Atlantic Film Festival 2012: ‘In the House’ – a darkly comedic thriller

In the House (Dans la maison)

Written by Juan Mayorga (play), François Ozon

Directed by François Ozon

France, 2012

French director François Ozon has been working steadily albeit fairly quietly for over two decades, striking the occasional hit with films like 8 Women and Swimming Pool. His latest effort In the House has the potential to be another one of Ozon’s sleeper hits. The film tells the story of French Literature teacher Germain Germain who becomes enamored with the writing of one of his students in particular, shy boy-in-the-last-row Claude (Ernst Umhauer). Claude’s weekly assignments detail his exploits within the house of a fellow student. Germain becomes more and more involved in Claude’s narrative and soon helps Claude set in motion a series of events that impacts both Claude’s story as well as the lives of student, teacher and the people around them.

This tightly written and structured film is an interesting study on how the author – any author – manipulates the reader. Throughout the film, just as Claude begins to manipulate Germain, we are at times reminded that Ozon may be manipulating us just the same. Or is he? As the film goes on and Claude’s story comes to a head, it becomes increasingly unclear where exactly the line between reality and fiction is. As the movie progresses, it becomes more and more clear that this isn’t your average mentor-mentée piece. On the contrary, the film quickly reveals itself to be a darkly comedic thriller that features many laugh out loud moments but also the occasional shocking moment that will have its audience gasping out loud.

CLICK HERE TO EXPAND THE ARTICLE