How About Adolf? Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

How About Adolf? Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 31, 2020

Considering their somewhat fractious history, it’s perhaps not totally surprising that How About Adolf?, a film centered around an expectant father’s announcement that he was naming his soon to be born son Adolf, should have begun as a French farce rather than a German property. What's in a Name? (original French title Le Prénom) debuted as a film in 2012, though it was based on a successful stage presentation. The fact that the name in question is “Adolf” may have immediately suggested a transition to a German setting, though, as with many quasi-farces, How About Adolf? is really not about a name as much as it is about the conflicts between characters which arise after the name is announced, and in that regard the subject matter is probably universal.

As with many farces (though I wouldn't say How About Adolf? is strictly a farce, just so we're clear), the characters are in a way "types" more than anything. There's a fussy professor named Stephan (Christoph Maria Herbst) whose life has been spent dealing with words and their meanings, his put upon wife Elisabeth (Caroline Peters), who gave up her own academic career to support her husband, family friend and professional musician René (Justus von Dohnanyi), Elisabeth’s brother Thomas (Florian David Fitz), a practical joker and the expectant father, and Anna (Janina Uhse), Thomas’ pregnant girlfriend and an aspiring actress. While Anna is a latecomer to the festivities (something that leads to momentary confusion), the other four gather for a dinner party where Thomas announces that he and Anna will be naming their son Adolf, in order to “rehabilitate” the name.

The fact that Thomas has already been shown to be a joker may give away a certain salient plot point in this regard, but nevertheless, the rest of the film is a cascading series of revelations, one of which involves Elisabeth and Thomas’ hippified mother Dorothea (Iris Berben). It’s often at least wryly amusing, if rarely laugh out loud hilarious, but the characters are distinctive and the interactions between family members believable. What the film ends up affirming is that, despite squabbles that inevitably accrue between those closely related, there’s nothing like the bond of family. It’s a trite sentiment, but it’s perhaps relevant in these fractious times more than ever.

How About Adolf? Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

How About Adolf? is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Menemsha Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. I haven't been able to track down any authoritative technical data on the shoot, but this was seemingly digitally captured and I'm assuming finished at a 2K DI. There's not a lot of visual "wow" here by dint of the fact virtually the entire film plays out in the confines of Stephan and Elisabeth's home at the evening dinner party. The palette looks natural and detail levels on things like fabrics and are typically very good to excellent. There's a slightly hazy look to some of the most dimly lit material, but I noticed no compression anomalies of any kind.

How About Adolf? Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Similarly to the video element, How About Adolf?'s DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track (in the original German) is completely competent, but rarely showy in any regard. There is some occasional noticeable immersion, as in the opening scene with a pizza delivery guy on a motorbike that plays out to some narration (there's some recurrent voiceover in the film). But the bulk of the surround activity in the film comes courtesy of occasionally directional dialogue and some background clamor in the home once everyone has arrived. Fidelity is fine, and all dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly. Optional English subtitles are available.

How About Adolf? Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailers includes How About Adolf? (1080p; 2:00) as well as those for other releases from Menemsha Films.

How About Adolf? Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Despite some of the brickbats being thrown by various characters in this film, How About Adolf? is actually rather sweet in a way, and its emphasis on families who bicker but reconcile may be hardly innovative, but is handled with a fair degree of humor and believability here. There are some interesting databases online that chart the popularity of various names through the decades (and in some cases, centuries), and in that regard it's kind of hilarious to see "Adolf" dropping off precipitously as soon as 1934, which may give credence to the fact that Hitler's reputation had already begun to sour even before the true horrors of the Nazi regime had "officially" kicked into overdrive. At least this particular "reveal" party wasn't the sort of devastating event that wreaked such havoc with the wildfires the west coast of the United States experienced this year. Technical merits are generally solid, and How About Adolf? comes Recommended.