How good is Renée Zellweger's British English accent? | Bridget Jones's Diary

How good is Renée Zellweger's British English accent?

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[martseagray]

I know she speaks too posh (despite her character being middle class), but I love RP and her accent is incredibly good. There´s a scene (I can´t remember if it´s from the first or second movie) she´s wearing a tiny skirt and Daniel Cleaver fancys it and she asks him "Do you like eeet?" with such an incredible and perfect intonation! love that line, and she´s not even english come on, i rate her accent 9 out of 10.

[mr.aldini]

My friend from London said her accent was very authentic.

[giuliamarchetti]

She really did a great job, at first I thought she was English haha
Hugh Grant is the typical English man that uses British humour, loved that

[ranok]

Thanks a lot! Directioners are looking forward to a video about 1D!

[OkaySamTV]

I grew up with the Bridget jones films and I am genuinely flabbergasted that she is American

[atsuko]

My British friends are very impressed with her fantastic job. Generally speaking, the British accent is way more difficult to pick up on rather than the American accent. I do think she did an amazing job. I doubt Tom Hanks has had any roles in British movies, but I really like the way he mimics the British accent, sounds very natural.

[agustina]

I can't believe she isn't British! Great video Tom 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[thaiisnow]

I really thought she was British, I'm impressed, in a good way.. I love Bridget Jones, thank you for this video!

[yuruvegan]

I love this film and her British accent and enjoyed your review so much! If I remember correctly, the scene she uses glottal T is in her family Christmas party and the man she is talking to (Colin Firth) is actually her very old friend, even they don’t remember that because they were too small. So I think it’s a perfect situation she changes her accent to the casual one.

[suppleberry]

Her accent was great. As was Gwyneth Paltrow in Sliding Doors (or Shakespeare in Love) and Meryl Streep as Mrs Thatcher - two other ones for you to look at.

[katschmidt]

I would love to see a video about James Mcavoy's British accent as Charles Xavier in Xmen

[nickdamon]

She dropped the T and changed annunciations because she was Acting drunk in that scene. I think is is brilliant that she put that much thought into those intricate details and still kept a near perfect accent.

[darkangelw]

As a none native speaker, who tries to learn different English accents, this is very helpful

[firstchoice]

I saw this with a bunch of British Friends and they acclaimed that she was 'Spot on' with her accent.

[__R___]

I really thought she was British what an amazing job

[cosmiclounge]

I'm a native speaker of not-dissimilar 'cut-glass' diction to that of Colin Firth and for my money, Zellweger's is an impeccable rendition of precisely the sort of 'aspirationally' upper middle-class RP which was common currency among my university set while at Bristol, who would likely have retained some provincial inflection up until their (presumably, fee-paying) secondary education: just the right amount of affectation, but every so often betrayed by those subtle, tell-tale regional lapses which tend only to surface under the influence of either acute anxiety, copious alcohol, or both.

Thus, I actually find your 'example' at 5'07" only imparts greater verisimilitude in this regard: the semi-cultivated modern RP as exemplified by Bridget, in contrast to its 'inherent' form, _isn't_ monolithic, and whether deliberately or fortuitously on the actress's part, Renée's occasional verbal idiosyncrasies and elisions—juxtaposed against the multi-generational conservatives she fraternises with, cf. Hugh Grant—therefore lent authentic nuance to her (very deliberately) fish-out-of-water characterisation.

As such, I still to this day maintain that Bridget Jones' remains the most accomplished depiction of an English accent by an American actress in any 'mainstream' film; and indeed it is those very imperfections which you cite, that make it so indispensable. 10/10

[lucthin]

I love to see you analyze the characters Kol, Elijah, and, Rebekah from the TV shows the Orginals. I would include Klaus, but the actor is Welsh. The other 3 are either New Zealander and Aussie.

[rlpsychology]

As a Cali US guy, I want to speak English/British phonology. So thanks so much, Mr Eat Sleep Dream English!

[Darkangel-A-cz]

She's one of the few American actors who's British English is really good. Mind you, I'm Swedish and my English accent resembles many English accents, having lived and worked with Brits, Aussies, Kiwis, Saffa, Americans etc

[LuVD]

Bridget Jones is my favourite british comedy. Its resemblance with Emma by Jane Austen is trailblazing.