In The House Reviews

For some reason, even though I have never been a huge fan of François Ozon's work, I have actually managed to watch most of his movies (I have even seen his 2 first directing efforts in the movie theater when they were released). Well, anyway, this movie was probably one of the best he has made so far. Basically, the main problem I had with this director is that he always comes up with some interesting concepts but they usually end up being rather half-baked and this movie was a perfect example. Indeed, the first 20 minutes where quite mesmerizing, especially when this teacher reads for the very first time one of these stories written by one of his students. Indeed, you end up in some kind of mystery wondering what is the deal with this young boy and what does he find so fascinating about this family. But, unfortunately, Ozon never really managed to develop this interesting set-up and, as a result, we remain really far from this boy, even at the end, and this family turns out to be rather boring. I mean, the only redeeming feature with them was the mother but only because she was played by Emmanuelle Seignier who was in fact way too attractive to play this part. So, as usual with Ozon, it didn't really deliver but it was entertaining enough and the characters involved were interesting thanks to some solid performances. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I think it was pretty good and I believe it is worth a look, especially if you're interested in French movies.

The story is based on the play 'The boy in the last row' and a well crafted French drama centers between teacher and student relationship.

The story begins like a serious drama, when character developments reach at a certain stage the peculiar way of story telling starts to dig deeper into the existing characters which puts us to curiosity about the next scenes. This was kinda unusual theme like 'Stranger than fiction' and 'Ruby sparks'. The story has the power to control over the audience, which sometime drags between reality and fiction as its layers and sub-plots. You can't just judge the story especially the end but you have to experience yourself by watching it till end. The twist was really a nice one, it made the movie completely. I liked the scene at the end when they both sit on a chair and looks at a small flats from outside and say their own version stories.

The movie was suspenseful but comedy, especially when the character Germain pop-out as a narrator or guidance during the story flow of a student and his affair. The actual story of the movie was a teacher finds out one of his student's caliber in writing. So he offers him guidance to improve his talent which later the student submits a series of essay papers. When the story written by his student brings complication to around them there is no other way to solve it. Before to giving up on it is reached at its highest point to blow on everything out.

As the story was loosely based on the house, the title was perfect. The unique way of story telling and the interesting characters made the movie rich and spicy. One of a best French drama of the year, in fact very clever, must appreciate the writer Juan Mayorga and the director Ozon. Definitely not to be missed suppose you are a movie fanatic.