The Names of Love (Le nom des gens) (Le Nom des gens)

At the last Soccer World Cup,

the South Korean team had 7 players with the same surname:

Kim.

It was so complicated

that their first names were added to their shirts.

But some also had the same first name.

My name's Arthur Martin.

15,207 people in France have the same name.

I've always felt like I'm in the South Korean team.

My name's Baya Benmahmoud.

No one else in France has that name.

Thanks for coming. I'm Alain Bédouet.

- Arthur Martin. - Any connection to the...

Cookers? No.

Use the yellow mike, please.

We've had a lot of calls about that duck.

The Phone is Ringing, hello.

What's your question?

OK, thank you, sir.

Hi, I'm Baya.

Pretty name.

Is it Brazilian?

Baya Benmahmoud. It's Algerian.

Arthur Martin, hello. You work for the OED.

What does "OED" stand for?

Office of Epizootic Diseases.

The organization monitoring the development of animal epidemics.

Since the discovery

of that dead duck in a village pond...

A mallard, to be precise.

A mallard, yes.

Should we expect an epidemic of bird flu?

It's a complex subject, as you know.

We shouldn't minimize the risks yet we needn't alarm people.

We must apply the principle of precaution.

Let's listen to the first caller.

Hello, this is Isabelle. Here's my question.

Hello. What is your question, please?

Do I press it?

They hung up.

Please hold.

You press that button.

My neighbor has sheep. Are they likely to catch the virus?

Your question sucks!

Sheep don't get bird flu!

Ask around before you call!

Aren't people jerks?

The best thing is not to let children go outside

and above all,

disinfect your shoes before going inside.

Crazy!

But the hypothesis is

tens of thousands of deaths in the next few years.

One moment, please.

But we mustn't minimize the risks.

Stop bugging us with your fucking duck!

You're driving us crazy!

We don't care about bird flu. Give it a rest!

Dear listeners, someone has just burst into the studio.

Studies show we need to remain vigilant.

I don't want to be. You people make everyone fascist!

If it's not oysters, it's cows!

Then, what? Immigrants, right?

You don't realize what you're doing!

If you don't trust ducks,

that's a bad sign!

As you heard, that wasn't a specialist...

Love By Any Name

It's wartime. My mother's 7 years old.

She just lost her parents.

Her and her three sisters are saved by two pacifists

who hide hunted children in the orphanage they set up.

She stays there till her wedding.

- What's your name? - Annette Cohen.

Your new name is...

Annabelle Hake.

Hake, like the fish?

That's right!

Like the fish.

She owes them everything, even her happiness.

She's a brilliant math student.

The advantage is, it stops the mind

from thinking of other things.

My father Lucien is in the same year.

So, my parents meet on scientific grounds.

I've tried my hardest, but I can't imagine him young.

Mr Martin, please come to the board.

Coming.

He's ultra-French, which suits Mom,

especially when he offers her his name:

Martin.

They marry in '59. Their parents had different religions,

so they decide to have none.

I was born on March 22, 1961,

which surprises me, because I doubt my parents ever made love.

Arthur?

So, that's Arthur Martin,

like the cookers.

Can't you see I'll get that crap all my life?

They're very good cookers. Practical, economical, ergonomic...

They're very high-tech.

I had an idea for a name.

Good.

Give me that name.

Dean.

Dean Martin!

Dean Martin?

Arthur! Let's stick with Arthur.

In 1957, in Beni Saf, a village near Oran,

my father Mohamed is 7.

Algeria is still French.

He likes military parades, but he'd prefer cowboys

to soldiers, because he loves westerns with Gary Cooper,

which he secretly goes and sees at the cinema.

He likes school and his French teacher,

but he has a passion for drawing.

He's gifted.

He draws all he sees.

Here, he draws his grandfather and 7 uncles for the last time.

They're shot by the French army.

Without a trial.

My father thinks Gary Cooper will show up and free them.

His Mom finds the pictures.

My father feels so ashamed.

He won't show them to anyone after that.

Despite what happened to his family, I never heard him criticize the French.

I think that's weird.

My father was in Algeria then, too.

But he never told me what he did over there.

My father comes to France in the mid-70s.

At the time, my mother, Cécile Delivet is a hippy.

Her folks are rich and French. She hates rich French folk,

fine food, vulgar jokes, the consumer society, nuclear power,

Alain Delon cop films,

the French national anthem, hunting trophies,

the smug West, and horse butchers.

But one day, she discovers she hates someone more than the rest.

My father is a penniless war victim and an illegal alien.

To Mom, that's so cool!

Pinochet's fascist regime was put in power by the CIA lackeys!

Excuse me, mister! Please support the people of Chile.

Help our Chilean comrades imprisoned

by Pinochet's fascist junta

which is in league with the CIA.

Thank you.

Comrade!

- The petition! - No, it's OK, I...

I'll keep it.

No, you have to give it back to me.

My parents get married in '72.

My Mom is delighted to lose her French name.

My Dad's pleased to marry an anti-colonialist.

I'm born soon after, closely followed by my 2 brothers.

In 1981, Mom writes to President Mitterrand.

His wife gets Dad French papers after 6 years in hiding.

Since then, I've worshipped Mitterrand

and the left-wing unconditionally.

But in July 1999, Mom tells me I misunderstood.

Right-wing President Giscard d'Estaing's wife got him the papers.

Mrs Giscard d'Estaing! Are you sure?

It's horrible!

Our living room is always full of kids,

more or less extreme militants,

neighbors who make yogurt cake,

and weird, stinky men.

My parents take in all the homeless.

Until one hits me for being too badly brought up.

Then, they choose their homeless.

No one ever visits my parents.

They moved to the middle of nowhere so the Nazis wouldn't find my mother.

My parents aren't interested in people but in new technology.

For Christmas 1976,

they buy one of the first VCRs.

A Betamax.

A few months later, although Betamax is superior to VHS,

it's taken off the market. We're stuck with hundreds of tapes.

My parents systematically buy

technically superior objects which are a flop.

Look, Lucien. With this box,

you can change channels without having to stand up.

It'll revolutionize people's lives.

- It's a remote control. - It's great.

It's marvelous.

It's wonderful.

It's a Laserdisc.

A whole film fits on it. It'll replace VHS.

No more messing with tapes!

I like Socialist Lionel Jospin for the same reason.

He's superior to the others, but never wins.

As he likes painting, Dad becomes a painter.

He works hard so we want for nothing.

So, we want for nothing

but the presence of my father who works hard so we want for nothing.

Dad works in nuclear power.

See, Arthur,

that...

is my power station.

Pretty, isn't she?

Dad persuaded me that nuclear power is safe,

because before going on vacation, he checked everything 15 times.