We are taken to meet a perfect family in a suburb of Paris. The old house has been remodeled in perfect taste. The people that live in this house are bourgeois to the core. They have superb manners. But is everything as perfect as it seems?
Francois Ozon, one of the most interesting men working in the French cinema, seems to believe he can show us a different aspect that is not seen on the glossy picture we see.
After the father brings home a lab rat, it becomes everyone's pet. The son one day declares at the dinner table he is gay, to her mother's dismay. The father accepts the fact with philosophy. After all, he muses, weren't men in ancient Greece practitioners of this sexual preference? After all, they were well adjusted and no one batted an eyelash. The daughter, who is having intimate relations with her boyfriend, decides to jump out of a window and become paraplegic. The mother, decides one evening to show her son how things are done in the heterosexual world.
The father is given an ultimatum: Get rid of the rat, or else. His way of dealing with the little creature is to practice all his gourmet knowledge on the pet with surprising results. The family, as a whole decides to deal with the monster the father created in a cruel way, but by doing so, peace and tranquility returns to the household again.
Mr. Ozon asks us to see the family in a different way. After all, how many families do we know that are picture perfect? Or at least, akin to the image the ubiquitous 'sitcoms' on television wants to impose on us. The director shows why he is one of the best minds working in movies these days.
We particularly enjoyed the work of Evelyne Dandry, who plays the mother in the story with great panache. She is the model of BCBG. She will never be seen without a perfect wardrobe, or a hair out of place. The other great contribution is from Lucia Sanchez, who appears as the maid. She undergoes a transformation, beginning as a normal person, then takes a new persona as she is given the responsibility of taking care of Sophie, the paraplegic. Marina DeVan and Adrien DeVan are seen as the daughter, and son of this messed up household. Francois Marthouret underplays the father role.
The last scene in the film shows the family at a cemetery as the white lab rat plays atop the black marble tomb. A fit closure for this delightful film.
Francois Ozon, one of the most interesting men working in the French cinema, seems to believe he can show us a different aspect that is not seen on the glossy picture we see.
After the father brings home a lab rat, it becomes everyone's pet. The son one day declares at the dinner table he is gay, to her mother's dismay. The father accepts the fact with philosophy. After all, he muses, weren't men in ancient Greece practitioners of this sexual preference? After all, they were well adjusted and no one batted an eyelash. The daughter, who is having intimate relations with her boyfriend, decides to jump out of a window and become paraplegic. The mother, decides one evening to show her son how things are done in the heterosexual world.
The father is given an ultimatum: Get rid of the rat, or else. His way of dealing with the little creature is to practice all his gourmet knowledge on the pet with surprising results. The family, as a whole decides to deal with the monster the father created in a cruel way, but by doing so, peace and tranquility returns to the household again.
Mr. Ozon asks us to see the family in a different way. After all, how many families do we know that are picture perfect? Or at least, akin to the image the ubiquitous 'sitcoms' on television wants to impose on us. The director shows why he is one of the best minds working in movies these days.
We particularly enjoyed the work of Evelyne Dandry, who plays the mother in the story with great panache. She is the model of BCBG. She will never be seen without a perfect wardrobe, or a hair out of place. The other great contribution is from Lucia Sanchez, who appears as the maid. She undergoes a transformation, beginning as a normal person, then takes a new persona as she is given the responsibility of taking care of Sophie, the paraplegic. Marina DeVan and Adrien DeVan are seen as the daughter, and son of this messed up household. Francois Marthouret underplays the father role.
The last scene in the film shows the family at a cemetery as the white lab rat plays atop the black marble tomb. A fit closure for this delightful film.