Dans la maison
Director: François Ozon
Writer: François Ozon
Based on: Juan Mayorga’s play The Boy in the Last Row
Cast: Fabrice Luchini, Ernst Umhauer, Kristin Scott Thomas, Emmanuelle Seigner, Denis Ménochet, Bastien Ughetto, Yolande Moreau
Part of: Viennale (it was the surprise movie)

Plot:
Germain (Fabrice Luchini) is a French teacher at the high school. When he gets an essay by one of his students, Claude (Ernst Umhauer), where he voyeuristically details a visit to his school friend Rapha’s (Bastien Ughetto) house, Germain not only recognizes Claude’s literary talent, but both Germain and his wife Jeanne (Kristin Scott Thomas) get drawn into the life of Rapha and his family – leading to unintentional consequences.

Dans la maison was extremely entertaining. It had a rather biting sense of humor that I enjoyed a lot and Ozon has the timing and pacing down to make it all work. It may not be the world’s most thoughtful film, but it is fun.

You get drawn into the story just like Germain and Jeanne. Ozon really manages to grab you by the nape and he doesn’t let go until you’re just as involved as the characters.

The cast was really strong. First and foremost Kristin Scott Thomas who hasn’t been as good in a while. I mean she is always strong, but here she’s fantastic. Though I also enjoyed Fabrice Luchini and both boys were very promising, too. Yolande Moreau was made of awesome in her double role. Only Emmanuelle Seigner was a bit flat.

I really enjoyed the art featured in Jeanne’s gallery. It was a really great and funny supplement to the film. And the audio pictures were an amazing idea.

Only the ending was a little strenuous. It seems clear that they had difficulties closing the whole thing and it just didn’t work out as well as it should. But since most of the film was entertaining, I didn’t mind that much.

Summarising: definitely worth seeing.