Movie Review: The Names of Love

The Names of Love (Le nom des gens) is French love story between Baya (Sara Forestier), and Arthur (Jacques Boudet), two intensely different characters with seemingly nothing in common aside from their highly opinionated viewpoints which naturally put them on opposite sides of the political spectrum. Interweaving sex and politics, The Names of Love seems to be trying for a certain edginess that it can’t quite pull off.

Baya is a highly provocative woman who sleeps with right wing conservatives in order to inject a bit of her way of thinking into their lives. She uses sex as a weapon against men not only to spread her political views, but as a way of retribution due the sexual abuse that she endured as a little girl. Baya views all conservatives as fascists, until of course she meets Arthur Miller, a political conservative veterinarian who initially refuses Baya’s advances mainly due to their age difference. Baya, unaccustomed to rejection takes a certain interest in Arthur who challenges her to look beyond her political views and follows her heart. In turn, Baya challenges Arthur to view his relationship with his extremely conservative parents in a new light despite being uncomfortable.

Together Baya and Arthur embark on an unstable and somewhat dysfunctional relationship fueled by sex, politics and the stubbornness that the two match heads with. Among their many heated discussions is the idea of a person’s name and how it affects his or her life including which political platform he/she chooses to support. Though their romance is peppered with sweet idioms and gestures now and then, overall it is similar to watching a train wreck. Baya and Arthur are uniquely charismatic on-screen, but ironically lose some flair when their two characters get together. Their passion and intensity is borderline unconvincing as their portrayal of romance is ultimately clichéd at best. Though my review seems somewhat harsh, I do think The Names of Love is worth watching if for no other reason than to see what opinions and viewpoints its political theme ignites in its viewers. Besides, sometimes a bad day at the movies is still better than a good day at work.