Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
Vincent, a wealthy real estate agent, is invited to dinner by his sister Elizabeth and her husband Peter, both professors in Paris. Claude, a childhood friend and trombonist in a symphony orchestra, is also present. Vincent brings news from the prenatal examination of his and his wife Anna's unborn son. The name chosen by the soon-to-be parents strongly offends the others for many reasons. The dispute between the guests quickly escalates and before long the resurgence of old grudges and hidden secrets is unavoidable...
What's in a Name is a sharp, witty French chamber comedy that derives nearly all its power from its escalating dinner-party premise and snappy ensemble performances. The plot is genuinely well-constructed, ratcheting up tension and revelation through a single-room conversation with real dramatic payoff — the script is clever and the escalation feels earned. The acting is uniformly excellent, with a perfectly calibrated ensemble that balances comic timing and emotional truth. Cinematography is functional at best — as a stage-adaptation-style talky comedy, visual ambition is minimal and unremarkable. Novelty sits in the middle: the dinner-party-as-pressure-cooker format (à la Le Prénom, which this is) has precedent, but the film executes it with enough wit and specificity to feel distinct. The ending delivers satisfying but not particularly surprising resolutions to the secrets unearthed, landing solidly without being memorable.