In the House (2012)

Maybe it's just me, but there's something sexy with stories about writers and their writings making it onto film, with recent releases such as Ruby Sparks powering its way into my top film of last year. In The House looks set to do the same too, directed by Francois Ozon, well known for his feature film Swimming Pool (which was also centered around a writer played by Charlotte Rampling), and based on a play written by Juan Mayorga called The Boy in the Last Row. Words cannot deny the genius of both the screenplay and the film's direction in crafting a piece that draws and sucks you into its narrative, becoming what's akin to a page turner that captivates all the way to the finale.

Fabrice Luchini plays Mr Germain, a literature teacher in a school whose lofty ambitions of imparting his vast knowledge go up in smoke with the most uninspired students, until he latches upon the raw talent of Claude Garcia (Ernst Umhauer), which isn't hard since his homework submission on what happened over the weekend was two pages compared to his peers' two liners, and contained all ingredients necessary that would have caught any reader's attention with its yet to be verified autobiographical nature, a hook, and a cliffhanger. Soon Germain slowly discovers that he wanted more, and takes it upon himself to bring Claude under his personal tutelage so that Claude's creative output and juices can get to be nurtured by him.

Kristin Scott Thomas plays Germain's wife Jeanne, who partakes in the same, reading Claude's submissions as she struggles to get her professional art gallery in order, lest it be shut down for the lack of a good exhibition. And the interplay between husband and wife over Clude is something the film excelled in, presenting two sides to an argument whether Claude is imagining it, or telling it as it is experienced, about his near obsession with wanting and eventually getting into the house of his friend Rapha Artole (Bastien Ughetto), which soon evolves into becoming an integral part of the household with his presence on the pretext of tutoring his friend, but essentially being an outlet to get close to Rapha's mom Esther (Emmanuelle Seigner), an infatuation that will take on epic proportions.

Interesting enough, this film works if you'd participate in it just as how both Germain and Jeanne allowed their morbid curiosity to get the better of them. We become those characters personified, and one can imagine just how powerful this is in a staged production. But its effect and impact are not diminished on film, as you'll find yourself demanding more, with Ozon often pulling the plug leaving you wanting more, and lapping everything up with Claude submitting another chapter of sorts being played out on screen. We connect the dots, and partake in the lives of the Artole family, learning about their hopes, dreams, secrets, celebrate in their success, and sympathize when they hit a brick wall. And there are many relationship types in the film, from that of lustful ones, to father-son relations, mentor-mentee, best of friends, and even the recurring GLBT ones that Ozon's films tend to feature.

In truth, watching this film becomes that guilty pleasure that is voyeur central, filled with comedy, drama, and wonderful acting that bring the characters to life, yet having the narrative mileage to pique and sustain one's interest from beginning to end by appealing to our primal curious nature, and really milking and manipulating it, with us allowing it to, and g

Fmovies: 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.

In the House fmovies. 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.

Francois Ozon's latest film is almost like an irresistible novel which you never wanna put down. The different ways in which he develops the characters is quite fascinating to watch.

Germain is a bored French professor who finds most of his students uninteresting or untalented. Then he becomes infatuated with a student's (Claude) essays, which are about a friend's family's life to which Claude has got a way into. Both their infatuations and fascinations make them take interesting actions which lead to almost disastrous consequences.

The final scene makes you wonder whether you too, like Germain, get the same voyeuristic pleasure watching others' intimate lives unfold in front you.

Ozon's movies have some some sort of charm which always keep you hooked till the end. I remember enjoying his last movie, Potiche; but unlike his last movie, this one is quite thought-provoking and gives various dimensions to character-development.

For his thirteenth feature film, French New Wave director Francois Ozon has outdone all acclaim given to his 2002 remake of "8 Women" with a mischievous and dysfunctional tale, of what can be perceived asÂ… coming-of-age.

A black comedy conflated with so much grandeur from literary greats to post-modern poioumena, you cannot help but wave the white flag and just go along in service of jest and sheer curiosity.

Adapted from a brilliant play written by Juan Mayorgo, this film is a meta-narrative centered on Claude Garcia (Ernst Umhauer) -- a sixteen year old loner who intrudes upon the home life of fellow student Rapha Jr., and writes about it. What begins as a one-off weekend assignment for literature class, escalates with great passion and frequency when Claude's teacher, Germaine (Fabrice Luchini) detects flashes of talent and decides to groom the teenager.

Here, Ozon proposes a three-fold narrative weaving through the surface of three realities -- Germaine's growing obsession with Claude's story imitates the viewers' relationship with Ozon's film (and perhaps soap opera addiction), and Claude as a self-conscious narrator of the events occurring inside Rapha's house.

When the film begins, Claude is unhappy with a lonely life and clearly needs to distract himself with wholesome family warmth. Having witnessed Rapha's close relationship with parents Rapha Sr. and Esther at the school gate, strikes a friendship with the boy when semester begins. Establishing himself as a math tutor and study mate, Claude quickly wins their affection and trust. Thrilled by this opportunity to experience life with a sense of belonging, yet predisposed to primitive urge, Claude's desire swells into furtive yearning for Esther. And naturally, things get complicated.

As Germaine's involvement with Claude's writing departs from passive reader, to that of a story-telling coach superimposing rules of dramatic structure, it occurs to the viewer that he may very well be a shaping hand in the outcome of this voyeuristic experiment.

Of course, the fabrics of fiction and reality overlap but they do not confuse -- the satirical logic unfolds in ways that are thought- provoking, humorous and downright captivating.

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