By comparing two recent French films, "L'Esquive" (Kechiche 2004) and "Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis" (Boon 2008), a realistic drama and a comedy, this article proposes an analysis of two different cases of stylisation that entertain complex relations of authenticity with stigmatised vernaculars, and in which actors stylise their own linguistic community. Discussing cinematic perception of non-standard varieties and the way spectators read into characterisation's techniques, it shows that awareness of any deviation from the norm is heightened by the media and taken as meaningful to the drama at play. Finally, it is argued that an ideological shift takes place during the reception of the films and that second-order indexicality is interpreted as first-order indexicality. (Contains 12 notes.)