Another great French movie, this is about a ditzy woman, proud of her middle-Eastern name Baya Benmahmoud, who feels the best way to convert right-wingers is to have sex with them. Then she meets a straight-laced guy with an ordinary name, Arthur Martin, and begins a romance. The part was re-written once Sara Forestier was cast as Baya, and it won her the César Award (French equivalent of the Oscar) for Best Actress and Michel Leclerc and Baya Kasmi won Best Original Screenplay. In the subtitles, by the way, the heroine's name is spelled Baya, like the screenwriter's. However, on imdb, it's spelled Bahia. Although I have definitely seen Forestier in Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006) and Wild Grass, I don't remember those roles. Now I will remember her! Among other trivia, she asked that a nude scene be put back in after another actress had asked that it be removed. It's a funny scene (and not the only time we see her naked). Jacques Gamblin plays Arthur, and he is quite funny as well.
We saw this at a Jewish Film Festival, and were told before the movie began that Arthur Martin is the name of a type of washing machine in France, about which poor Arthur is frequently teased. And this time I knew the meaning of the actual movie title: Le nom des gens literally means the name of people. It showed only one night here, but is now available on netflix. Check it out. It's sexy and funny.
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