''The Song of Names'' is a 2019 drama film directed by

François Girard François Girard (born January 12, 1963) is a French Canadian director and screenwriter from Montreal. Born in Saint-Félicien, Quebec, Girard's career began on the Montreal art video circuit. In 1990, he produced his first feature film, ''Car ...

."Clive Owen WWII film ‘The Song of Names’ getting TIFF Gala Presentation"
'' The Loop'', July 23, 2019. An adaptation of the novel of the same name by

Norman Lebrecht Norman Lebrecht (born 11 July 1948) is a British music journalist and author best known as the owner of the classical music blog ''Slipped Disc''. His writings have been accused of sensationalism and criticized for their inaccuracies, while oth ...

, it stars

Tim Roth Timothy Simon Roth (; born 14 May 1961) is an English actor. He was among a group of prominent British actors known as the " Brit Pack". After garnering attention in television productions '' Made in Britain'' (1982) and '' Meantime'' (1983), ...

and

Clive Owen Clive Owen (born 3 October 1964) is an English actor. He first gained recognition in the United Kingdom for playing the lead role in the ITV series '' Chancer'' from 1990 to 1991. He received critical acclaim for his work in the film '' Close ...

as childhood friends from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

whose lives have been changed by

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The film was nominated for nine

Canadian Screen Award The Canadian Screen Awards () are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series) productions. Given annually by the Academy ...

s, winning five.

Plot

Dovidl Rapoport, a 9-year-old from Poland who lost his parents and siblings in

, is also a prodigy at the violin. The Simmonds family adopt him and he is taken to England. Their son Martin starts bonding with his new adoptive brother as he likes Dovidl (anglicized to David) playing the violin. David continues practising the violin while still remembering his biological family. Years pass, and David and Martin are now 21 years old. There is just one day left for a concert featuring David, when he mysteriously disappears with his violin. It is revealed that David has fallen asleep on a bus and visited a Polish Jewish community in Stoke Newington, asking them about whether his family is still alive. He is then taken to a synagogue, where a list of people with the surname Rapoport who died during the WW2 is announced (in the form of a song, to make it easier to remember). After finding out that none of his family has survived, David breaks down. Years later, in about 1986, Martin is depicted at age 56 and married. He learns about a violinist, who he notices plays in the same pattern as his brother David, who disappeared about 35 years ago. Martin then sets off to Poland to find his brother. After meeting David's former love, who says that David left on a plane but told her where he was going, Martin arrives in New York, where he finds David, married with children. Martin is furious with David and tries to persuade him to perform at a concert. David at first refuses, but then accepts on two conditions (not revealed in the scene). Two months later, Martin and his wife attend the concert, where David first plays with an orchestra, and then has a solo performance, in which he plays the 'Song of Names', remembering his family. Martin then receives a letter from David stating the former must think of the latter as dead and they must never meet again. The film ends with Martin reading the

Kaddish The Kaddish (, 'holy' or 'sanctification'), also transliterated as Qaddish, is a hymn praising God that is recited during Jewish prayer services. The central theme of the Kaddish is the magnification and sanctification of God's name. In the lit ...

, having reluctantly accepted that David is now dead to him.

Cast

as Martin Simmonds ** Gerran Howell as Martin Simmonds aged 17–23 *** Misha Handley as Martin Simmonds aged 9–13 *

as Dovidl Rapoport **

Jonah Hauer-King Jonah Andre Hauer-King (born 30 May 1995) is a British-American actor. He began acting while studying at St John's College, Cambridge. He is best known for playing List of The Little Mermaid characters#Prince_Eric, Prince Eric in Walt Disney Pi ...

as Dovidl Rapoport aged 17–21 *** Luke Doyle as Dovidl Rapoport aged 9–13 *

Stanley Townsend Stanley Townsend is an Irish actor. Personal life Townsend was born and brought up in Dublin. After attending Wesley College, Dublin, he studied mathematics and civil engineering at Trinity College. While there he joined the Dublin University ...

as Gilbert Simmonds *

Catherine McCormack Catherine Jane McCormack (born April 3, 1972) is an English actress. Her film appearances include ''Braveheart'' (1995), '' The Land Girls'' (1998), '' Dangerous Beauty'' (1998), ''Dancing at Lughnasa'' (1998), ''Spy Game'' (2001), and ''28 Wee ...

as Helen Simmonds ** Marina Hambro as young Helen *

Magdalena Cielecka Magdalena Cielecka (born 20 February 1972) is a Polish actress. A five-time Polish Film Award nominee, Cielecka won the Polish Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 2023 historical drama film ''Anxiety''. Life and career Ci ...

as Anna Wozniak (Warsaw) *

Saul Rubinek Saul Hersh Rubinek (born July 2, 1948) is a Canadian actor, director, producer, and playwright. He is widely known for his television roles, notably Artie Nielsen on '' Warehouse 13,'' Donny Douglas on '' Frasier'', Lon Cohen on '' A Nero Wolf ...

as Mr. Feinman (New York) *

Eddie Izzard Suzy Eddie Izzard ( ; born Edward John Izzard, 7 February 1962) is a British stand-up comedian, actor and activist. Her comedic style takes the form of what appears to the audience as rambling whimsical monologues and self-referential pantomi ...

as BBC Radio Announcer * Jakum Kotynski as Zygmunt Rapoport * Tamás Puskás as Professor Carl Flesch

Release

The film premiered at the

2019 Toronto International Film Festival The 44th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 5 to 15 September 2019. The opening gala was the documentary film '' Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band'', directed by Daniel Roher, and the festival closed with a ...

Reception

''The Song of Names'' received mixed to negative reviews. , of the reviews compiled on review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

are positive, with an average rating of . The website's critics consensus states, "''The Song of Names'' is made from intriguing ingredients, but they never quite coalesce into a drama that satisfies the way it should."

Accolades

At the

8th Canadian Screen Awards The 8th Canadian Screen Awards were presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television from 25–28 May 2020 to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2019. The presentations were held as a seri ...

''The Song of Names'' tied with ''

Antigone ANTIGONE (Algorithms for coNTinuous / Integer Global Optimization of Nonlinear Equations), is a deterministic global optimization solver for general Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Programs (MINLP). History ANTIGONE is an evolution of GloMIQO, a global ...

'' for most wins, with five.

References

External links

* *
The Song of Names
' at

Library and Archives of Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; ) is the Government of Canada, federal institution tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and national library, library is the ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Song of Names, The 2019 films 2019 drama films Canadian drama films British drama films German drama films Hungarian drama films English-language Canadian films English-language German films English-language Hungarian films Films directed by François Girard Films with screenplays by Jeffrey Caine Sony Pictures Classics films Films scored by Howard Shore 2010s English-language films 2010s Canadian films 2010s British films 2010s German films English-language drama films