It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

In the House is proof that French films are very interesting , the script is very good , the plot keeps you glued to the TV the whole movie , the cast is quite competent , Fabrice Luchini makes an excellent performance , Ernst Umhauer , Kristin Scott Thomas Emmanuelle Seigner are all well , has some well medians performances , the direction of François Ozon is very good, the French director is very experienced , the pace worked for me , more can be tiring for those who do not much like the style of the film, photography is beautiful , the topics covered in the film is very well done , obvious that the movie is far from perfect, I found the short film than you should, should have about 20 more minutes to develop even better the plot, and also develop the characters , some are quite bland, in the House is a very good film , has a good plot, good actors and good direction of François Ozon . Note 8.7

Mine is a minority opinion I'm sure, but Ozon lost me when he had the teacher steal a copy of the math test to move the plot along. Of course the test is exactly where the lead can find it. The motivation and execution seem highly unlikely.The other thing -- and I know this is a feature, not a bug, for many -- but the blend of fact/fiction (did this really happen?...no, oh, maybe yes) is tiresome and off-putting. Overall, I'm just not buying how this kid inserts himself into the life of another family without anyone saying "enough!" Perhaps French adults are much more casual than Americans about letting adolescents get emotionally entangled with themselves but I doubt it.

A bored teacher. Despondent. A search for the fountain of youth. ( Oh! How it's dreadful growing old! If I only could stay forever young, in all the splendour of my 15, 16 years... ). Alás, now suddenly arises everything I would like to be. And how this appeared? Through myself? No... Through my wife, Jeanne, an intellectual like myself. accomplice of all my successes and all my failures. an open dialogue, for better or worse. A boy, yet, Claude Garcia who challenges me. I, who always thought of myself as being the best, now in my mature years I can read between the lines, in all my conversations with any person, a little bit of their personality. How I acquired this ability? It came from all the literature I have absorbed over the years. This would surely be Germain's thought, if we were given the power to enter his mind. With this movie, François Ozon gives us a present: It is the old story of the sphinx: decipher me or be devoured. The sphinx: François Ozon... who is about to be devoured? We, The spectators. In the purpose of what I have just written: remember the scene in which Claude just made love with Jeanne? The way he faces sideways the camera? Traces of a smile, such as Leonardo Da Vinci's La Gioconda... "enigmatic"... (Is it really a smile or isn't? Is she shy or is she a challenge?) The movie is almost a reality show, many things are left to the imagination of the ones who appreciate this genre. Germain is a voyeur, though he might not know it, or perhaps he knows but denies it to his wife and even to himself, voyeur still, nevertheless. Claude Garcia realises this since his first talk with the "master". Henceforth, he unravels a plot which the ending he already knows. And it is so clever that makes with Germain thinks that HE is the one who directs the plotting. To finalize: impeccable masterpiece for all those who go to the movies in search for more than just a fun and amusing blockbuster. In a scale of 1 to 10, I give this movie: 10 (masterpiece).

Without getting as wordy as some and giving away a bunch of plot details and quirky turns... How often do you see a flick and before it's even over tell yourself you absolutely must see it again? I've already seen In The House twice and can't wait to see it again, because I just figured out the major trick (rather a mindf--k) of it...and I'm not telling. The person I first saw it with agreed he had to see it again, too, and the person with whom I just saw it (May 22, 2013 in San Francisco) said she needed to buy the DVD as soon as it came out, so she could keep on showing it to more people and get into discussions about it. Not only that, the couple sitting in front of us were knocked out by it...and actually the guy had already seen it and had to see it again, so he brought a lady friend, who right after the film ended said, "OMG! I have to see this again!" And trust me, so will you. Now let's hope the U.S. doesn't decide they have to make an American version and totally wreck it, like they did with the excellent Danish film, Brothers (Brødre, 2004) with that godawful U.S. thing released in 2009. Leave it alone, please.