The Names of Love (Le Nom des Gens)
After the intense, complex film that I watched last night, I wanted to see
something comedic and light. I selected The Names of Love, a French film. I thoroughly enjoyed this funny, charming movie. It stars Jacques Gamblin, Sara Forestier, and Zinedine Soualem.
The Names of Love traces the rocky relationship between reserved middle-aged veterinarian Arthur Martin (Gamblin), whose maternal grandparents were killed in the camps, and 20-ish eccentric Baya Benmahmoud (Forestier), the offspring of a radicalized Parisian mother and an Algerian-refugee father. Being molested by her piano teacher as a child has made Baya a “political whore,” bedding right-wingers to convert them to vaguely defined leftist causes. The backstories of the couple are presented through a series of interesting devices: flashbacks, younger versions of the protagonists talking to his or her adult self—all in service to the message that anti-Semitism and racism are bad.
I suggest that you put this movie on your list-to-watch list. I recommend The Names of Love.