In the House
Director: Francois Ozon
Cast: Fabrice Luchini, Ernst Umhauer, Kristin Scott Thomas, Emmanuelle Seigner, Bastien Ughetto
Rating: (M)
Four stars out of five
The latest film from acclaimed French director Francois Ozon is a wily drama underpinned by some amusingly dark touches and an ingenious script. Adapted from a work by Spanish playwright Juan Mayorga, In the House is a coming-of-age story with more than a slight twist.
Following the maxim those that can't do, teach, Germain (Fabrice Luchini) is a frustrated literature teacher going through the motions in both his career and his marriage to kooky art-dealer Jeanne (Kristin Scott Thomas). Having failed at his own attempt to be a writer, Germain stumbles upon unlikely promise in one of his students, Claude (Ernst Umhauer).
Having set his students the task of writing about their weekends, Germain is both fascinated and a bit disturbed to learn about Claude's duplicitous plan to infiltrate a model middle-class family. But any reservations that Germain has are temporary as he steadfastly encourages Claude to push his writing further. As we don't learn anything about Claude's back story until much later, we are at the mercy of his every whim. His weekly writing assignment forms the basis of the narrative.
The intrigue is handled cleverly by Ozon, who is drip-fed details about Claude and timely injection of flashbacks play fast and loose with the notion of what can and cannot be trusted.
The terrific performances from Luchini, Umhauer and Scott Thomas make In the House one of the most captivating films of the year.
Best thing: The Hitchcokian references peppered throughout.
Worst thing: A few undeveloped script threads.
See it with: An aspiring scriptwriter.
