The Names of Love is a charming (and risque) French film about a hippy left-wing woman who seduces right-wing men in order to convert them ideologically and a centrist man who keeps his heart buttoned up inside his suit and does autopsies on birds, warning people against the dangers of bird flu. The film captures the delights of falling in love and the way in which women can disrupt men's order (in a good way). It also captures the way in which falling in love is falling in love with the whole person, the good and the bad. You love the person because of the good and the quirky and the idiosyncratic, not in spite of it. It captures the way in which falling in love opens you up to new experiences and interests and ways of seeing the world.
The film combines all of the interesting things--romance and race and politics. Baya is the daughter of an immigrant and is passionately committed to loosening immigration restrictions (including through marrying people to help them live legally in France--a dream of mine. Well, I couldn't help people live legally in France, but in America.)
Arthur is the child of a Jewish woman whose parents died in a concentration camp. His family refuses to discuss this and Arthur follows suit. It is only through Baya that he opens up and acknowledges his own curiosity about his family.
2 comments:
You dream of marrying people to get them US visas?
Yes. If I weren't Catholic, I would do it. But I have a feeling it's against the Catholic rules. :)
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