Sitcom
A**E
SITCOM, 1998 - Aspect Ratio 1.66:1
The head of an unusual family brings home a pet. Each family member reacts in their own way.Évelyne Dandry, François Marthouret, Marina de Van, Adrien de Van and Stéphane RideauThe story of the disintegration of a family that wasn’t all that coherent to begin with.I hesitate to give many details about this movie. It is one of those you simply must discover as its story unfolds. It is a dark comedy, bizarre in a way only French movies can be. French language with English subtitles. (Caution: the German disc does not have English subtitles.)I have had 2 copies of this movie. The first copy began very promisingly: A man drives up to a house and enters. From within we hear several voices begin singing “Happy Birthday” in French. They stop abruptly and one voice asks, “Papa, why?” Then numerous gunshots and cries of pain, followed by silence. At that point my DVD froze and refused to play.I had to wait two weeks to continue with another copy. It was a long two weeks.NOT A HORROR - Sitcom is very dark and very strange. Not everyone will embrace it. But, I liked it quite a lot. Not for the little ones or those adults uncomfortable with French casualness with sex.
D**E
The Feel-Up, Feel-Good Family-Film of- all-time…!
One of the funniest movies i have seen in a long time. I really hope this director makes another black comedy- he mainly makes dramas[very good ones] but this bedroom-farce from hell is seamless. Just when you think he has gone too far- it still seems to work.Forget Oliver Stone, this is the director that should do a George W. Bush Biography.
P**,
Bizarre French comedy
Using "bizarre" to describe a French comedy is a bit of an oxymoron, but it applies here. A lab rat appears to propel a family towards a series of life-changes and other mishaps.One of the most understated moments of comedy in the film involves the daughter and the noose in the middle of the living room. The film doesn't bother to explain how it was hung. The brother's momentary reaction to the noose is very funny.So strange and so funny.
G**P
Warning: No Subtitles on German (PAL) DVD edition!
Unfortunately, the less-expensive German DVD of this movie does NOT have English subtitles (or any subtitles).
M**S
WOW
This is one of the craziest movies i have ever watched! it made me laugh... feel really ackward at times but over all i loved it. It was very weird and different. I am very happy i can add this movie to my collection.
J**S
A shock and a giggle
This is an amusing, entertaining but not very deep gloss on suburban decay. The tables are turned on the buttoned down family in this movie. When the respectable, staid father brings home a lab rat in a cage, it becomes quite clear that the family members themselves are the guinea pigs. The rat exerts a strange, hypnotic power: these repressed suburbanites toss their inhibitions to the wind and embrace their darkest, wildest fantasies, be they erotic or morbid. This premise certainly promises much, and the filmmakers clearly owe a big debt to Bunuel and even Almodovar. But the film lacks the obscene, sacrilegious kicks of the one and the sultry, melodramatic absurdity of the other. And the film is somewhat wobbly in tone and structure; it has moments that promise revelation and visual beauty but never quite delivers. And when the father has his own explosive epiphany, it hasn't the deadpan shock that Bunuel would have given it. The tone is listless, inert. It's unclear at the end just what the father represented that had to be destroyed: patriarchal repressiveness? cold intellect? hostility to animal impulse? A far more disturbing scene is the son's confrontation with his mother in bed. I found myself giggling surreptitiously to deflect the impact of this most uncomfortable and blasphemous of Freudian scenarios. This scene combines horror and comedy in a way that the rest of the movie fails to live up to--for once, we are drawn into the vortex where anxiety gives way to irony. Next to this scene, the rest of the film looks like trendy, self-conscious posturing, as if the filmmakers thought themselves above the real, unsettling content of their theme.
J**T
Let's have more sitcoms like this one! Airing out the nuclear family rooms...
A friend presented this to me -- I had no idea what to expect. If you're reading my review of this item and know little else, devote yourself to my review -- it's best you know as little about the film as possible.Without giving away the story, I will tell you: this is not your average "sitcom" --> it's a black comedy, the likes of which reminds me of Miike Takashi's "Happiness of the Karakuris" (probably a good bet if you've seen one, thinking about the other). "Sitcom" does so many loopy, funny things with its normal French family (ha) that I was nearly jumping out of my seat going "You'd never see that in an American film!" "No way!!!" "Oh brother!" There are many gut-wrenching laughs to be had here.This film constantly defies our expectations, twist after twist. On one level, it is very light, parodic fare; on another level, it says a lot of about our subconscious.Done on a minimal budget, it relies on brilliant characterizations, writing and direction. "Sitcom" is a breath of fresh air.
N**G
An undoubtedly disturbing, but clever movie
Digusting and disturbing are probably the words that come out from you after you have watched the movie. Yet, it does not mean that it is bad. Sitcom is a very clever movie indeed. This movie's humour lies on who should exist, the sexually 'normal'? or the sexually 'indecent'? The climax of the paterfamilias killing the whole family is followed by the anti-climax of the family killing the indifferent father figure. Are they killing the rat or their father? We should think about it. The dialogues and plot are entertaining, but at the same time, also pathetic as they reveal the deep isolation among members in a dysfunctional middle-class family.
J**N
Five Stars
Excellent product
R**Y
Papi verweigert die Familientherapie....
Die "Sitcom" meint Situationskomödie und ist eine Unterhaltungssendung, die im amerikanischen Hörfunk der 30er Jahre ihren Ursprung hatte und später vom Fernsehen adaptiert wurde.Meist als Serie ausgestrahlt, ist die humorvolle Auseinandersetzung mit Alltagssituationen, extrem beliebt. Es herrscht eine ständige und schnelle Abfolge von mehr oder weniger geglückten Gags, Pointen und komischen Momenten, eingebettet meistens in einer eher dramatischen Familiengeschichte. Besonders beliebt und gehasst sind die noch zusätzlich eingesetzten Lachkanonen, damit der Zuschauer ja auch weiss, wo er zu lachen hat.Francois Ozon muss bekennender Fan von Pedro Almodovar sein, auch die Werke von Luis Bunuel müssen faszinierend für ihn sein. Dies gemischt mit dem Faible für Trash und den Schund unserer heutigen TV- und Kinowelt gaben die Richtung seines 1998 gedrehten Debüts vor.Daher fällt Ozons Version der "Sitcom" schon viel provokativer aus als seine Vorbilder " um möglichst viele Menschen anzusprechen, wirft manoft alles aus der Sitcom raus, was missfallen könnte. Der kleinstegemeinsame Nenner wird angestrebt, alles wird entschärft: bloß keine Grenzen überschreiten. Mir dagegen macht es Spaß, Konflikte aufzudecken und den Zuschauer kräftig zu rütteln!Daher ist seine dargestellte Familie schon viel schräger und richtig schön krank und neurotisch:Papa Jean (Francois Marthouret) kommt nach Hause, er schliesst die Tür des Hauses und drinnen ertönen entzückend liebreizende Gesangstimmen, die "Zum Geburtstag viel Glück" anstimmen. Dann hört man wie eine Pistole ballert. Jean hat seine gesammte Familie kalt gemacht. In einer Rückblende wird die schrecklich nette Familie vorgestellt: Papa Jean war immer der Betrachter, der besonnene Geist der Familie, seine Lieben nehmen aber eher wahr, dass er völlig desinteressiert und unbeteiligt registriert, was die Nöte der Familie sind.Aber immerhin hat er eine Laborratte mit nach Hause gebracht, die fortan das Haustier ist.Sohn Nicolas (Adrien de Van) verkündet bei einem Abendessen, dass er schwul ist und mutiert vom Musterschüler und Müstersohn zum Gruppensexveranstalter in seinem kleinen Zimmer.Tochter Sophie (Marina de Van) sollte eigentlich mit einem gutaussehenden und sexuell aktiven Freund wie David (Stephane Rideau) glücklich sein, aber die neurotische Frau hat Selbstmordgedanken.Mutti (Evelyne Dandry) ist dominant und versucht mit eher unkoventionellen Mitteln ihren Sohnemann vom Laster zu heilen.Da wären noch die gutaussehende, aber faule Haushälterin Maria (Luica Sanchez) und ihr Mann Abdu ( Jules-Emmanuel Eyoum Deido), der sich durch seine Arbeit als Jugendtrainer prädestiniert fühlt junge Menschen zum Sport zu führen und plötzlich auch ein gesteigertes Interesse hat den Sohn der Familie wieder aufs richtige Gleis zu bringen.Keine Frage: In dieser Familie läuft es derzeit alles Andere als rund...Ozon zeigt bereits in seinem Erstling ein gutes Händchen für schwarzes, abartigen Humor und riskiert auch viele Tabubrüche, die tatsächlich an das respektlose Kino des frühen Almodovar erinnert.Die klare Handschrift des Regisseurs ist in diesem Bürgerschreck-Theatre bereits angelegt, vielleicht alles für Otto Normalverbraucher eine Nuance "too much", denn wenn diese Handlung in einem Drama ablaufen würde, dann wäre es wohl ein Skandalfilm...grins.
T**G
Geschmackssache
Einmal gesehen und im Schrank gelandet nicht wirklich ein guter Film
M**5
Bitterböse und abartig gut.
Dieser Film sprengt jegliche Vorstellung von Moral und "gutem Anstand" und zeigt uns damit den ganz normalen Alltagswahnsinn auf. Zwar in einer sehr überspitzten Form und doch können wir uns glaube ich alle in einer der Hauptpersonen wiederentdecken. Immer wieder sehenswert.
M**O
sitcom
tutto opk.Il servizio super efficiente,lìarticolo cerrispondente a quello ordinato,sono state rispettate le mie aspettative,i tempi di consegna sono stati rapidi
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