Mira Nair

UN NOM POUR UN AUTRE

The Namesake
Mira Nair
United States, Japan, India
2006, 122'
Genre
Recommended Age
10 years
VO. English, Bangla
ST. French, German
With
Irrfan Khan, Kal Penn
In collaboration with the Cinémathèque suisse

Presented on 35mm film

Born to Indian parents who had immigrated to the United States, Nikhil grows up rebelling both against the traditional lifestyle that his parents have maintained and against the name he was originally given: Gogol.
Shortly after her wedding, Ashmina leaves Calcutta for the United States with her husband, Ashoke. They have two children: Sonia, the youngest (played by Sahira Nair, the director’s daughter), and Gogol (Kal Penn), whom his father named after his favorite writer, Nikolai Gogol. Gogol’s teenage rebellion is compounded by his desire to change his name, which he finds ridiculous for a young New Yorker. Yet in his father’s eyes, the name holds a very profound meaning: it contains the seeds of an extraordinary turn of fate, for him and for his family. An adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel of the same name, The Namesake offers a compassionate look at the transformations within the Indian immigrant community and the challenges of growing up between two cultures in the changing world of the 2000s.

Justine Roh
Direction
Mira Nair
Screenplay
Sooni Taraporevala
Image
Frederick Elmes
Editing
Allyson C. Johnson
Music
Nitin Sawhney
Production
Mirabai Films
With
Jacinda Barrett, Jagannath Guha, Irrfan Khan, Sahira Nair, Kal Penn, Zuleikha Robinson, Brooke Smith, Tabu
Distribution
Fox-Warner
Friday 6 Nov. 13:15
Les Cinémas du Grütli – Salle Simon