The name of the people

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Movie
German title The name of the people
Original title Le Nom des gens
The name of the people.png
Country of production France
original language French , English , Greek , Arabic
Publishing year 2010
length 100 minutes
Rod
Director Michel Leclerc
script Michel Leclerc ,
Baya Kasmi
production Caroline Adrian ,
Fabrice Goldstein ,
Antoine Rein
music Jérôme Bensoussan ,
David Euverte
camera Vincent Mathias
cut Nathalie Hubert
occupation

The French feature film The Name of the People is a romantic comedy and social satire from 2010. Jacques Gamblin and Sara Forestier play the leading roles . Director Michel Leclerc and his life partner Baya Kasmi let some autobiographical aspects flow into the script they wrote together. They address questions of cultural identity in a country characterized by immigration and historical burdens. After the film was screened at the Cannes Film Festival on May 13, 2010 , it was released in France on July 10, 2010, where it received over eight million admissions. It started in Germany on April 14, 2011. At the 2011 César Awards , the film won awards for Best Original Screenplay and Best Actress . He was also nominated for Best Film and Best Actor .

action

The young Bahia, brisk and spontaneous, is the daughter of an activist left and a former illegal immigrant Algerian. She carries her name, often mistaken for Brazilian, with pride and fights against everything that is right for her. Arthur Martin is a sober and matter-of-fact civil servant who works for epidemic protection and fights against bird flu . When he warns of possible dangers on a radio broadcast, she intrudes into the broadcasting room and accuses him of stirring up feelings of fear that could be directed against immigrants.

Arthur also has an unusual family background. His mother is the daughter of Greek Jews who immigrated in the 1930s and were deported during the World War, whereas she was able to survive thanks to a new identity. She seeks the security of an inconspicuous life; at the family table, the Holocaust and the fate of her parents are taboo, so Arthur does not get any details about it. In general, you avoid expressions of emotion, except for a slight enthusiasm for the latest technical devices. That is why they have chosen the first name of their son based on the kitchen appliance manufacturer Arthur Martin . Contrary to what Bahia initially assessed, Arthur is not politically right-wing. He votes on the left and values ​​former Prime Minister Lionel Jospin for his principle of caution. Bahia, on the other hand, like her mother, admires marginalized groups and despises everything that stands for traditional France. True to the hippie motto Make love, not war , she tries to transform right-wing conservatives into leftists through sex and collects her proselytizing successes in a book. Bahia and Arthur become a couple. At first Arthur doesn't tell her anything about his mother's origins. Bahia only finds out about it by chance and is enthusiastic. Your relationship deepens into love. When they invite Arthur's parents to dinner, Bahia finds it difficult to avoid the taboo subject of persecution of the Jews. Finally, she whispers to Arthur's mother to open up and talk about her trauma. However, this leads to the mother being hospitalized and soon also to her suicide. Arthur blames Bahia's disturbing manner and breaks up with her. When meeting other women unsuccessfully, however, he realizes how much he is still fascinated by her. He goes to see her again, they have a child together and get married.

criticism

Rüdiger Suchsland reviewed the film in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (and slightly reformulated in film-dienst ). For three decades, a “politics of identity” has dominated the public debates in France, in which the decisive factor is “which ethnic, national, religious, political group, which memory community one belongs to and which gender he belongs to”. In this way, the individual and his personal decisions take a back seat. The film is about the "freedom of self-determination and respect for it", so Arthur expressly does not want to be a Jew. “It is the others who make you a member of the group. The struggle for recognition is always one for subjectivity. ”The film manages to raise these questions“ in an extremely relaxed manner without trivializing them ”. According to Alexandra Stäheli from the Neue Zürcher Zeitung , Leclerc commented "the stimulus-reaction schemes of official France on topics like the Shoah as relish as they are biting." Originally intended as an explanation, these questions were soon taken up by the media there, "so that the public Perception suddenly like a vulture of dismay circles over the corpses of history and fledd the dignity of the victims a second time ”. Leclerc makes fun of the belief that people can be classified based on their name "hearty, charming, with a little poison and a lot of esprit."

Other critics said that the film never made a secret of its mission, a “flaming plea for multiculturalism and tolerance”, and that it gave the hackneyed message back its earlier flair. Although the film was a “message for a better world, it was so elegantly wrapped in absurd humor, charm and anarchy that it didn't get on your nerves.” However, the epd film critic Claudia Lennsen disliked that the “theses comedy” aimed at using “Forced bitter joke” to influence the perception of the integration problem. The film replaces old clichés with new ones and celebrates the ethnically mixed society. "The liberal view of the pitfalls of self-imposed assimilation shifts the real social conflicts into the buxom situation comedy of a psychological feel-good cinema."

It was said of the young Bahia that she was one of the most remarkable characters in the cinema in recent years, despite her stubborn nature you just have to love her or be "hysterical in a poetic way". Her thinking represents “1960s and 1970s Marxism in the broadest sense: noticing how everything is connected, especially the non-connected. Realization in a lot of format errors. ”The comedy is bizarre, only sometimes it slips into silly. Others found the film's striving for originality sometimes excessive, or Bahia in her eccentricity almost implausible.

In addition, According to Suchsland , The People's Name was “a beautiful romance film that takes love seriously enough not to deny its funny side.” And a comedy, “straightforward, without becoming vulgar, that mixes charm and cleverness in a way as is only possible in France ”, and without the tragedy spoiling the fun. Daniel Sander from Spiegel Online saw “a sharp satire that also works as a casual romantic comedy, that has a big heart and prefers to spread happiness rather than a bad mood.” Opinions on the script were contrary: Rapidly tell it “never too little and never too much ", And I like to take an amazing turn" ( NZZ ). However, it contained too many quotations and Leclerc also had "little talent for casualness" ( Der Tagesspiegel ).

literature

conversations

  • With Sara Forestier in the Berliner Zeitung , April 13, 2011, p. 32: "I like art better"
  • With Michel Leclerc in the Tagesspiegel , April 14, 2011, p. 27: “Don't be afraid of half-breeds”
  • With Michel Leclerc in epd Film , No. 4/2011, p. 47: We are connected more than we are apart

Review mirror

positive

Rather positive

  • Cinema No. 4/2011, p. 36, by Ralf Blau: The name of the people
  • Der Tagesspiegel , April 14, 2011, p. 27, by Kerstin Decker: Missionary position

negative

  • epd film No. 4/2011, pp. 46–47, by Claudia Lennsen: The name of the people

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Annette Stiekele: My body, your demon. In: Hamburger Abendblatt. April 12, 2011, p. 19.
  2. ^ A b Rüdiger Suchsland: In France the future belongs to the bastards. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , April 13, 2011, p. 31.
  3. ↑ a b c Alexandra Stäheli: The secret of names. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . April 28, 2011, p. 51.
  4. ↑ a b Barbara Schweizerhof: The enemy in her bed. In: The world . April 14, 2011, p. 24.
  5. ↑ a b c Daniel Sander: Sex against convictions. In: Spiegel Online . April 14, 2011.
  6. ↑ Claudia Lennsen: The name of the people. In: epd film . No. 4/2011, pp. 46-47.
  7. ↑ a b Kerstin Decker: Missionary position. In: Der Tagesspiegel . April 14, 2011, p. 27.
  8. ↑ Ralf Blau: The name of the people. In: Cinema . No. 4/2011, p. 36.