Monday night I watched the 2012 film Le Prénom, directed by Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte. The title (literally “The First Name”, but translated as “What’s in a Name?” for its English language release) refers to the announcement by one of the lead characters that he and his wife plan to name their still in utero son … something awful. The rest of the family erupts in horror and disbelief at the choice, later revealed to be an elaborate practical joke. But the ill-conceived prank sets the tone for a fraught evening and lights the fuse for various true revelations, each one more explosive than the last, among this group of five adults with long, rocky, and intertwined histories.
The film is an adaptation of a successful play by the same name which debuted in 2010, and it’s not clear to me that anything has been gained by the transition from stage to screen. Not a bad play, but a cinematic psychodrame that doesn’t use any of the rich set of techniques that film enables (flashbacks, blurred images, crowded scenes, multiple camera angles, exotic settings, animation, …) feels underdeveloped, even bare. Add to that over-the-top performances by the actors, and I would not particularly recommend this film on its own merits. But certainly a decent exercise in understanding fast-spoken French in a familiar register.
The film is widely available on American streaming services with French audio and English subtitles (I had to mask the bottom of my television screen, as I couldn’t deactivate the subtitles).