Dans
La Maison is the 14th
feature film from Francois Ozun and hopefully the international breakthrough
that he deserves.
The film begins with Germain (Fabrice
Luchini), a disillusioned French literature teacher, talking to his wife Jeanne
(Kristin Scott Thomas) about the terrible writing styles of his young French
students. He has set them the task of
writing about their weekends and the pitiful responses lead him to seem ready
to give up hope. That is until he reads
a witty response from one of his students called Claude (Ernst Umhauer) who has
satirized his middle class neighbours, focusing mainly on the mother of the
household. Germain is encouraged by this
and asks Claude to write more, which leads to both the boy getting
inappropriately involved with the family, and Germain risking his job in order
to satisfy his curiosity about The House referred to in the title...
The cinematography of the film
beautifully portrays the modern, clinical, forgettable school architecture as
well as the limitless number of seemingly identical students in a way that
allows the viewer to appreciate the banality of Germain’s job and detached
attitude towards his life. The title
sequence at the beginning reminded me again that there should be an
‘achievement in credit design’ category at the Academy Awards (it wouldn’t have
won, but I liked it).
There is also a wonderful narrative
device at work in the film – As Claude observes the family he describes what he
see with a voiceover that allows the viewer to be both present in the house as
well as detached from the description.
Later on, Claude gives his notes to Germain and he offers his advice on
where the story should go (with reference to the great masters of French
fiction), this then leads Claude to rewrite the scenes which are then revisited
onscreen with subtle changes of action and dialogue. This unreliable narrator trick could have
easily failed, yet is executed with a deliberate French wit and focuses more on
the youth of Claude instead of the wisdom of Germain.
The film manages to tell a
suspense/thriller narrative set in the backdrop of a French state secondary
school and the middle class suburbs. The
voyeurism explored in the film is somewhat lost in the predictable cliché that
simmering underneath the surface of the middle classes is a violence and an
ugliness that dare not speak (or write) its name – but the lighthearted,
childlike curiosity in which Claude interacts with his chosen family makes for
tense viewing and a fresh take on an age old theme.
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