Private Property (Nue propriete)

Critics Consensus

Private Property overcomes its slow pace with tight direction from Joachim Lafosse and an intriguing performance from Isabelle Huppert.

76%

TOMATOMETER

Total Count: 33

65%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 894
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Movie Info

A beautiful old farm in Belgium is home to Pascale and her twin sons Thierry and François . Although loving and ostensibly supportive of one another, each is still reeling from the divorce that divided the family some years earlier. Now in their late teens, the boys, to some extent, have begun to move in different directions. Thierry has chosen to continue his studies by enrolling in a local university, but François' passion remains in his incessant renovation of the family house. The two of them continue to rely on their father for money and neither one cares to leave behind the stability they have at home with Pascale. In between her fulltime job, Pascale lovingly cares for both the boys and her home, but she's also fallen in love again and is beginning to dream of a new life for herself--one that she hopes will whisk her and her lover away to a countryside B&B that they aspire to own together. But, what would seemingly be a happy time in her life takes a turn for the worse as she finds herself unable to rise from the shadow of her ex-husband and stingy children. In a bid for survival, Pascale leaves the house in the hands of Thierry and François, never suspecting that in her absence a fratricidal war would change their family forever.

Cast

Isabelle Huppert
as Pascale
Jérémie Renier
as Thierry
Yannick Renier
as François
Kris Cuppens
as Jan
Patrick Descamps
Raphaelle Lubansu
as Anne
Didier De Neck
Dirk Tuypens
Sabine Riche
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Critic Reviews for Private Property (Nue propriete)

All Critics (33) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (25) | Rotten (8)

  • Intense and very involving drama by Belgian director Joachim Lafosse.

    Apr 18, 2008 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…

    Peter Bradshaw

    Guardian
    Top Critic

  • Brilliantly acted but oppressively dour.

    Apr 18, 2008 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…

    James Christopher

    Times (UK)
    Top Critic

  • Huppert is superb, her lonely heroine both sympathetically vulnerable and yet also slightly culpable for her sons' terribly selfish behaviour.

    Apr 18, 2008 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

    Jamie Russell

    BBC.com
    Top Critic

  • The effect of all this acting out is less erotic than helplessly childish.

    Sep 6, 2007

    Ella Taylor

    L.A. Weekly
    Top Critic

  • An impeccably acted character drama revolving around a mother and her teenage twin sons, Private Property shows how strong and how terrifying the bonds within families can be.

    Aug 31, 2007 | Rating: 4.5/5 | Full Review…

    Kenneth Turan

    Los Angeles Times
    Top Critic

  • It wouldn't be accurate to call Private Property a thriller, but it has a slow-burning intensity that's oddly suspenseful, and it shifts gears effectively once the tense family dynamic suddenly changes.

    Aug 27, 2007 | Rating: B+

    Scott Tobias

    AV Club
    Top Critic
View All Critic Reviews (33)

Audience Reviews for Private Property (Nue propriete)

  • Dec 01, 2010
    Tough to watch this family disintegrate before our eyes, but that is what we are asked to do. Pascale (Isabelle Huppert) has indulged her adult twin sons, the dreamy Francois (Yannick Renier) and the brutish Thierry (Jeremie Renier), all of their lives, so is it any surprise that they seem to have an over-inflated opinion of themselves? When Pascale suggests her idea to sell the family home and move, we realize that this family seems to have lost any ability to converse without rancor and because of that, the viewing experience was not very pleasant. The cast worked together very well, the scenery was lovely, but the story irritated more than entertained.
    Mark A Super Reviewer
  • May 27, 2007
    [font=Century Gothic]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...[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]"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.[/font]
    Walter M Super Reviewer
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