Excuses for Nudity

Movie: The Names of Love

My Rating: 4 stars

Wow.  I always forget just how raunchy French movies can be.  They always manage to fit a little gratuitous nudity into any storyline, no matter how sweet and innocent it may be.  Not that this story is very pure or chaste.  It’s a story about a radical, left-wing, feminist, Baya, who tries to convert right-wingers to her way of thinking by sleeping with them, and whispering sweet, little, ideological, nothings into their ears during their most “vulnerable” moments.  She’s half French, half Algerian, and she hates the snobby, pureblood French mentality.  And, she’s going to teach these bigots a lesson by sexing the hate out of them, one by one.  Yeah, she’s kind of trampy.  But, maybe that’s just how French people do things.  Because, this story is presented in the package of a perky, little romantic comedy.

Baya is first attracted to the straight-laced Arthur because she thinks he’s another conservative, haughty, French, target to flip.  But, then she discovers that he’s a liberal just like she is.  Not only that, he’s also half Jewish.  Arthur just seems conservative because he’s from an uptight, puritanical family.  Naturally, Baya starts falling for him.  But, seeing how he was raised, Arthur isn’t completely on board with Baya’s profession of choice.  She’s just so loud, and brassy, and somehow manages to expose her lady parts in public a little more often than is socially acceptable (even for Europe).  Still, Baya is very beautiful, and Arthur is a man, so he has a hard time saying no to a naked lady.  And, she gets naked a whole lot in this movie.  In fact, it seems like the whole story was written as an excuse to get this pretty girl nude as many times as possible.

This is a pretty light, frivolous movie.  Not much of real import ever happens, and there are very few serious moments.  Still, the movie is pretty enjoyable (for obvious reasons).  Everyone in the movie has those slim, European, good looks (even if we do suspect they may not have bathed very recently). And, the story is full of whimsical frolics.  Overall, I recommend it.  But, be warned.  There’s tons of sex and full-frontal nudity, so it’s probably not something you want to screen while the whole family is over for Thanksgiving dinner.  And, I think it’s a bad idea as a date movie too.  These characters are just too attractive and sexy.  It’d do a number on your self-esteem.  But, it’s a fresh bit of cinematic cotton candy—perfect for if you’ve been overdoing the zombie thrillers a little bit.