Private Property

I always try to see films that star Isabelle Huppert. She is one hell of a fine actress. So her latest film to be released in the US, Private Property, was no exception. Joachim Lafosse directs this emotionally taut film with style (he also co-wrote the script with Francois Pirot).

Huppert plays Pascale, a middle aged, divorced woman living with her two grown sons. To say that they don't get along is an understatement. Thierry (Jeremie Renier) and Francois (Yannick Renier) are experts at giving their mother a hard time. Thierry is particularly nasty towards her. Oh, I should mention that Thierry and Francois are twins. It seems that they blame her for divorcing their father Luc (Patrick Descamps).

Pascale would like to sell her house and move somewhere else so that she could start a bed and breakfast business with her lover Jan (Kirs Cuppens). Her sons are absolutely opposed to it (they are old enough to be on their own). Bottom line - they don't want their mother to have a life.

Private Property is very well acted by everyone. Huppert is playing a much more sympathetic character than she usually does (she is not an ice queen). Both of the Renier brothers do a fine job as well. I couldn't stand them, especially Thierry. And the sex and nudity is quite frank and realistic (not like in American films). And the film does not have a tidy ending. We have to leave things to our imagination. I highly recommend this film to anyone who likes good, adult foreign films.