What's In A Name?

Synopsis: A small, informal Parisian dinner party goes wrong when one of the guests (Patrick Bruel), announces that he and his girlfriend will call the baby that they are expecting Adolphe.

Following on the heels of François Ozon’s witty black comedy In The House comes another smart French comedy, What’s In A Name? Although it is more of a situation comedy in the vein of Francis Veber’s The Dinner Game with a series of farcical misconstruings it is, like Ozon’s film, much more sophisticated, analytic and peppered with literary references. It's amusing but expect to smile to yourself more than laugh out loud.

After a lengthy preamble, which, in a manner decidedly manifesting the aforementioned qualities, introduces the characters, the film settles down to the main business, a dinner party hosted by literature professor Pierre (Charles Berling) and his schoolteacher wife, Elisabeth (Valerie Benguigui) for Elizabeth’s brother, real estate agent, Vincent (Patrick Bruel), his pregnant girlfriend (Judith El Zein) and their long-time friend, Claude (Guillaume de Tonquedec).

It is no surprise that the film is based on co-director Matthieu Delaporte’s play and indeed all the cast except for Berling are from the highly successful stage production. Much like 2011’s Carnage, it is almost entirely confined to a single room and similarly depicts a series of escalating confrontations as pent-up resentments surface in a typically French and so un-Anglo-Saxon-like way, in close-to-the-bone accusations, spontaneous insults and breast-beating histrionics (Valerie Benguigui is particularly good in the latter department). Given its provenance and the cast’s familiarity with each other it is no surprise that the smart dialogue unfolds with unaffected effortlessness whilst the directors make good use of the camera's possibilities to relieve any tendency to staginess in the proceedings.

Unless you have a good grasp of the language What's In A Name will require reading a lot of sub-titles, but if you have a taste for the French way it should prove amiably enjoyable.

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