Dans la maison

Based on Juan Mayorga's play "The Boy in the Back Row", the film is reminiscent of Woody Allen's style with its layered plot.

It's the story of two people and their up and downs in their teacher and student identities, both trying escape to their ideal, in pursuit of reaching their ultima thule. The fiction they need in this escape sometimes turns into reality, but after a point it gets out of control and becomes dangerous. There is a utopia that can never be reached, the existing ones are replaced as it is realized piece by piece, end it gets worse than the beginning. And the movie emphasises this fragility to the audiance. And the ending is not really satisfying, even very weak. Ozon's response: "I think the ending of the movie is clear. I did it on purpose; I wanted the audience to be able to imagine their own movie while watching it. They can imagine a darker ending if they want to." His references to art and literature are very good. I think the biggest hit of the movie is Ernst Umhauer, the lead actor.

Lastly, speaking of Woody Allen; 'Match Point' is the movie that the characters went to see in the cinema, another nice reference.

This is a very interesting film taking both the point of view of a sixteen year old school boy and that of a middle aged teacher, with you dear viewer, playing yet another role. Ah ha, so, what we start with is a perhaps knowingly voyeuristic homework task set by the bored literacy tutor. Then we have the youth delivering precisely the kind of inflammatory story that reignites the tutor's interest. It's a dangerous game they both play - almost as if the boy were repeating the tutor's own youth with his post hoc adult knowledge. The innocents in this tale are ignored - or rather, their real stories are overlooked by both boy writer and his tutor whilst they play their silly game. The tutor's wife sees through the whole charade but then even her story is corrupted by inclusion in the boy's story-making. You, the viewer, need to pick carefully through the evidence you are presented. Do you want the boy to succeed? Do you want to encourage the teacher? Shame on you! You've gone down a garden path you should never have entered! Brilliant!

This awkward and witty film is based on the play The Boy in the Last Row by Juan Mayorga, i.e. the script emanates from a solid creation. The run of the events is smooth, but sometimes it is tricky to follow the line between truth and fantasy, including the ending scenes, and some deeds remained mystery to me. In spite of serious topics touched (e.g. alienation, growing pains, loneliness, generation gaps), there are several funny scenes, particularly gallery-related ones, and strong performances provide additional value to the film (Fabrice Luchini as Germain Germain, Ernst Umhauer (skilfully depicting an 16-year-old while being 22) as Claude Garcia, Kristin Scott Thomas (in fluent French) as Jeanne Germain, Emmanuelle Seigner as Esther Artole - in particular). Hopefully, no remake will be made, as the sound of French and supposition of Frenchmen are just appropriate for such a film.

Recommended to all those fond of films with twists and not afraid of subtitles.

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.

There are certainly many meanings underneath the veil of comedy of this movie. Indeed, defining "Dans la maison" a comedy would be reductive, in the same way as thriller sounds out of tune. And it's really difficult to assign a precise category to it. It's a multifaceted movie, showing different levels of interpretation. From the point of view of the teacher, it's a subtle reflection of a middle aged failed man, who has to come to terms with his failure as a writer, and his incapability to inspire enthusiasm in class of bored students. From the point of view of the wives, it's a refined portrait of middle aged unsatisfied women, and their need to find any kind of escape or consolation. But above all, the movie offers a lucid and intelligent gaze on people's voyeuristic curiosity, on how much we are ready to do in order to see what happens behind closed doors and walls, and here the pair teacher-student works perfectly, and develops through the quick-paced writing of a story where the boundaries between reality and fiction become more and more faded, thus making it intriguing and engrossing. On this aspect, the movie is also a reflection on the process itself of artistic creation, which can seduce the reader or the viewer with an incredible power of attraction. A movie which certainly offers a perfect balance between suspense and entertainment, supported by a talented young and mature cast, involving the viewer till the utmost, and moving us to an unpredictable and gripping finale.