In our language (Ukraine) - it translated as 7 lives, pound as I know is a unit of weight or monetary unit, how is it related? Does it have anything similar to life? Or it is just a translation of our country?
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3AFAIK the "7 pounds" in the movie referred to the combined weight of the donated organs.– Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_Mar 17, 2021 at 15:25
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oh, thanks ) got it )– Andrey RadkevichMar 17, 2021 at 15:44
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1The film affects seven lives, so the translation is fine. Not every perfect translation makes a good title.– Yosef BaskinMar 17, 2021 at 15:53
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It is probably not pure serendipity that there are 7 pounds, and 7 lives. However, it has been noted elsewhere that the actual weight of the organs donated in the movie do not really sum up to seven pounds...– Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_Mar 17, 2021 at 17:47
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Note that there is the idiom "pound of flesh". There may be a metaphorical linkage to this.– Hot LicksMar 17, 2021 at 23:35
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1 Answer
This is apparently alluding to Shakespeares "Merchant of Venice", were a debtor owes a pound of flesh - and since the protagonist in the movie is "paying back" seven lives, it's seven pounds.
According to Wikipedia, Will Smith confirmed the connection:
Will Smith is reported to have confirmed that the title refers to Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, in which a debtor must pay a pound of flesh
While, being a Shakespeare fan, that was basically the first thing I thought of, I don't think it makes a lot of sense, since nothing in the circumstances of the debt in the play is even remotely parallel to what happens in the movie. But if the main actor/producer confirms it, then that's probably it.
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Many of the idioms that derive from Shakespeare no longer refer directly to the original plots.– BarmarMar 22, 2021 at 18:14