In the House
In the House
R | 19 April 2013 (USA)
In the House Trailers

A sixteen-year-old boy insinuates himself into the house of a fellow student from his literature class and writes about it in essays for his French teacher. Faced with this gifted and unusual pupil, the teacher rediscovers his enthusiasm for his work, but the boy’s intrusion will unleash a series of uncontrollable events.

Reviews
Protraph

Lack of good storyline.

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Reptileenbu

Did you people see the same film I saw?

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Casey Duggan

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

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Mathilde the Guild

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

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Wes_Dean

In the house is a movie, like a lot of Ozon's work, that unveils secret and repressed desires. Frustrations are also a key element to the movie and the plot is based on a need coming from every character, that makes the story go forward, at almost any price.This story is narrated through the lens of Claude, a student whose french teacher sees an incredibly huge potential as a writer in him. But what's the most interesting in this story, is how through his essays, Claude manipulates his teacher and manipulates the reality of the story. This movie has a complex narrative that is happening in different places but that are all connected through a simple sheet of paper, showing the power of words. But what's the most interesting and disturbing at times, is Claude's interpretation of what is Realism for him. It is not a coincidence if the major literary figure in this movie is Gustave Flaubert, one of the greatest representatives of 19th century realism. Because Claude says it, he only writes what he sees and what happens around him. And we clearly see that when he starts imagining what he is writing, it doesn't work. That obsessive need is what makes Claude all along the movie, becoming what could name a manipulative sociopath, and his teacher a complice of his acts because he only sees himself in his student, and doesn't want him to reproduce the same mistakes that he already made. This is a great stimulating movie, where (at the beginning especially) Kristin Scott Thomas and Fabrice Luchini are kind of off, but then the intrigue catches you and I challenge anyone who watches this movie, not to be caught by this wonderfully unsettling and thrilling movie.

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elision10

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.

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Reno Rangan

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.

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thefadingcam

When you say commercial movies like Looper are well written (because for their genre, they are), and then watch something like Dans la Maison (In The House), writing goes up to a new level. François Ozon, the director, had already impressed in 2003 with Swimming Pool, but In The House is probably his best film to date. It tells the story of a student that begins writing essays for his french teacher about one of his classmates' family, while he enters their house and makes himself a close friend. Into The House feels like reading a good mystery book while watching someone else interpret it, being that "someone else" your own self. In a very subtle way, Dans La Maison makes you addicted to its story, with a very traditional but poetic and beautiful directing, real life characters, and mesmerizing acting from Fabrice Luchini and Kristin Scott Thomas, bringing the mind of a 16 year old student to this amazing parallel reality. Visit the fading cam blog for more!

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