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Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

I highly enjoyed Le Prénom. The dialogs are so dinamic, with such a fluidity and the perfomances are sublime.

The Three Acts: The initial tableaux: The film starts in the 9th arrondissement in Paris. Pierre and Élisabeth (called Babu by most) are hosting a small dinner party. The daughter and son hopefully will stay asleep. Babu's brother Vincent arrives, and draws interest in the name of his pre-natal son with his wife. Trombonist and long time family friend Claude joins the group. Considerably later, Vincent's wife Anna arrives.Delineation of conflicts: Vincent's choice for the son's name is quite offensive, and a debate rages over it. Much emotional heat is generated as a result; tempers warm more than a bit.Later, Vincent admits that the announced name was a joke, but the hurt feelings remain. Worse, the admission comes only after Vincent and Pierre have wounded each other with words. The group continues skewering each other with sharp speech.Resolution: Can the group resume their usual warm relationships? Several harsh buried truths surface during the verbal fencing.

Five friends gather for a dinner party and they end up revealing secrets. The main story doesn't sound much, however the movie is very funny and entertaining. Simple jokes, without the vulgar additions that the comedies tend to have these days to produce laugher. But, as the story proceeds, the humorous atmosphere turn into a dramatic, as the secrets are being revealed one after the other. The transition is very smooth and you don't really realise it. Great performances, without overdoing it (well, most of the time anyway). The characters are clear and you can easily get them and understand their next moves. All in all, a nice movie.

Mix of Un Air de Famille by Klapisch and Carnage by Polanski, Le Prénom is clearly divided in two parts: the first is pure comedy oriented, whereas the second is more drama focused.The problem is that those two parts aren't homogeneous: the beginning is very good, dynamic, the dialogues fly, the humour is really present and the viewer is quickly sucked in. Unfortunately, the more the film progresses, the more the comical aspect is left aside, and the more the movie loses interest. The script goes thought bland and uninteresting passages, and we are served a dramatic aspect that isn't the most exciting one, which is disappointing in comparison to the thundering start.A fifteen minute cut, mostly from the second part, could have also improved the overall rhythm of the movie.Special mention to the cast who was very good and showed a great chemistry.