By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Ursula Meier
Starring: Adélaïde Leroux | Isabelle Huppert | Kacey Mottet Klein | Madeleine Budd | Olivier Gourmet
Country: belgium, france, switzerland
Year: 2010
Running time: 98
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1319569/
Michael says: “As we near the final quarter of 2010, I’ve started to catch up on some movies I’ve missed in the theater (and there are a lot of them!) HOME is a French film starring Isabelle Huppert, the first feature narrative by filmmaker Ursula Meier. This absorbing film follows a family fall apart when the unused highway they have lived next to for 10 years opens for business. The film opens with the family, parents and three children, playing hockey on the abandoned highway. They shriek with glee, enjoying their closeness and their warm home life, little suspecting that it’s all about to fall apart. In the first quarter of the film we see their life leading up to summer vacation. They are a happy, close-knit unit, with Dad, Michel, going to work each morning, and the two youngest crossing through a field to catch the bus to school. The oldest daughter spends her days in a bikini, sunning herself by the highway. Mother, Marthe, does the household chores, but never strays far from her home. Even before the highway kicks into gear, we suspect that Mother has a history of mental illness or some behavioral difficulty. Even as the traffic begins to flow, coming within yards of their front door, the family tries to live their life normally, but things quickly start to unravel. Middle daughter Marion becomes obsessed with the contaminants in the exhaust and the detrimental effect they have on the family. Youngest son Julien, once outgoing and uninhibited grows introspective. As Marthe’s efforts to adapt begin to grow increasingly unusual, Michel tries to get the family to leave with disastrous results. Finally, even Michel succumbs to the pressures of life by the highway and his unraveling family and attempts a solution that threatens to ultimately destroy them.
“Huppert is in fine farm as a woman slowly losing her already tenuous grip on reality. The three children do a good job in a situation that defies the ordinary. Olivier Gourmet (TIME OF THE WOLF) does a great job as the father trying to hold his family together even as he nears his breaking point. Meier’s direction is impressive, especially coupled with the always extraordinary camerawork of Chlotrudis Award-winning cinematographer Agnes Godard. There are shots of exquisite beauty such as Julien running alongside the highway traffic and the family leaving a picnic that allowed a moment’s peace. It’s definitely worth a look and a possible Buried Treasure contender for me. 4 cats”