The Names of Love

So yes, again another recommendation from Netflix - they're on a roll. It's a French film from 2010 and it's made about $4.5 million worldwide. It's won a couple of awards for best female lead and best screenwriting, which I completely agree with.

The movie is about a couple. A young free-spirited left-wing woman who sets out to sleep with right-wing 'fascists' in order to convert them to her side. She then meets a middle of the road politician who goes against her plan.

Well, at first glance the premise of the movie sounds interesting, unique, and very original - and it surely is. Not only is the premise of the movie great, the entire thing is written so well. From the crazy original scenes, i.e. forgetting to put your clothes on before riding the subway, to the way the plot is told, with their speed montage childhoods playing right next to each other. There are a lot of issues tackled in the film, from politics to the European notion of nationality and how it's constantly changing and intermingling. There's humor oozing out of every scene of the film, but still it retains it's realism and message. It was just a fantastic screenplay - vibrant, fun, funny, witty, I could go on and on.

The editing was above par and kept the pace of the movie flying by without any lulls. The color popped out of the screen and was beautiful. The soundtrack kept in tone with the scenes. The set design and location scouting was also really great in the movie and gave everything an air of realism.

The female lead was superb. She put her all into this very unique character. She even tackled the nude subway scene, which apparently the first actress cast in the role had them remove, to which Sara Forestier (the female lead) insisted they put the scene back in. That's just awesomeness right there. The male lead, Jacques Gamblin held his own. He proved to be the steady counterpart to this crazy character, and he did it so well being subtle yet humorous in his own right. Even the other actors in the movie did a good job with their smaller roles.

I ended up really loving this film. It was so fresh and fun I couldn't help but love it. And to top it all off, it was French! There's nothing better than a French romantic comedy, although this is a completely unconventional one. I'd recommend to other looking for a fun comedy with some poignant issues mixed inside with very memorable scenes. "I was changing clothes when he called and must've forgotten to put them back on when I got on the subway".