Review of In the House (2012) by Nick O — 22 Oct 2013

It's somewhat fitting that in the more quiet moments of "In the House" on the soundtrack there's the sound of a single estranged, melancholy piano note that reminded me of the equally spare backing instrumental to Kanye West's "Runaway", with the line about toasting douchebags and assholes. Every character in François Ozon's film is a total prick in one way or another, or that's at least how Ozon chooses to portray them. Why the present tense? The through-line of "In the House" -- a snooty French (is there any other kind?) high school teacher Germain (Fabrice Luchini) tutors a student Claude (Ernst Umhauer) in writing a gossipy story about the secret lives of a fellow classmate's family -- often takes the form of whatever tension or lack thereof currently unfolding in Claude's ongoing investigation. Thirty minutes in I found myself looking for "In the House" to relate some sort of conflict, and lo and behold Germain in reading the latest installment of Claude's story comments, verbatim, "You need conflict.".

This dual narrative trick works mostly for Ozon, and "In the House" speaks wonderfully to his penchant for flavorful dry humor and -- wait for it -- bourgeois hypocrisy. Yet what I've described as could-be pretentious drivel is actually way smarter and more self-aware than it should be. Of course occasionally the whole breaking the fourth wall thing and having Germain metaphysically enter the reenacted telling of Claude's story as a critical observer feels too big for the movie's britches, and a lot of "In the House" plays like a particularly cinematic after-school special. I wonder what Pedro Almodovar would do with similar material, given his keenness toward amping up the melodrama of Shakespearean farces to the point of being operatic. Regardless, Ozon's "In the House", while sometimes TOO exact in what it's trying to do, is a very witty, sarcastic and absorbing comedy-cum-meditation on reality versus literary idealism.