In the House

This awkward and witty film is based on the play The Boy in the Last Row by Juan Mayorga, i.e. the script emanates from a solid creation. The run of the events is smooth, but sometimes it is tricky to follow the line between truth and fantasy, including the ending scenes, and some deeds remained mystery to me. In spite of serious topics touched (e.g. alienation, growing pains, loneliness, generation gaps), there are several funny scenes, particularly gallery-related ones, and strong performances provide additional value to the film (Fabrice Luchini as Germain Germain, Ernst Umhauer (skilfully depicting an 16-year-old while being 22) as Claude Garcia, Kristin Scott Thomas (in fluent French) as Jeanne Germain, Emmanuelle Seigner as Esther Artole - in particular). Hopefully, no remake will be made, as the sound of French and supposition of Frenchmen are just appropriate for such a film.

Recommended to all those fond of films with twists and not afraid of subtitles.

A wicked little movie that tries to brake boundaries and more than the fourth wall. It raises up a lot of questions and puts up the mirror to a lot of things, while continuously being funny and wicked at the same time. A hilarious attempt at describing what Art means nowadays or how we try to interpret it. Maybe even how we try to create it.

There is more than one story strand in this movie and they all get at least somewhat explored. And while some of those strands may feel like a cliché, the head on approach make them feel like a fresh take on it. You have to have an open mind about the movie and the way it is shot and told, but if you can do that, you might be able to enjoy this very much. Multiple views can also bring up new and exciting things you might not have seen first time around. Whatever the case, I can recommend this to anyone who wants to be intellectually challenged by watching a movie.

Francois Ozon is the director of this provocative and unusual film that takes the viewer inside the minds of the characters. It is not a traditional movie with a beginning and an end but a study of a period in the lives of different people. In this movie, a high school student named Claude catches the attention of his teacher named Germain, through an essay that explores the family of another student, named Raffa. Claude has begun to tutor Raffa in mathematics. At first the teacher, as the student's mentor, is hesitant about the breach of privacy with this series of essays but succumbs to the the temptation to become a voyeur. Each essay ends with the notation...To Be Continued. Both student and teacher are seen as outsiders in their own worlds and are strangely attracted to the family. The student gently mocks the family he is observing as dull and middle class. The teacher can understand this estrangement from their world because Claude is from a different world and the teacher himself is something of an outsider in his own world. He encourages the boy to continue his writing because he feels the boy has potential as a writer. As the movie goes along, we see the family of Raffa behaving as many other families pursuing money and status. The boy and his father are both named Raffa so they become the Raffas (plural). The student has a romantic interest in the mother, who seems to be the real reason he wants to explore the home. The desire for sexual encounters is present throughout the movie and seems to come out in a few surprising and light hearted episodes. We also see how Raffa and Claude interact with their teacher and the other students and their own families. The wives of Germain the teacher and Raffa Sr. are also interesting with one a traditional woman handling the domestic lives of the two Raffas. Meanwhile, Germain's wife manages an art gallery for two wealthy sisters, who she is trying to keep happy by making the gallery profitable. The movie is an interesting view of modern angst with the pressures to conform competing with the desire to be independent and on occasion, straying from the accepted standards. All in all, it is a provocative look at the different lives of people who interact and occasionally come into conflict. At the end, we see the message: to be continued.

This is a very interesting film taking both the point of view of a sixteen year old school boy and that of a middle aged teacher, with you dear viewer, playing yet another role. Ah ha, so, what we start with is a perhaps knowingly voyeuristic homework task set by the bored literacy tutor. Then we have the youth delivering precisely the kind of inflammatory story that reignites the tutor's interest. It's a dangerous game they both play - almost as if the boy were repeating the tutor's own youth with his post hoc adult knowledge. The innocents in this tale are ignored - or rather, their real stories are overlooked by both boy writer and his tutor whilst they play their silly game. The tutor's wife sees through the whole charade but then even her story is corrupted by inclusion in the boy's story-making. You, the viewer, need to pick carefully through the evidence you are presented. Do you want the boy to succeed? Do you want to encourage the teacher? Shame on you! You've gone down a garden path you should never have entered! Brilliant!

When you say commercial movies like Looper are well written (because for their genre, they are), and then watch something like Dans la Maison (In The House), writing goes up to a new level. François Ozon, the director, had already impressed in 2003 with Swimming Pool, but In The House is probably his best film to date. It tells the story of a student that begins writing essays for his french teacher about one of his classmates' family, while he enters their house and makes himself a close friend. Into The House feels like reading a good mystery book while watching someone else interpret it, being that "someone else" your own self. In a very subtle way, Dans La Maison makes you addicted to its story, with a very traditional but poetic and beautiful directing, real life characters, and mesmerizing acting from Fabrice Luchini and Kristin Scott Thomas, bringing the mind of a 16 year old student to this amazing parallel reality. Visit the fading cam blog for more!