In "Private Property", Pascale(Isabelle Huppert) lives with her two grown sons, Thierry(Jeremie Renier) and Francois(Yannick Renier), in a large house in the country that was purchased by her ex-husband, Luc(Patrick Descamps). That having been said, she does not want to have anything to do with him, even ten years
after their divorce. She has recently gotten involved with a neighbor, Jan(Kris Cuppens), and is now looking to do something new with her life which leads her to dreaming of opening a bed and breakfast. In order to get the money for this, she plans on selling the house which does not go over too well with anybody... "Private Property" is an intriguing little number about the lingering effects of divorce on a family. To be more precise, it is not the divorce itself but the way this one was handled, as neither parent took control in the situation and the boys were caught in the middle of a perpetual tug-of-war. So, in the end they were spoiled by both parents and were never given a full chance to mature. Now, they are at an age where most young men would be impatient to move out to claim their own lives, but instead they stay at home most of the time playing video games, dependent on their parents for petty cash and rides into town. Pascale reinforces this by behaving around them as if they were small children.
May 27, 2007
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