- IMDb page: Dans la maison (2012)
- Rate: 7.3/10 total 4,230 votes
- Genre: Mystery | Thriller
- Release Date: 29 March 2013 (UK)
- Runtime: 105 min
- Filming Location: 41 Rue de l'Est, Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France
- Director: François Ozon
- Stars: Fabrice Luchini, Ernst Umhauer, Kristin Scott Thomas | See full cast and crew
- Original Music By: Philippe Rombi
- Soundtrack: Dynasty Tching Memories
- Sound Mix: Dolby Digital
- Plot Keyword: Teacher | Student | House | Literature | Homosexual
Known Trivia
Plot: A sixteen-year-old boy insinuates himself into the house of a fellow student from his literature class... See more » | »
Story: A sixteen-year-old boy insinuates himself into the house of a fellow student from his literature class and writes about it in essays for his French teacher. Faced with this gifted and unusual pupil, the teacher rediscovers his enthusiasm for his work, but the boy's intrusion will unleash a series of uncontrollable events. Written byProduction
Produced By:
- Fabrice Luchini known as Germain
- Ernst Umhauer known as Claude Garcia
- Kristin Scott Thomas known as Jeanne Germain
- Emmanuelle Seigner known as Esther Artole
- Denis Ménochet known as Rapha Artole père
- Bastien Ughetto known as Rapha Artole fils
- Jean-François Balmer known as Le proviseur du lycée
- Yolande Moreau known as Les jumelles Rosalie et Eugénie
- Catherine Davenier known as Anouk
- Vincent Schmitt known as Bernard, le prof de maths
- Jacques Bosc known as Le père de Claude
- Stéphanie Campion known as Femme au balcon 1
- Ronny Pong known as Le Chinois
- Diana Stewart known as Femme au balcon 2
- Jana Bittnerova known as Doublure jumelle
- Nadir Azni known as Elève lycée Flaubert
- Bénérice Barbin known as Elève lycée Flaubert
- Marie Brunet known as Elève lycée Flaubert
- Cyril Chaussivert known as Elève lycée Flaubert
- Matthieu Cisse known as Elève lycée Flaubert
- Yann Conflant known as Elève lycée Flaubert
- Manon Delaître known as Elève lycée Flaubert
- Noé Fournier known as Elève lycée Flaubert
- Vincent Hocini known as Elève lycée Flaubert
- Guillaume Jacques known as Elève lycée Flaubert
- Marie Jupille known as Elève lycée Flaubert
- Cendro Kancel known as Elève lycée Flaubert
- Belkacem Lalaoui known as Elève lycée Flaubert
- Alain Lhostis known as Elève lycée Flaubert
- Antoine Louis known as Elève lycée Flaubert
- Kevin Méanard known as Elève lycée Flaubert
- Mehdi Meskar known as Elève lycée Flaubert
- Mohamed Dahmane El Mehdi known as Elève lycée Flaubert
- Mélissa Placide known as Elève lycée Flaubert
- Olivier Royer known as Elève lycée Flaubert
- Hana Tanem known as Elève lycée Flaubert
- Christian Tongkhiane known as Elève lycée Flaubert
- Gaëtan Vajou known as Elève lycée Flaubert
Production Companies:
- Mandarin Films (as Mandarin Cinéma)
- Mars Distribution (co-production) (as Mars Films)
- France 2 Cinéma (co-production)
- FOZ (co-production)
- Canal+ (participation)
- Ciné+ (participation)
- France Télévision (participation)
- La Banque Postale Images 5 (in association with)
- Cofimage 23 (in association with)
- Palatine Étoile 9 (in association with)
- Région Ile-de-France (support)
- Film Music Services music supervision
- ABC Distribution (2012) (Belgium) (theatrical)
- Alliance Films (2012) (Ireland) (theatrical)
- Alliance Films (2012) (UK) (theatrical)
- Cathay-Keris Films (2013) (Singapore) (theatrical)
- Cinemien (2012) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
- Cohen Media Group (2013) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
- Concorde Filmverleih (2012) (Germany) (theatrical)
- Entertainment One (2012) (Canada) (theatrical)
- Festive Films (2013) (Singapore) (theatrical)
- Les Films Séville (2012) (Canada) (theatrical) (Québec)
- Momentum Pictures (2012) (UK) (theatrical)
- Seven Films - Spentzos Film (2012) (Greece) (theatrical)
- Transmission Films (2012) (Australia) (theatrical)
- Wild Bunch Distribution (2012) (France) (theatrical)
- CN Entertainment (2013) (Hong Kong) (DVD)
- CN Entertainment (2013) (Hong Kong) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
- Concorde Home Entertainment (2013) (Germany) (DVD)
- EuroVideo (2013) (Germany) (DVD) (Rental)
- Filmcoopi Zürich (2011) (Switzerland) (all media)
- Homescreen (2013) (Belgium) (DVD)
- Homescreen (2013) (Netherlands) (DVD)
- Vertigo Média Kft. (2013) (Hungary) (all media)
- Wild Bunch (2012) (worldwide) (all media) (International Sales agent)
Special Effects:
- Def2shoot (visual effects company)
Visual Effects by:
MPAA: Rated R for sexual content and language
Filmography links and data courtesy of The Internet Movie Database
Extremely well directed, with fine performances all round andmarvellous dialogue, at once inspiring and amusing but there is aproblem. I should probably stay quiet and not mention this. This filmhas been acclaimed all over and nobody seems to have mentioned it. Ifeel that I must at least allude to the proverbial 'elephant in theroom'. However well this is dressed and it is indeed, well dressed withsome super lines and if it veers a little too close to becoming a WoodyAllen parody, it is still well done. But, it surely has to be facedthat, interesting and insightful a view of marriage that it is, it is agay view. I just don't buy the notion that the traditional father sonrelationship has gay connotations, they just might play sports togetherbut surely not shower together like this. Neither do I buy the centralgay conceit, indulged in previously in Pasolini's, Theorem, that a goodlooking boy can sleep his way through a traditional household. So justa little too much fantasy here methinks.
ReplyDelete"Sometimes we go to far into a fantasy that we both imagine and createimages in storytelling for ourselves. In the House is this all in oneshowing the audience the mind of a teenager who is really his teacherbut younger"
ReplyDeleteUsually when I see films no matter what language they are in about theintellectual mind of youth I become uninterested quickly having to hearthese young people talk about what they believe to be right but withthis film I was never ever to take my attention firstly from thedialogue that was being spoken on screen as well as being told in sucha way that up until near the end I was unaware if what I was beingshown was a story created by the young Claude Garcia (Ernst Umhauer) orif it really was a real look into this normal seeming family thatturned out to have so many twists and turns to the Artole family.Germain (Fabrice Luchini) is a french teacher who along with his wifeJeanne (Kristin Scott Thomas) seem to take pleasure in stories beingtold by the young Claude about his love for Esther (Emmanuelle Seigner)and his exploration into the Artole family.
I was mesmerized by the story of the film having it mostly take placein a house where some of the quiet moments where the most stunning andeffective moments of the film such as the image of a committed suicidewhich turned out to be false which really changed my idea of the storybeing told by this young boy. With the Artole family looking normal tooutsiders then to have such inner family drama was a great advantage tothe family with the idealisation of Esther being both beautiful andbeing the emotional part of the film since this young confused boyseemed to be pushed into the house by his teacher who could not butcorrect this young boy. The reactions from Germain and his wife Jeannewere also great as they started to question whether these stories weretrue or if they were figments of this boys imagination.
Fabrice Luchini played Germain and his performance called for him toboth be reactive and forward in his actions how he inspired the youngClaude. He was the standout of the film for me and I was very impressedby his performance in scenes such as his fight with his wife when heread the final part of the Artole story and finding out his wife'struth almost badly hurting her was very intensely played by Luchini.Ernst Umhauer played the young Claude and this could be considered abreakout for him as he both radiated on the screen as well as havingsuch a natural presence as the character. He was given a lot of simplescenes to played and his performance was really strong and never becamecliché in any way. Kristin Scott Thomas plays Jeanne and she isprobably one of the best working actresses and this is another exampleof her talent in her own language. She may have not have had the mostchallenging role but she was perfect in everything. The only otheractor to mention is Emmanuelle Seigner as Esther and she had the mostsubtle role as she was idealized through the writing and she was bothbeautiful and heartbreaking by the end of the movie.
A strong movie by François Ozon obviously based on a play but stillhaving a cinematic feel with strong visuals and a great and fascinatinglook into a middle class family through the head of a creative youngboy.
MOVIE GRADE: B+ (MVP: Fabrice Luchini)
'Dans la maison' ('In the House') directed by Francois Ozon is one ofthe the most surprising films I have seen lately. Adaptation of a play,the screen is so smart that my major question is how is it that WoodyAllen did not write it first? or maybe he wrote it under disguise?
ReplyDeleteIt is really such an Allen-esque story, which mingles real life andimagination, the writer as a creator of life, and life as a creator ofliterature. It even has a thread about relations of adults and underageand even if it loses a little bit of steam by the end, talking so muchabout a good ending for the story that it forgets to create a real goodand non-conventional one, it is still one of the smartest and mostoriginal scripts I have watched lately brought in screen. The hero is aprofessor of literature Germain (Fabrice Luchini), smart enough toabhor the re-introduction of uniforms in high school, whose literaryambitions were not fulfilled and who finds a goal (and a change in theroutine) in pygmalionizing one of his pupils Claude (Ernst Umhauer) inthe ways of literature. As it happens Clude's subjects are his friendand colleague Rapha (Bastien Ughetto), his house which is the middleclass dream for a poor kid from the peripheries, and his family orespecially his mother (Emmanuelle Seigner) who becomes the object ofhis teenage dreams and guilty desires. As the story develops, the housebecomes the stage of the action, reality inspires fiction at first justto make room for literary fiction becoming reality, the intervention ofthe teacher becomes much more than correction of grammar or style, itstarts to be correction of destinies. All in a fluent and well pacedstyle for most of the time.
I liked the acting of Fabrice Luchini, well supported by other fineactors as the two charming Kristin Scott Thomas (as his wife, co-readerof Rapha's essays and supporting character playing eventually asurprising role in the story) and Emmanuelle Seigner. All of them actsolidly, their problems are credible, and we can feel the atmosphereand the torments of the middle class in the French province. The twoteenager roles are played with the natural touch and expected freshnessby Ernst Umhauer and Bastien Ughetto (the latest is very promising, mayhe have luck in getting distributed in roles that fit his talent andhis face!). Overall it's a smart and funny movie, worth seeing for manyreasons.
For his thirteenth feature film, French New Wave director Francois Ozonhas outdone all acclaim given to his 2002 remake of "8 Women" with amischievous and dysfunctional tale, of what can be perceived as…coming-of-age.
ReplyDeleteA black comedy conflated with so much grandeur from literary greats topost-modern poioumena, you cannot help but wave the white flag and justgo along in service of jest and sheer curiosity.
Adapted from a brilliant play written by Juan Mayorgo, this film is ameta-narrative centered on Claude Garcia (Ernst Umhauer) -- a sixteenyear old loner who intrudes upon the home life of fellow student RaphaJr., and writes about it. What begins as a one-off weekend assignmentfor literature class, escalates with great passion and frequency whenClaude's teacher, Germaine (Fabrice Luchini) detects flashes of talentand decides to groom the teenager.
Here, Ozon proposes a three-fold narrative weaving through the surfaceof three realities -- Germaine's growing obsession with Claude's storyimitates the viewers' relationship with Ozon's film (and perhaps soapopera addiction), and Claude as a self-conscious narrator of the eventsoccurring inside Rapha's house.
When the film begins, Claude is unhappy with a lonely life and clearlyneeds to distract himself with wholesome family warmth. Havingwitnessed Rapha's close relationship with parents Rapha Sr. and Estherat the school gate, strikes a friendship with the boy when semesterbegins. Establishing himself as a math tutor and study mate, Claudequickly wins their affection and trust. Thrilled by this opportunity toexperience life with a sense of belonging, yet predisposed to primitiveurge, Claude's desire swells into furtive yearning for Esther. Andnaturally, things get complicated.
As Germaine's involvement with Claude's writing departs from passivereader, to that of a story-telling coach superimposing rules ofdramatic structure, it occurs to the viewer that he may very well be ashaping hand in the outcome of this voyeuristic experiment.
Of course, the fabrics of fiction and reality overlap but they do notconfuse -- the satirical logic unfolds in ways that are thought-provoking, humorous and downright captivating.
cinemainterruptus.wordpress.com
This is a very interesting film taking both the point of view of asixteen year old school boy and that of a middle aged teacher, with youdear viewer, playing yet another role. Ah ha, so, what we start with isa perhaps knowingly voyeuristic homework task set by the bored literacytutor. Then we have the youth delivering precisely the kind ofinflammatory story that reignites the tutor's interest. It's adangerous game they both play - almost as if the boy were repeating thetutor's own youth with his post hoc adult knowledge. The innocents inthis tale are ignored - or rather, their real stories are overlooked byboth boy writer and his tutor whilst they play their silly game. Thetutor's wife sees through the whole charade but then even her story iscorrupted by inclusion in the boy's story-making. You, the viewer, needto pick carefully through the evidence you are presented. Do you wantthe 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!
ReplyDeleteThis film is about a student who writes about his classmate's mother inhis essays. As the teacher encourages him to delve deeper into details,the unexpected unfolds.
ReplyDeleteI am blown away by "In the House". The plot sounds simple but it keepsme engrossed throughout. The young guy Claude looks so innocent andangelic, but he is surely up to no good. He is so manipulative anddestructive. Coupled with his spine chilling smirks and piercing gaze,Claude is a scary character than you can ever imagine.
As Germain says, a good story ends in an unexpected way, but theviewers know that it cannot end any other way. The ending of "In theHouse" is exactly like that. Just when I thought the film was about toend, there is this other scene on a park bench that twists to the realending. This ending is even more spine chilling than the one I thoughtwas the ending.
"In the House" is an excellent thriller. It is easy to follow, but isentrancing and engrossing. There are scenes that are real, scenes thatare clearly unreal and scenes that you do not know if they are real. Itkeeps viewers thinking, making "In the House" even more enjoyable.
Francois Ozon's delightful, delicious new comedy "In the House" is awonderfully clever and very funny treatise on the written worddelivered in very cinematic terms, on the thin line between fact andfiction, truth and lies and the individual's need for attention.
ReplyDeleteThe central characters are two misplaced males destined, perhaps, to betogether and who find each other almost by accident. Germain is amiddle-aged (and bitterly cynical) schoolteacher, (a terrific FabriceLuchini), who one day finds that an essay handed in by handsome youngloner student Claude, (Ernst Umhauer, excellent), has all the promiseof a blossoming literary talent simply because it deals, in awell-written way, of course, in 'truths', (it describes Claude'sinfatuation with a fellow student and his family and what might go on'dans la maison' in which they live), and the essay ends 'to becontinued'.
He shows the essay to his wife, (a lovely performance from KristinScott Thomas), and, on the one hand, egged on by her and, on the other,despite her misgivings he takes Claude under his wing, so to speak,encouraging him to produce more 'to be continued' episodes on what goeson behind the walls of his friend's family home. As someone says, itcan only end badly.
The brilliance of Ozon's conceit is that what we see and what we heararen't always the same. Sometimes if Germain thinks 'a factual'description of events is not worthy of his talents, Claude will changeit in the next scene and as Claude's 'literary career' progresses someof the things he writes has no basis in fact whatsoever so that we,too, are left wondering what's real and what isn't.
It is, of course, a hugely sophisticated comedy where a subplotinvolving Germain's wife's preoccupation with the art gallery she runsis used to counter-balance Germain's increasing preoccupation withClaude, a preoccupation his wife thinks may even have a sexual basis.Without giving anything away, the film itself ends with the words 'tobe continued'; if only ...
I don't know François Ozon's films very well. I only know that he makesrather strange, weird and unusual movies. This one is not an exception.This story of a high school french teacher who has to deal with one ofhis students is awesome, very intriguing. The teen in question appearsto be very smart, very intelligent. And far more than that.
ReplyDeleteThis film is actually a sort of thriller which looks like Hitchcock'sfeatures. You may think of REAR WINDOW, for instance. The charactersare well described. And when you know that François Ozon - the director- is homosexual, you understand the exquisite taste he probably had tomake such a picture, with such a sensibility.
Unfortunately, I did not get everything in this little masterpiece. Ishould watch it twice. And it is not the kind of films I am used tosee.
Yes, a very brilliant and intelligent movie. A must see.
Often funny, sometimes disturbing and sensual, the movie can be enjoyedat face value, but the heart of the movie lies underneath thatappealing veneer, it's about creation and the required necessity tolive your life fully to feed it. The budding writer enters the lives ofa family, the same way a writer should embrace life itself, with ahealthy dose of curiosity and nerve, precisely what his teacher islacking. Add to that a fascinating and intricate observation of theblurring of lines separating reality from fiction in the feverish midstof artistic creation. Deep stuff, but all wrapped up in a neat bundle,Ozon making sure to leave almost no one on the side of the road, so tospeak. So in conclusion it's smart and yet playful, intellectual butnever pretentious. Well, in other words, it's a very good movie aboutpotentially boring subjects. Highly recommended in those times ofidiocracy!
ReplyDelete