Der Vorname

I found this movie on DVD at my public library.

As a foreign movie is should be a good fit for me. I studied 2+ years of German in college, including German literature. This is a German movie, in German, with English subtitles. I could understand much of the dialog.

It is a straightforward premise - a progressive young man and his girlfriend are going to have a baby boy and at a family gathering everyone wants to know what the baby's name will be. They try to guess and even when told it starts with 'A' no one guesses 'Adolf'. Of course when that becomes known everyone else is upset, it is too close a reminder of the infamous Adolf Hitler.

I would guess, from reading a few reviews, that Germans and perhaps Europeans in general find this to be a really good, entertaining movie. But I don't, it is a lot of talking about a political subject and this is just not the kind of movie I enjoy.

German "How About Adolf?" (original title: "Der Vorname", 2018) is the latest remake (in my count))) of the Italian "An Italian Name" (original title: "Il nome del figlio", 2015) which in turn is the remake of the French "What's in a Name?" (original title: "Le prénom", 2012), but I think the German is better (more mature)) than other two. Well done!

The first temptation is to define it as provocative. For situations, humor, dialogue, clash between characters and adorable end. But it is more. It is a realistic - precise portrait of contemporary family. Eccentric ideas, secrets far to be comfortable, couple huge problems, wives and husbands - and a mother in not ordinary situation- , love and hate in large portions. A nice comedy for its smart levels.

The premise for the film is the conflict that naming your child "Adolf" could cause in your family. That alone would not be enough to sustain a full feature film, and indeed this is only a starting point.

A whole host of family secrets are unraveled in the process, how they think about one another, what they have done in the past and present. It is like throwing a burning match into the store of a gunpowder fabric and making damn sure it stays alight. The result pushes their relations in way one might otherwise see in a Luis Bunuel film, just staying one step short of surrealism.

There are small hints here and there that this is French (rather than German) in its origin, and it may have been better (with a German cast) to adapt these subtle cultural differences to place this in a pure German setting.

Anyway, this is very entertaining for its witty dialogue. The after-the-party events that concluded the piece seemed unnecessary.

Really enjoyed it. It has a brilliant menu of fun for a perfect movienight you won't forget!!