MovieChat Forums > Dans la maison (2012) Discussion > there was an exact point...

there was an exact point...

posted 11 years ago by withnail69
8 replies | jump to latest

in this film where I knew (for me) it was on the downturn. I yearn for more films that promise little and deliver way beyond expectations rather than so many (including this one) that start off so captivating and cannot maintain the momentum. I think it was around the time the teacher appeared in the boys bedroom. I just thought wtf? Why. It wasn't needed. I think the term is called breaking the 4th wall? Is that correct. Any a great beginning. At times similar to woody allen at his best (as some people have mentioned). Tense compelling and then fizzling out. What would I have changed to make the last 3rd better? I don't know I'm struggling. I was hoping for a big twist. More creativity in the writing and/or greater manipulation of the teacher.... I guess ultimately the pupil did manipulate the teacher but I hoped it would have been done differently. A nice surprise that shows the pupil to be far far more talented than the teacher realised maybe? Interested to know your thoughts. Did you feel it kept up the suspense and momentum?

[–] trentcyrusparker 11 years ago

i totally agree. the film built up so beautifully in the beginning only to not live up to any of that in the latter part. I could almost deal with the teacher appearing (almost), but the wet and contrived ending really let us down. it completely lost the clever suspense and quirky wit it exuded so well in the first half.

funny especially cause Germain tells the student that a good ending is one that the audience doesn't expect, but once they see it feel that it couldn't have ended any other way. I guess i could say i didn't quite expect the ending to be so *beep* but it definitely was disappointing and incongruous with the the rest of the film.

[–] benman46 11 years ago

You appear to have missed the point of the film, which is where reality blurs into fiction, and explains the sudden appearance of the teacher in some scenes. As the film progresses it becomes more difficult to tell what is real and what is fiction, and at the end the characters chose fiction over reality. As the director has said, the house itself is fiction and Germain and Claude adeptly convey the pleasures of orchestrating narrative construction and suspense. But it is not a suspense film and so there is no big twist, why should there be. Most of the ending was fairly obvious anyway, but that doesn't matter. To ask for more creativity in the writing is ludicrous, the script was beautifully written, the fact you didn't understand it is your fault not the writer's. Claude was manipulating Germain for the whole movie, as well as the other characters, how could it have been done differently. Claude's writing talent isn't important, it's his ability to manipulate the people around him that is. And I don't see the Woody Allen comparison at all, he would die to make a film as good as this.

[–] henrimaine 11 years ago

I had no problem with Germain appearing in the house (breaking the fourth wall, in a sense). The last 15 minutes or so felt a bit rushed with too many things suddenly happening, but I can't say I could come up with a better ending.

[–] gonnabeabumpyride 11 years ago

I just finished watching this, and you've hit upon my lone criticism of the movie, henrimaine. I thought the movie was fantastic, but I did feel that at the end it felt rushed to wrap everything up. I suppose part of my problem is that I didn't want to see it end. I enjoyed it that much.

[–] rick-220 10 years ago

I think the term is called breaking the 4th wall? Is that correct.

Technically it was not, but the effect was the same, and what it actually achieved was breaking into your house, so to speak. Instead of spoonfeeding the audience with a conventional well rounded story, Ozon activates the viewer, making him question his own perception of the story, and sort of making him part of the story.

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[–] PoppyTransfusion 10 years ago

I really loved the film and rate it 9/10 but it did lose momentum as it became harder to distinguish reality from fiction and also as Claude's relationship with Esther became a love story. What I would have liked was the story to link the Artole household with Claude's own home life and how his was less than normal.

The distance is nothing. The first step is the hardest.

[–] ablack90 10 years ago

What I would have liked was the story to link the Artole household with Claude's own home life and how his was less than normal

This is exactly what I was waiting for. I lost interest in this film at around the 50 minute mark. Germain was incredibly irresponsible and unprofessional to encourage a troubled student to spy on a family in order to gain material for his writing. I'm glad he was caught for stealing a math test for Rafa. There was nothing suspenseful for me in this film. It was just so very tiring.

[–] PoppyTransfusion 10 years ago

I think Claude was a more interesting character than Germain and so as the film becomes increasingly about the latter it lessened my interest. I enjoyed Germain when he was discussing Claude and his stories with his wife.

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