|
This article is rated R, meaning it contains content that may be inappropriate for readers under the age of 17. |
A Name I Once Knew is a 2028 American teen drama film directed by Céline Sciamma with a screenplay written by Alice Birch. It stars Bella Higginbotham as well as Lukita Maxwell, Brian Cox, Adrian Greensmith and Miriam Silverman in supporting roles. The plot concerns a high school senior, as she struggles to cope her grandfather's death, who falls in love with new girl whose father is convicted of human trafficking.
It premiered at Toronto International Film Festival on May 19, 2028, and was theatrically released in the United States on July 14, 2028, by Paramount Pictures. The film received generally positive reviews from critics for its performances, emotional depth and LGBTQ+ presentation. However, it was criticized for its disturbing nature. It grossed $46.6 million against a budget of $8 million, making it a box-office success.
Synopsis[]
"After the death of her beloved grandfather, a quiet lesbian high schooler finds solace and unexpected love in a mysterious new student—only to discover the girl’s father is at the center of a scandal involving human trafficking, threatening to unravel the fragile hope they’ve built together."
- Paramount Pictures.
Plot[]
Sixteen-year-old girl Riley grieves her grandfather's passing after succumbing from a heart attack while struggling to recover her relationship with her mother Mara as she has conflicted opinions on her sexuality as part of LGBTQ+ community during her mid-teenage years. During her day at school, she has started to fall in love with a mysterious new girl Jade but refused to admit her feelings to her best friend Jonas and her transgender classmate Avery. Riley attempts to talk with Jade but fails for their first yet awkward interaction. After school, she eventually meets Jade at the bookstore as they were looking for books that interested their sexualities, as offering each other to keep their secrets from everyone else, including their families and friends.
As Riley wanted to ask Jade out, a school janitor Earl gives her advice to bond with her for three months as Riley reluctantly agreeing to his decision. She later hangs out with Jade while talking about their personal issues. Riley then journals her experiences in her secret diary while hiding her facts to avoid attending a support group across New York. While walking around the park, Jade explains her family that Riley isn't what she expected to be, revealing her father and former businessman Darren was involved in criminal activities as being convicted of human trafficking and her mother Nina disapproves a heterosexual/cisgender individuals as she attempts to hide her sexuality from her family, leading to Riley to be cagey about her past.
Over the course for three months, as they continue to bond between them as well as attempting to improve their personalities and sharing each other's thoughts, Jade began to admit her feelings for Riley as she has the same thing as her. However, Riley's former childhood friend Heather witnesses them kissing for the first time as she storms off with cruelty while trying to forget this fallout. Over time, Riley has begin to fail school as her teacher Mr. Baird gets worried about her future while Mara grows more controlling throughout the month. Later that night, Jade invites Riley to her home just to meet Nina and her cousin Sami, to which the former distrusts her by when she came over.
As she's struggling to continue her grade, Jade then reveals a bit of her trauma as Darren has emotionally abused her and her mom during her childhood years in her former hometown. The next day, Riley learns that Darren has been acquitted for lack of evidence while several students reported to see an unknown man stalking the school during recess while authorities had nothing to do to identify. Riley lashes out at Mara for her overprotective personality before visiting her grandfather's grave at the cemetery. Meanwhile, as Heather is walking home from nearby party, she gets almost abducted by Darren before escaping. However, Darren shoots Heather twice, to which the latter dies from her wounds in the hospital afterwards.
Upon learning her death, Riley blames Jade for her family's decision to move into Kingston as she breaks down while fearing their relationship will be affected someday as she decides to act during this argument. The school establishes a memorial for Heather to honour her family and friends along with her connections for her goals. Riley eventually reconciles with Mara after emotional speech from her as they embraced as well as remembering her grandfather's message to never give up and retrieve hope for her future.
Riley later finds evidence that links Darren to the school area as she contacts the authorities to pursue him. Nina was held captive by Darren for ransom in order to lure Jade to approach her, as she reluctantly agreed to meet him. Before heading to her destination, Riley run across her as she prepares to flee between them, but Jade refuses to leave the town as she's done seeing her before walking away, though she leaves the message behind to remember. At the hideout, Darren threatens to shoot Nina to avoid imprisonment while furiously attacks Jade out of anger. However, police officers were notified to their location. Darren attempts to charge, only to be shot and killed by one of the officers in self-defence while Jade, almost unconscious, and Nina are transferred to hospital to be treated.
Having recovered from their injuries and discharged from the hospital as Nina promises to be better. Sometime later, Riley delivers her school presentation about her grandfather while giving a hopeful message to the class. Riley later visits Jade to repossess their relationship before happily kissing in the sunset while Riley will forever remember her speech from her grandfather.
Cast[]
- Bella Higginbotham as Riley, a 14-year-old girl who falls in love with Jade,
- Lukita Maxwell as Jade, a new girl who romances with Riley while born with a criminal father.
- Brian Cox as Riley's grandfather
- Adrian Greensmith as Jonas, Riley's best friend who supports her.
- Miriam Silverman as Mara, Riley's caring mother who has conflict opinions on her sexuality.
- Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Darren, Jade's father with criminal background involving human trafficking.
- Patrick Gibson as Mr. Baird, a English teacher.
- Jaz Sinclair as Sami, Jade's younger cousin.
- Evie Macdonald as Avery, Riley's transgender classmate.
- Sarita Choudhury as Nina, Jade's mother who disapproves Riley just for her sexuality.
- Clarke Peters as Earl, a school janitor who helps Riley to connect.
- Taylor Richardson as Heather, Riley's former childhood friend.
Production[]
On March 13, 2024, it was announced that Alice Birch's teen drama script A Name I Once Knew was acquired by Awesomeness Films with Paramount Pictures handling the distribution rights of the film. The script appeared on the 2018 Black List of the unproduced scripts in Hollywood. Catherine Hardwicke was in talks to direct the film as well as co-writing the film but left the production after she was unsure of developing another teen project, following her involvement in Thirteen and Twilight. The following year, Céline Sciamma was eventually hired as the film's director as well as Dede Gardner through the Plan B Entertainment banner was announced to produce the film while Brad Pitt was involved as a executive producer.
Casting[]
On May 16, 2026, Jennifer Garner was attached to portray the protagonist's mother but was dropped out the film for unknown reasons and was later replaced by Miriam Silverman while Bella Higginbotham joined the cast to portray the female lead. On July 27, 2026, Lukita Maxwell and Patrick Gibson were announced portray in the supporting roles as well as Taylor Richardson joining the cast. Jenna Ortega was originally offered the role of the protagonist's love interest but she left due to creative differences at the time. In August, Brian Cox expresses interest to portray one of the roles after portraying into the cast of his previous film Little Wing as he portrays the protagonist's late grandfather. The following month, Adrian Greensmith was in talks to portray the protagonist's best friend as producers offered him a year prior as he accept the role.
In December 2026, Ebon Moss-Bachrach was announced to have joined the cast as Jade's criminal father after his role in The Dropout as producers found him "pretty interesting" for the role as Moss-Bachrach eventually accepted the role to set the production. Evie Macdonald and Clarke Peters were cast in undisclosed roles for the cast.
Filming[]
Principal photography began on February 12, 2027, in Kingston, New York, and concluded on June 26, 2027, in Los Angeles, California.
Rating[]
The film was originally rated PG-13 for "mature thematic material including brief strong language, some sexual content/references, brief nudity, and some violence" by the MPAA, but later received an R-rating due to more uses of the F-word throughout the film as well as representing the social issues for human trafficking in heavier details.
Release[]
The film had its premiere at Toronto International Film Festival on May 19, 2028. It was theatrically released in July 14, 2028, by Paramount Pictures. It was originally aimed to stream before decided to be theatrically released.
Home media[]
A Name I Once Knew was released for digital HD on August 13, 2028, while began streaming on Paramount+. It was released for DVD, blu-ray and 4K UHD on September 16, 2028, by Paramount Home Entertainment.
Reception[]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 88% based on 281 reviews with an avenge rating of 8.97/10. On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 76 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews".