Themes: Families in Crisis, Sibling Relationships, Suburban Dysfunction
Main Cast: Evelyne Dandry, Francois Marthouret, Marina de Van, Adrien de Van, Stephane Rideau
Release Year: 1998
Country: FR
Run Time: 79 minutes
Plot
Playing like a combination of Todd Solondz, John Waters, and a dysfunctional and incestuous generic television sitcom, director François Ozon's blacker than night psychological family comedy touches on many aspects that would frighten off most casual viewers on concept alone. From the opening scene of a father gunning down his family (albeit experienced audibly while the camera remains fixed on an external shot of the exceedingly proper and mundane suburban home) to mother/son sex, and even moments that border on bestiality, Sitcom gleefully and unapologetically attempts to dismantle the denial-prone status quo while constantly dwelling on self-conscious shock tactics and riffs on such nuclear family stereotypes as the indifferent father and the obsessively proper mother figure. And while Ozon's tactics hit the marks at times early on, as the film grows increasingly debaucherous it becomes more and more difficult to assess the method to the suburban nightmare madness the film portrays. By the time the surreal climax involving one of the human characters' literal transformation into the catalyst that set the opening scene's tragedy into motion rolls around, it feels uncharacteristically out of place and forced within the admittedly already absurd context of the previous 70 minutes. As repulsive as some of the more sordid details of the deteriorating family values may be, the majority of the film keeps the viewer involved and interested until the apparent lack of direction and outcome sends it careening out of control and spiraling into a nonsensical conclusion. Had Ozon anchored himself to reality, so to speak, he may have crafted a not altogether flawless, but effective comment on the banality of the sugar-coated denial that makes up the majority of television sitcoms and its disturbing transcendence into real life. As it stands however, the film is effective and entertaining for the most part, though its ambiguously confusing ending distills the jarring impact that this otherwise effective satire may have held. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Review
Francois Ozon's debut feature film is a hyperbolic piece of absurdist satire. A merciless skewering of the bourgeoisie, the ironically titled Sitcom helped cement the French director's reputation as one of the most provocative artists working in cinema today. Set almost entirely in the tony home of an upper middle-class family, the movie is essentially a string of outrageous vignettes. The surface serenity of family life is shattered by the arrival of a pet mouse, which sets off unusual vibes in the household. One by one, taboos are broken: from incest to bestiality, the movie gives free rein to Ozon's iconoclastic urges. While this stylized movie is clearly the product of an assured talent, it fails to sustain interest during its 79-minute running time. Ozon's demolition of the suburbs is certainly not short on zeal, but as a critique of modern life and bourgeois vacuity, it offers little that is new. Unabashedly heartless, the movie's succession of transgressions becomes numbing fast. By the end, Sitcom reveals itself to be as shallow and inane as the people it ridicules. ~ Elbert Ventura, All Movie Guide
Cast
Evelyne Dandry - Helene
Francois Marthouret - Jean
Marina de Van - Sophie
Adrien de Van - Nicolas
Stephane Rideau - David
Lucia Sanchez - Maria; Julien-Emmanuel Eyoum Deido - Abdu; Jean Douchet - Shrink; Ed Marinaro; Marc Francois; Idwig Stephane
Credit
Angelique Puron - Art Director, Herve Poeydomenge - Costume Designer, Jean-Guillaume Mathieu - First Assistant Director, François Ozon - Director, Dominique Petrot - Editor, Eric Neveux - Composer (Music Score), Yorick Le Saux - Cinematographer, Olivier Delbosc - Producer, Marc Missonnier - Producer, Benoit Hillebrant - Sound/Sound Designer, François Ozon - Screenwriter, Yves Saint Laurent - Costume/Wardrobe
Sitcom (1998) is a surrealisticsatire written and directed by François Ozon. The story documents the moral decline of a once esteemed suburban family, whose descent into degeneracy begins with the purchase of a small white rat.
The film's name is a direct reference to American sitcoms, which are noted for their focus on traditional family values and whimsical humour.
The patriarch of a seemingly normal nuclear family returns home one day with a small white rat; however, the eponymous animal soon has an adverse effect on his wife and children, influencing them into enacting their darkest, most hidden desires.
The son loudly announces his homosexuality and begins throwing wild orgies, the daughter deliberately flirts with death and practices sadomasochism on her boyfriend (Stéphane Rideau), while the mother seduces her son so she can "cure" him of his orientation. After the father eventually kills and devours the offending rat, he turns into one himself; when his family discover this, they band together and brutally slay him.
Possible influences
In John Schlesinger's notorious film Midnight Cowboy, a mother and her son's deeply concealed sexual frustrations surface after she produces a small, white rubber mouse.
Another inspiration could be Pier Paolo Pasolini's novel, and eventual film, Teorema, which depicts the arrival of a mysterious, unnamed stranger in the home of an upper-classItalian family. He systematically seduces every single member of the dysfunctional household, including the mother, who becomes nymphomaniac as a result, the father, the daughter, whom he leaves in a catatonic state, and the son, who subsequently realises his homosexuality and becomes an artist.
