Private Property (Nue Propriete)
This is an impressive film that
opens with the dedication “to our limits”. Following this enigmatic foreword,
we are introduced to the setting and characters of the piece, a modern family, the parents are separated, living in a large country house
in a rural part of
One might speculate that the success of the film’s effect owes to the focussed attitude of the filmmakers, who have created a concise, convincing drama that neatly and adequately treats of each of the issues that it addresses without overreaching in any. The cast is small and the number of locations is limited, and much of the action unfolds in the aforementioned country house (which, as in El Orfanato, is an important and characterful feature in its own right). What seems even more remarkable to me is that the film has won a student film award in 2004, although I am unsure whether the present release is a remake of that production or whether both productions are the same. This latter theory would seem unlikely on account of the involvement of the high-profile actress Isabel Huppert (the mother in the family) in the current release.
From time to time, the pace of the plot is modulated by the insertion of scenes whose relevance to the main storyline is not immediately obvious, such as the image of Huppert relaxing in the bathroom, or of Thierry, her son, running the vacuum cleaner and doing the laundry. Scene selection is particularly interesting at the film’s conclusion, where we are presented with informative and revelatory (in the context of the film’s plot) images of the country house. In terms of the plot dynamics, it is interesting that the climactic events of the piece culminate in a moment of intrinsic stillness (comparable in nature to a climactic plot event in The Edge of Heaven). No music, incidental or otherwise, is heard until the film’s closing scenes, during which we hear an extraordinary piece played on cello and violin. This high quality selection is extremely powerful coming as it does at the conclusion of the dramatic events of the film itself.
It is a final testament to the film’s strength that the only difficulty I had as the play’s initial scenes played out, that the actors playing the “boys” in the family appeared to be a little too old for their roles, was quickly superceded by my engagement with the piece, and it in fact later transpired that their age is relevant to the family’s dynamics. In conclusion, this is an affecting drama that derives its success from an almost perfect achievement of a modest ambition.