The Names of Love

Name: The Names of Love
Genre: Comedy
Released: June 24, 2011
Duration: 102 min
Rating: 62

2011

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews

See All

USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Ratings

See All

6.8

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

6.8	Your Score
6.8	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Ratings

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Play Sound

Please enter your birth date to watch this video:

You are not allowed to view this material at this time.

The Names Of Love

Now Playing: The Names Of Love

Movie Details & Credits

Music Box Films | Release Date: June 24, 2011 | R

Summary: Baya Benmahmoud, a young, extroverted liberal lives by the old hippie slogan: “Make love, not war” to convert right-wing men to her lefty political causes by sleeping with them. She seduces many and so far has received exceptional results until she meets Arthur Martin, a middle aged, middle-of-the road scientist. While Arthur appears toBaya Benmahmoud, a young, extroverted liberal lives by the old hippie slogan: “Make love, not war” to convert right-wing men to her lefty political causes by sleeping with them. She seduces many and so far has received exceptional results until she meets Arthur Martin, a middle aged, middle-of-the road scientist. While Arthur appears to be a likely candidate for her unique political strategy, his unwillingness to fall for her game only encourages Baya to pursue him with surprisingly sexy consequences. (Music Box Films)… Expand

Director: Michel Leclerc

Genre(s): Comedy

Rating: R

Runtime: 102 min

See All Details and Credits

Watch Now

Buy on

Stream On

Expand

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

100

Mick LaSalle

Jul 28, 2011

Forestier's performance is a tour de force of comic acting, maintaining astonishing alertness and energy from shot to shot and scene to scene. Read full review

Kimberley Jones

Oct 19, 2011

What is so surprising – even exhilarating – about The Names of Love is that it shucks off the desultory roadblocks that engine the modern romantic comedy – all that razzmatazz of missed connections and dunderheaded misunderstandings. Read full review

Ty Burr

Aug 18, 2011

Leclerc and company manage to raise serious points and deliver intelligent laughs at the same time, which is no small feat. Read full review

Stephen Holden

Jun 23, 2011

For all the potentially dangerous subjects it glosses, above all the tangled legacies of the Holocaust and the Algerian war, The Names of Love dances away from any uncomfortable provocation. Even when sticking out its tongue, it is finally just an airy comedy riding on one cheeky, incandescent performance. Read full review

Rick Groen

Jul 1, 2011

The film is sometimes funny and occasionally smart yet never quite what it wants to be – funny and smart at the same time. Read full review

Peter Rainer

Jun 26, 2011

Too much of The Names of Love is a joke book posing as a movie. Read full review

Joe Neumaier

Jun 24, 2011

Director Michel Leclerc's comedy plays like one of those foreign-movie spoofs Jerry and the gang would go to see on a "Seinfeld" episode. Only here, there's no "young girl's journey from Milan to Minsk" - just from madcap to moronic. Read full review

SEE ALL 19 REVIEWS

Write a Review

User Reviews

HomeReviewer

Jun 23, 2012

There are countless ways love manifests itself and this movie brings one such variation to the audience in a most charming manner. The two main characters, Arthur Martin and Baya Benmahmoud, played oh so well by Jacques Gamblin and Sara Forestier, could not be more opposites, yet they willThere are countless ways love manifests itself and this movie brings one such variation to the audience in a most charming manner. The two main characters, Arthur Martin and Baya Benmahmoud, played oh so well by Jacques Gamblin and Sara Forestier, could not be more opposites, yet they will be attracted to each other because it simply was meant to be, as nature follows a path for the best. Indeed, Arthur is a conservative, clinical, repressed individual whose life was shaped by his upbringing; Sara is a volatile emotional, leftist whose life was equally shaped by her upbringing. Their parents lives are culturally polar (Jewish and Muslim) but share similar struggle and so Arthur and Sara find that to be their common bond, in addition to their most satisfying sexual relationship. I just wanted to take a bite out of Sara, but in a very good way; I found Arthur very sympathetic.

There was a passage in the film that sort of explained the scientific expression 'hybrid vigor'; I found this to be particularly fascinating and of course, I subscribe to it wholeheartedly. Sara liberates Arthur from his repression and he provides her with the real affection she was always deserving of; a romantic comedy movie could hardly do better.

Too often, comedy is mistaken for hilarious premise or funny storytelling; comedy is roughly defined though, as a drama with light and amusing characters, typically with a happy ending and we tend to forget this. It's one reason so many movies are categorized as romantic comedies. I rather like the genre and believe it lends itself to a more fulfilling experience than action movies or thrillers which tend to be judge more rigorously. Don't get me wrong I need my fix of those as well. If you like foreign (non Hollywood) films, you should love this one; if on the other hand you haven't yet realized such a variety enriches you movie-going experience, try. I recommend this movie in either case.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

CitizenCharlie

Aug 25, 2011

You will never change your political opponentsâ

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

SEE ALL 2 REVIEWS