enjoyed being In The House

Totally enjoyed chilling out on Friday night with a sophisticated black comedy created by French auteur Francois Ozon. The film opened in a nondescript French high school where they were introducing a radical suggestion of requiring all students to wear uniforms - so unFrench! At this point, I began to look out for the different levels of meaning and interpretation, conveyed by the convincing characters. Fabrice Luchini plays Germaine, a world-weary literature teacher, married to the artistic curator Jeanne played by Kristin Scott Thomas. They both escape their rather mundane existence through reading together the rather saucy stories of his pet pupil Claude, played by Ernst Umhauer. Claude is a smart but lonely working-class boy who stalks and finally infiltrates the perfect middle-class family of his new best friend. While Germaine critiques and enjoys each chapter, it is difficult to know when reality ends and fantasy begins. I enjoyed not needing to make a decision and realised that I had accepted it all without really believing it. I had become entranced by Claude's belief that you can find out about someone by finding a way to get inside their house and become part of their life. In fact, I agree and at times I can say that this has been a lot of fun...