Screened as part of NZIFF 2012

What’s in a Name 2012

Le Prénom

Directed by Matthieu Delaporte, Alexandre de la Patellière

Dinner date becomes dinner disaster in French cinema’s box office comedy hit of the year. “An amusing and well-acted French farce in the pure tradition of boulevard classics such as The Dinner Game.” — Hollywood Reporter

France In French with English subtitles
109 minutes

Producers

Dimitri Rassam
,
Jérôme Seydoux

Screenplay

Matthieu Delaporte
,
Alexandre de la Patellière. Based on their play

Photography

David Ungaro

Editor

Célia Lafitedupont

Production designer

Marie Cheminal

Costume designer

Anne Schotte

Music

Jérôme Rebotier

With

Patrick Bruel (Vincent)
,
Valérie Benguigui (Élisabeth)
,
Charles Berling (Pierre)
,
Guillaume de Tonquédec (Claude)
,
Judith El Zein (Anna)
,
Françoise Fabian (Françoise)

Elsewhere

Uproar ensues when a dinner party guest announces the name proposed for his baby son. Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patellière took no risks adapting their stage comedy hit for the screen. They imported all but one of the original cast and kept the action, with the exception of a zippy prologue, to a single apartment. It proved a sound policy: their film is French cinema’s box office hit of 2012.

“A bunch of 40-something buddies find their dinner date transformed into a dinner disaster in What’s in a Name, an amusing and well-acted French farce in the pure tradition of boulevard classics such as The Dinner Game… As in many such a farce… the twists and quid pro quos ultimately force the various characters to face truths about themselves and one another, and nothing is ever quite as bad as it seems. With plenty of rehearsal time on stage, the cast delivers all the zingers and insults with ease.” — Jordan Mintzer, Hollywood Reporter