not that I can identify accents, but they're very different, and I love listening to people swap between accents.

[navrins]

I'm also listening to him as Henry VI. Hearing almost-The-Doctor as the wishy-washy oh-please-won't-you-all-stop-fighting-and-be-nice king is... weird.

[gilana]

I can't really think of any accent I've heard from the British Isles that I *don't* find sexy, although the Scottish ones (and they definitely do vary) are top of that list. Can't think of any good representative movies offhand, though.