The French drama thriller In the House, director Francois Ozon, presented at the 37th Toronto International Film Festival. This project can be considered the brainchild of an outstanding filmmaker, as he not only put on the picture, but also independently wrote the script, adapting the play “The Boy at the Last School” by the Spanish playwright Juan Mayorgi. The film "In the House" (2012) received extremely laudatory reviews; its rating on IMDb is 7.40.
The performance captured on film
The masterpiece of one of the brightest representatives of the French filmmakers of the "new wave" is similar to a performance captured on film. This is not surprising, given the director's attraction to theatricality. As critics noted in their reviews, the film “In the House” (2012) consists of verified scenes during which the characters move along strictly marked trajectories. In the final, the curtain “falls” onto the screen. Ozone, as “8 Women” and “Basin”, remains true to the satirical intonation of the narrative, with which he denounces the shortcomings of the middle class of our time. In the movie of 2012, a sixteen-year-old boy becomes his hero, outwardly similar at the same time as John Mulder-Brown from The Depth and Courtney Gaines from The Children of the Corn, and it is not clear whether he is a genius or a psycho. This dilemma is more actively discussed by other viewers in reviews of the film “In the House” (2012).
Short storyline
After reading the students' essays, the attention of the literature teacher Germain is drawn to the work of Claude Garcia. A failed writer, he is trying with all his might to develop the obvious inclinations of talent in a sixteen-year-old boy. After all, a student from a banal work makes a fascinating story, and it surprises not so much with the possession of speech turns, but with a specific theme. He describes the details of the life of his friend’s family, with a special place in his story being taken by the family’s mother, “middle-class woman”.
The voyeuristic studies of a teenager, set out on paper, so fascinate the teacher that he unwittingly becomes his accomplice in observing someone else's life. The irony of the author is that the teacher does not notice how he himself becomes the object of observation.
Criticism and acting ensemble
According to reviewers in the reviews for the film “In the House” (2012), the director in a recognizable author's style subtly taunts everything and everything. It goes to intellectuals who have not realized their potential, colorless representatives of the middle class, creators and admirers of modern art, scammers and critics. But at the same time, the director’s delights are bribed by the fact that, like Woody Allen, he treats his characters with compassion, kindness and understanding.
The idea of ​​the director is embodied on the screen by a wonderful cast. The main batch is performed by Fabrice Lucini (“The Return of Casanova”). Germain in his interpretation is incomparable. The second main male role is played by Ernst Umoer, realistically depicting Claude Garcia. It was the acting debut of a young artist. Two amazing actresses are not inferior in skill to men: Christine Scott Thomas, who played Jeanne Germain, and Emmanuelle Seigner, who got the party of Esther Artol. Actors of the film "In the House" were praised by movie experts.