What's in a Name? • Le prénom (2012)
Genre: Comedy
Director: Alexandre de La Patellière, Matthieu Delaporte
Starring: Patrick Bruel, Valérie Benguigui, Charles Berling, Guillamue de Tonquedec, Judith El Zein
Language: French
Duration: 109 min.
Summary:
An innocuous dinner party of childhood friends goes south when a father-to-be announces the controversial name he plans on giving his child.
What's in a Name? is a film by screenwriting turned directing duo Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte, adapted from their own 2010 stage play and starring most of the original cast members. It is nominated for 5 awards at the 2013 Césars including Best Film and Best Adaptation.
Much like Roman Polanski's Carnage, except much wittier and funnier, it's a tale set almost entirely within the walls of an upper-middle class apartment where a group of 40 somethings are gathered for a dinner party that quickly devolves into an ugly affair.
The film begins on clever footing, as the opening credits list only the cast and crew's first names (Le prénom is French for 'the given name'). A nice little touch that's followed by a Jeunet inspired cheeky introductory sequence for each of the main characters, which gives this otherwise stagey production some cinematic flair.
The hosts of the evenings festivities: Elizabeth (Valerie Benguigui), an elementary school teacher, and her Sorbonne professor husband Pierre (Charles Berling, the only new cast member). Elizabeth's realtor brother Vincent (Patrick Bruel), his pregnant wife Anna (Judith El Zein), and Elizabeth's childhood best friend Claude (Guillaume de Tonquedec), an accomplished orchestra trombonist.
The acting is solid all around, and the pure chemistry and clockwork timing exhibited by this group is wonderful to watch. No doubt aided greatly by already being familiar with their roles and each other, but also by the brilliant script that shifts the atmosphere from amicable to hostile and everywhere in between, in a truly natural manner. Making the way these people conduct themselves, as well as how all the events unfold during the course of the evening, entirely believable.
With its singular setting and the simple editing and camerawork, it never quite shakes off its theatrical origins. However, the drama never feels forced, even the sudden unexpected twists that come up, only help to move the film enjoyably along, rather than drag out the ordeal. The dialogue is also frequently hilarious, full of laugh-out-loud rapid fire quips and retorts that sadly I can't imagine a subtitled version being able to accurately convey or keep up with.
It's a simple yet skillfully executed film that probably won't win any awards, but is a fun little farce that's good for more than a few laughs. I've not paid much attention to La Patellière and Delaporte's careers up till now, but I will be following them with interest from now on.
Much like Roman Polanski's Carnage, except much wittier and funnier, it's a tale set almost entirely within the walls of an upper-middle class apartment where a group of 40 somethings are gathered for a dinner party that quickly devolves into an ugly affair.
The film begins on clever footing, as the opening credits list only the cast and crew's first names (Le prénom is French for 'the given name'). A nice little touch that's followed by a Jeunet inspired cheeky introductory sequence for each of the main characters, which gives this otherwise stagey production some cinematic flair.
The hosts of the evenings festivities: Elizabeth (Valerie Benguigui), an elementary school teacher, and her Sorbonne professor husband Pierre (Charles Berling, the only new cast member). Elizabeth's realtor brother Vincent (Patrick Bruel), his pregnant wife Anna (Judith El Zein), and Elizabeth's childhood best friend Claude (Guillaume de Tonquedec), an accomplished orchestra trombonist.
The acting is solid all around, and the pure chemistry and clockwork timing exhibited by this group is wonderful to watch. No doubt aided greatly by already being familiar with their roles and each other, but also by the brilliant script that shifts the atmosphere from amicable to hostile and everywhere in between, in a truly natural manner. Making the way these people conduct themselves, as well as how all the events unfold during the course of the evening, entirely believable.
With its singular setting and the simple editing and camerawork, it never quite shakes off its theatrical origins. However, the drama never feels forced, even the sudden unexpected twists that come up, only help to move the film enjoyably along, rather than drag out the ordeal. The dialogue is also frequently hilarious, full of laugh-out-loud rapid fire quips and retorts that sadly I can't imagine a subtitled version being able to accurately convey or keep up with.
It's a simple yet skillfully executed film that probably won't win any awards, but is a fun little farce that's good for more than a few laughs. I've not paid much attention to La Patellière and Delaporte's careers up till now, but I will be following them with interest from now on.
— Bonjour Tristesse
1 comment:
Comedy and wit is great.. It's some of what I thought was missing in Carnage so I wanna look forward to this.
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