Well worth the visit!

A beautiful, funny and at the same time thrilling analysis of fiction's power.

This is a delightful film, clever, sexy, subversive and witty in its audacity. A great story well told, you join for the ride and desperately want to see where it takes you.

Enthralling and gloriously unpredictable.

Dark, complex, and captivating, I liked "In the House" very much, and this is by far my favorite Ozon film to date.

The greatest of films and screenplays beat me, outsmart me, have an answer waiting for what I think are clever concerns which will go overlooked. I'm not sold on Esther being the repressed neglected housewife Jeanne sympathizes with, she seems to be speaking for herself and exaggerating Esther to get the message across to Germain. I'm certain they will answer my issue with Mrs. Germain, but I think Esther will be portrayed in a false drama. Have no fear, Ozon is well aware of this cheap drama that we see but don't totally buy, and he has a climactic third act all lined up to satisfy our dramatic concerns. Germain Germain is no doubt a tribute to Humbert Humbert, but this is a different kind of scandal all twisted up. At one point Jeanne suggests Germain may have sexual feelings for Claude, but if he does, he's expressing it in an unusual way. He wants Claude to fulfill his masterpiece story, he's interested in the boy's daring sexual exploit with a MILF. He'd rather Claude get it on with Esther than with himself. Jeanne's suggestion is yet another hint at her own repression, quietly developing through the movie. The situation with her art gallery being threatened is more than a distraction though to her obstacle, it is a parallel to Germain's threat in education, as evidenced at the onset of the film from his reaction to the school's return to traditional uniforms. Neither his teaching style nor her art gallery are traditional, and they face a world who resents that. I like stories that can cleverly meld reality and fiction, art imitating life or life imitating art, in this case a little bit of both. The film moves at a pace which allows the viewer to remain fixed on how Claude's vampiric home invasion develops, not worrying about which parts are embellished and which are actually happening. If something starts to feel too phony, something else happens to pad it - we see the scenario played multiple ways so that we know these events have been more Claude's imagination, or Germain steps in to interact, a great device for how is position as a superior 'educator' is interfering with the fate of this family's life and Claude's. I don't care for the Hitchcock comparisons critics seem eager to draw upon, but I'll draw my own comparison to Woody Allen with this use of Germain's meta-narrative commentary, which is in an enthralling device, allowing Germain to weave in an out of scenarios he indirectly influences Claude to explore. There's fresh, fun, quirky ideas - all the art Jeanne encounters, particularly the sexual innuendos, Orzon is reaching American audiences by making a French Americana; that's unique. Suburban homes, pizza, basketball, all the interiors of the Rapha home look familiar to me. Claude's attraction to it all is clear. He pretends to be someone else, but we eventually learn he comes from lower income housing with a disabled father he has to care for. His life is poor, dull, naturally leading him to seek outwards for excitement - he's the perfect voyeur. Diverse panels open and close the picture, another unique device which highlights the scope of that other world out there threatening Germain and Jeanne. But it's not so much to do with a threat as it is about possibilities and opportunities. The final shot, perhaps somewhat reminiscent of Rear Window or the spiders in Minority Report, is colorful, bold, full of great staging and a mark of a great director stamping his piece, a slice of the world at large and all it's happenings.

I did not enjoy it, I did not understand it, and it's too dark for my liking.

This is some great stuff. "Dans La Maison" explores themes not often covered on the big screen, subjects ripe for psychological and emotional exploration. Fantastic casting all around, with an exceptional stand-out in young, charismatic actor Ernst Umhauer who delivers his lines with just the right touch of detached irony. With witty dialogue and moments of varyingly bright or acerbic humor, "Dans La Maison" is a movie truly worth watching.

Witty, elegant, and above all, French. Not entirely realistic, it has touches of the surreal. The subtext is the relationship of novelists to their subjects - exploitative and a tiny bit perverted. Very funny.

Un film che ha uno spunto narrativo interessante ma che poi si perde su una trama che diventa sempre più surreale (a mio giudizio troppo). Il finale è emblematico proprio in questo senso

Slow in pace, bu the carnal storyline with blurred lines between reality and fantasy make for a very interesting story of sexual awakening.

Fascinating throughout; acting well-done; unique idea. Just wasn't on board with the ending -- too far-fetched.

Just finished the movie. I don't know what to say. I feel like I lost two hours of my life. Lost them! The plot is indifferent. The characters are not interesting. They are colorless. I really really don't see the comedy element in the movie. Maybe it's too dark for my sensors... When you find the point or the purpose of a movie with the magnifying glass, then there is something wrong with the movie. It could have been so much more but in the end you get lost in stories of people's lives that are too many and therefore not adequately analyzed or presented. The only interesting feature of the movie was the fact that you could not tell what was actually happening and what was just fiction from the young kid. Which is an easy trick other than that. Apart from this, nothing more. The ending was weird and stupid and the only thing (maybe) worth keeping, is the acting of the young kid who seems to be really talented for his age and generally speaking. I expected more from a movie with such a rating and it is the first time that I find such a big difference between my opinion for the movie and the IMDb critics. It seems that this is one of these movies that my intellect cannot grasp... Anyways, a complete waste of time and DVDs burned! Don't even bother to watch it guys..

In a way "Dans la maison" is a modern adaptation of "One Thousand and One Nights" but 16 year old Claude is not planning to redeem his literature professor, Germain. The old man and his wife will be caught in the everyday day life of Claude's friend, Rafa, and in the end they will not be able to tell what is real and what is fiction. What would you do if your favorite book characters lived in your neighborhood? What if you were a character in your favorite story? How would you be able to cope with reality?

Absorbing and very engaging. It brings you and you feel like the voyeur yourself almost dying to know what is going on in the house and awaiting the next installment. A brilliant satire though I wasn't too sure on the ending of the film it didn't convince me it seem out of character but I'll watch it again and see if I'm wrong

Got a little creepy, but pretty interesting....

Very disappointing movie, with a story that built up to nothing. I expected to be pleased by this movie, having enjoyed many of Ozon's other films, but this one just fell completely flat.

If you don't like french cinema, you should try this wonderful movie.

An odd movie. Entertaining enough, but I feel the premise wasn't developed quite as well as it could have been. Very intellectual movie. Very French.

Original e inteligente trama