In The House
08 Jan 2014
Director: François Ozon
France
2012
105 min
In Ozon’s teasing comedy, Germain teaches literature. He despises most of his fellow teachers for their conventional thinking and despairs of his pupils for their uniformity and lack of imagination. Germain discovers a gifted pupil, the 16-year-old Claude, who turns in an essay on “What I did last week” after insinuating himself in the house of fellow student, Rapha. Unlike the others in the class, who hand in a few bored, illiterate lines, Claude writes of his fascination with the attractive, sports-loving Rapha and his seemingly perfect middle-class life with adoring parents. Faced with this gifted and unusual pupil, Germain rediscovers his enthusiasm for his work, but the boy’s intrusion will unleash a series of uncontrollable events.