Vinicius Andrade Dans la Mansion has a very captivating plot and it's very difficult to not get involved right away. Its interesting development and storytelling combined with artistic references bring a distinction to the picture, besides having a break of linearity which makes the movie quite unpredictable and unexpected. Fabrice Luchini is German, a literature teacher who is resigned with his present life, but with the arrival of one student, Claude García, and his talent in writing, shake his life, making him feel alive and feel like as if he was accomplishing already forgotten and distant dreams through his student. Fabrice has a good performance, even being active and important in the progress of the story, sometimes felt like he also was a spectator, the change of personality as he was reading Claude's texts, his actions and thoughts began to get influenced and impacted by his student's essays. Ernst Umhauer as Claude is the highlight of the film, he's amazing as he created such compelling character that is so intriguing and mysterious. The scenes which Claude is in as both narrator and character has a certain prominence to show both an influence among narrator-character as character-narrator. When it deconstruct and give a new perspective to a scene already presented due this unusual dialogue, the picture assimilates with the creation of a artistic work as the author changes his project as a result of influences around him. In addition of creating an uncertainty of what really happened considering the puzzling distinction between fiction and reality.

secondtake In the House (2012)Another curious reality shifting movie in the most subtle and old fashioned of ways—the realism of good fiction. A young writer creates a reality in his essays that is shown as if real on screen. The characters around the writer, and within the fictional story, get intertwined because they are all the same. This game of deception is coy but also witty and warm, and it's a fun, genuine movie.I'm not sure how much logic you should try to apply to things here. I assume they have it worked out perfectly, but watching it lightly the layers of reality get necessarily confusing. In a way this doesn't matter, because you get the general drift. Which is this: a literature teacher in high school has a talented student, Claude, who writes fictional essays about real people. One is another student, Rapha, and we see events in this other student's house because of the writing (and have to guess whether or not those events are fact or fiction). The teacher talks to Claude about the content, wondering if it's fair to lay open Rapha's life, and the student smartly says that it was written for the teacher alone. This brings the teacher into the story in ways he doesn't suspect. It also shows the audience that Claude is outfoxing his teacher and we are going to see a game played as Claude's writings raise reactions in the teacher that affect the fictional plot. Or is it the actual plot? Or both?Exactly.The director, Francois Ozon, is no stranger to this type of game playing. The famous earlier film of his in the U.S. is "Swimming Pool," a remake of an earlier film that has the same tricks played on the audience. It's never quite enough to have this slippery reality be the basis of a movie, and in "Swimming Pool" the events became quite dramatic and psychologically interesting. The ambitions for "In the House" are smaller and less chilling, and in a way less effective, but also less sensationalist and more believable. We have here more of an ensemble piece, a charmer, a play brought to the screen.And it does rise above mere literary cleverness because of the leading man, the teacher, played by Fabrice Luchini, who will be familiar even to American audiences. His wife is the dependable Kristin Scott Thomas (speaking in French). The two of them make a likable intellectual couple (and her own role as an contemporary art dealer plays a small part in the plot). The way they talk about Claude's regular installments is how we get to think about the interweaving of realities. And does it ever get interwoven. Keep track of it is you can. Otherwise, just enjoy the show.

thefadingcam When you say commercial movies like Looper are well written (because for their genre, they are), and then watch something like Dans la Maison (In The House), writing goes up to a new level. François Ozon, the director, had already impressed in 2003 with Swimming Pool, but In The House is probably his best film to date. It tells the story of a student that begins writing essays for his french teacher about one of his classmates' family, while he enters their house and makes himself a close friend. Into The House feels like reading a good mystery book while watching someone else interpret it, being that "someone else" your own self. In a very subtle way, Dans La Maison makes you addicted to its story, with a very traditional but poetic and beautiful directing, real life characters, and mesmerizing acting from Fabrice Luchini and Kristin Scott Thomas, bringing the mind of a 16 year old student to this amazing parallel reality. Visit the fading cam blog for more!

kosmasp A wicked little movie that tries to brake boundaries and more than the fourth wall. It raises up a lot of questions and puts up the mirror to a lot of things, while continuously being funny and wicked at the same time. A hilarious attempt at describing what Art means nowadays or how we try to interpret it. Maybe even how we try to create it.There is more than one story strand in this movie and they all get at least somewhat explored. And while some of those strands may feel like a cliché, the head on approach make them feel like a fresh take on it. You have to have an open mind about the movie and the way it is shot and told, but if you can do that, you might be able to enjoy this very much. Multiple views can also bring up new and exciting things you might not have seen first time around. Whatever the case, I can recommend this to anyone who wants to be intellectually challenged by watching a movie.