Private Property (aka Nue propriété/2006/France)
Picture: C Sound: C+ Extras: C- Film: B-
Isabelle
Huppert continues her reign as the grand dame of French cinema with Joachim
Lafosse’s 2006 drama Private Property
(aka Nue propriété/2006) portraying
the breakdown of a divorced family and the implications of all the fallout in
surprisingly honest terms of emotional and psychological damage. Pascale (Huppert) decided to raise her twin
sons and now, Francois & Thierry (real life brothers Yannick and Jérémie
Renier, the latter of who was so successful in L’Enfant and La Promisse,
both reviewed elsewhere on this site) are young adults, even if Thierry is the
most screwed up one.
Not
getting along with his mother, he constantly attacks her verbally, is in
increased conflict with his brother and certainly not happy with the absentee
father (Patrick Descamps) who in the long term may have failed in ways he is in
deep denial of. When Pascale wants to
date Jan (Kris Cuppens), it is Thierry who reacts most angrily and with the
most anger and confusion.
Though
the film should have been bolder and longer, I was impressed and pleasantly
surprised at the honesty of how damaged and vulnerable all the characters
were. The Lafosse/Francois Pirot
screenplay is mature, intelligent, rich and pulls no punches. That the film feels like it is about
characters that are alive, lived and live is increasingly rare in a world of
franchise, formula works. That makes Private Property one of the better
French imports we have seen in a while.
Hope Lafosse keeps getting better and better as a filmmaker.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image is poor transfer wise, hurting some of
the good shots and composition by Director of Photography Hichame Alaouie, who
constantly comes up with new and different ideas to approach the situations
that are more cinematic than melodramatic.
That is not easy, but it makes the film even more involving. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is somewhat weak,
with dialogue limits and weaker than expected soundfield. The only extra on the DVD is the original
theatrical trailer, though an interview with the filmmaker appears in a paper
foldout inside the DVD case.
- Nicholas Sheffo
