How did you adapt the play Le Prénom for cinema?

Matthieu: Our commitment was to preserve the heart of the story by insisting on rhythm and the actor’s natural style. It needed to be as if these highly scripted dialogues would come out genuinely. In comedy, everything is a matter of rhythm, a mix of freedom and precision. Sometimes you must let life take over in order to avoid a mechanical or theatrical performance, and at the same time, not to fall into naturalism nor chit-chat either.

The original text is a faithful reflection of France today. What was your original idea from the beginning?

Matthieu: We wanted to write about family, and this process of choosing a first name for a child discloses a lot about society. Whether the chosen name is classic or original, it is a choice made in regards to others. It involves those who give the name as much as the one who receives it. This choice has familial, religious and social dimensions that mark the child for life, even if it was originally made as an act of love.

Alexandre: There is also the question of masks that you are assigned by family members and that you put on when getting together. I have always been fascinated to see how roles are distributed and how each one actually adopts his own caricature.