I think of Francois Ozon as a French version of Michael Winterbottom: a director interested in making a very diverse catalogue of films, more successful in some genres than in others, but no two of his movies are ever quite the same. 'In the House' tells the story of a teacher who encourages a pupil with a knack for storytelling, choosing to ignore (or even to encourage) the way the pupil is experimenting with life in order to find material for his tale. The twists revolve around the extent to which the teacher himself may also be present within the story. The conceit isn't a bad one, but the film has to work implausibly hard to bring it off: while the teacher and his wife are believable, I didn't find the pupil to be. Always he is writing of "normal life", as if to contrast with his own; but the film tells us nothing of what his own life actually is (except as a game-player extraordinaire). The ending is skillfully executed but overall, it's a little heavy-handed.
Review of In the House
