Private Property (2006)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Let's be realistic.

A Masterpiece!

I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

NP is about the rampant alienation in modern Capitalist Western society, and the gradual destruction of the once-compact family unit, through greed, materialism, and loss of spirituality. It's a heart-felt, and indeed heart-wrenching, look at the struggles involved in late adolescence on one hand, and the sense of disorientation of a middle-aged cow, on the other. Furthermore, the concept of the-Just kidding... Yes, this is a French movie in more ways than one.Nuage Proprietage is basically just a relatively dull, quite pointless family drama, and yet from the start it is chock-full of little kinky surprises: perversions that we're so accustomed to seeing from Euro-trash directors these days. Huppert is taking a shower, while one of her twin sons is peeing, standing only a meter away from her. I half-expected them to have sex (knowing full-well that incest and/or sodomy and/or bestiality have odds at around 50-50 of occurring in any given European movie - even more so when it's held in high esteem by Les Critiques Filmeaux), turning NP into yet another excuse for taboo-breaking hence "artistic" cinema.But no, there is no incestual theme here. I guess perhaps the French do this sort of thing on a regular basis: parents and their kids being naked together in the john... A little later on, incest-fans/perverts among the cinema-goers are given a glimmer of yet more hope when Isabelle's male twins bathe together in a very very small bathtub. Did I mention they're 18 years old? No, no, no, ye fans of sexploitation trash cinema, don't get yer hopes up; the siblings do not - thankfully(!!!!) - have sex with each other. Believe it or not, they are not even (physically) attracted to each other, and at least one half of the twinic duo is straight.We find out about the blond twin's heterosexuality through a number of scenes in which he has sex with his pretty girlfriend. I mean, show me good female nudity any time you like, but is there any purpose to these scenes? No. Does it matter to the further plot developments that at least one of the twins likes girls? No. Would the blond twin act any different toward his mother's plans to sell their house if hadn't had a girlfriend? Probably not. (If anything, being sexually unsaturated he'd be even more aggressive against her selling it.) And yet what French movie would be complete without pointless sex scenes? European filmmakers never forget that most critics who write about their precious movies are sex-starved aging nerds, hence once you've titillated them, you assure yourself at least a solid rating.The bizarre nude scenes are just the top of the Pointlessness Pyramid. There is a plethora of scenes that mean absolutely nothing, add nothing to the story, etc. Their only purpose is PADDING. Fill the time somehow because the story is so thin; so basic it would not suffice for a half-hour TV drama, if left to stand on its own, without the silent, pretentious pauses in the plot. Cleverly enough, every brainwashed/lobotomized film student has been indoctrinated to tell you that these pointless scenes are supposed to "aid character development". Yeah, a woman walking on grass for 10 minutes definitely tells me everything about the character... (That she's a cow?...) In fact, padding tells a lot more about the director's pretentious cluelessness than any character here.WHO CARES about a scene in which the twins wrestle, this allegedly showing us that they're "still immature" (as one reviewer put it)? A skillful director/writer does not require a dozen one-minute scenes to describe a character: he can do it in 2 minutes, and if he's really ingenious/inventive he can describe a character sufficiently in even less than that.Remember: so-called "character development" is just another term for "wasting the viewer's precious(?) time". Besides, none of the movie's basic six characters are interesting enough to deserve so much "in-depth" portrayal. These people are neither interesting or weird enough to warrant that kind of effort or time.When you strip away all the BS and take a hard - (and slightly bored) - look at the basics of NP, you must realize that you're dealing with a rather trite plot of whether a woman will sell her house or not! WHO CARES! If I wanted to experience the thrill of watching people decide whether and how to sell their homes I'd have gone into real estate.The ending is as pointless as the basic premise: the blond twin injures the other twin. The love is now gone from the family, the twins' innocence is lost, everyone is emotionally devastated, and allegedly all of this is the blond twin's fault because he was trying to prevent his mother from taking their house away... So very deep.I really like Isabelle Huppert. However, in her later years she has narrowed down her acting technique to giving us the same grumpy poker-face (sounds like an oxymoron, I know) - in almost every single scene. I doubt that she's even capable of playing sympathetic characters anymore. She's starting to display the non-range of Katherine Deneuve, the worst French actress of all time.

The French film, "Private Property," sets up a fierce battle of wills between a divorced mother and the two ne'er-do-well sons (fraternal twins) who still live with her. Pascale wants to sell the house and open up a bed-and-breakfast with her new boyfriend, but the young men, fearing the loss of the property that they believe should rightly go to them, attempt to block any efforts in that direction.With intelligent direction by Joachim Lafosse and incisive writing by Lafosse and Francois Pirot, this low-keyed family drama explores the complexities inherent in filial, sibling and marital relationships. The confrontation scenes, many of which take place during meal times (come to think of it, I don't believe I've seen this much eating in a film since "Babette's Feast"), are sharply drawn and effectively staged. The acting is excellent across the board, particularly that of Isabelle Huppert, as the middle-aged woman determined to finally start living for herself, and Jeremy Renier, as the more belligerent and self-centered of her two sons. Yannick Renier, Jeremy's brother in real life, is also very good as the more passive of the twins.Some viewers may feel let down and frustrated by the inconclusive ending, but I enjoyed the ambiguity of it. We have been made privy to just one brief episode in the lives of these people - then it's time for us to move on.

Nue Propriete Isabelle Huppert. She was the only reason why I selected to see this movie. She is a brilliant actress and provides such a natural relief by her screen presence. She has got those tricks up her sleeve to glue audience's attention on her – always! The story is about a divorced mother- played obviously by Isabelle; and her two sons – Thierry (ill-tempered) and Francios (sensitive) who live together and the special relationship they share. When the mother wants to sell the house to start a new life with her lover Jan (Kris Cuppens), Thierry is one who apposes the move and this results in dividing the family and a touching ending.The Director – Joachim Lafosse has also written the story and this is just his fourth movie as a director, yet he shows class. I think the forte of Joachim is the drama woven around his characters. The director lets all the characters in the movie let loose, relaxed and all characters give an astounding real performance. I think each character's brief stands out on its own with crucial expressions and emotions; and at times we feel like missing on one expression while seeing the other. I obviously was always hooked on Isabelle's acting talent.All the actors have played their role with punctual brief, but the show is stolen with a very good acting done by Jeremie Renier playing Thierry. He shows the vulnerability and childish temperament with ease.I would like to mention a special scene that is brilliant in the movie - when Jeremie is hiding in the bush, with the camera focused on him, and the hazy background running the actual scene – all taken in one shot. I think this was a true winner shot of the movie.Go and see the movie, you will enjoy it.(Stars 7 out of 10)

This movie is an example of perfect psychological drama that only the French (actually the director is Belgian) can write and direct in such an essential and powerful way.SPOILERS FOLLOWING Focusing on two twin brothers conceived by a divorced couple, the film is a very serious study on the dynamics between a mother (Isabelle Huppert) and her two bi-ovular twin sons (Renier twins). The threesome, since the moment of the divorce, lives intimately isolated in a great house in the middle of the country in Luxembourg. The two brothers are complete adults but unemployed. The quiet one is good at fixing things in the house, the loud one is good at doing nothing but kissing and having sex with a girlfriend he sees instead of going to the university classes. Mother is distressed because she's run out of money and, encouraged by her new lover, she wants to sell the family house her ex-husband offered as a precaution for the kids to invest on a green house. Of course, the troubled son makes a violent stand and starts treating her mother really badly until she decides to go away for a period and leave the guys alone in order to make them realize they're not little boys anymore. The ex-husband is a quiet and loving man who chose to marry a second time and had a third children with an other woman after Pascale (Isabelle Huppert) left him. For she is a woman, she is not able to confront her two male grown-up children (there is sexual tension between them also) and the ghost of her ex-husband. Her new lover doesn't want to interfere and draws back, leaving her alone. Pascale doesn't want her ex-husband to show his face and interfere in her personal relationship with the boys, but when she elopes she announces him that it's time that he takes care of them because she is exhausted and wants a new life. The father avenges and refuses to go and keep an eye on them because he thinks they're mature enough. He couldn't be more wrong! As the boys are home alone, their relationship suddenly cracks and in a moment of foolish and immature rage, the blond one fights him until leaving him unconscious. As soon as he realizes what he's done, he calls their father but he prefers escaping instead of confronting the family. When the family is reunited, in the end, we are left unable to know what are the conditions of the hospitalized brother (he could be dead or alive, we are not given any clue for this) and mother/father/child have their violent climax moment where the troubled son blames her mother for divorcing and ruining his family life. The father simply explains that things were not meant to keep them together and Thierry eventually moves on and grows. The last sequence is a series of shots in the house as it is emptied and sold to new owners. We move on the country roads near the house backwards as if Thierry's family history was to be removed necessarily.The movie is very dramatic although the real dramatic moment comes in the end as a truly unexpected punch in your stomach. Some may find it too educational and deprived of visual and inventive power, but that's not the intention. Frnech movies are usually quite simple and classic and focusing on psychology and more thoughtful themes. Each performance is worthy of applause, especially Jeremie Renier (already seen in another great performance a few years ago in CRIMINAL LOVERS by Francois Ozon) and the evergreen Isabelle Huppert.