In the House

François Ozon's 13th feature focuses on a teacher/student relationship that goes beyond the norm when a dour tutor becomes overinvolved with his charge's creative-writing assignments. It's a darkly comic thriller based on the play The Boy in the Last Row by Juan Mayorga, and stars Fabrice Luchini as the intense, precious literary professor who finds his star pupil (Ernst Umhauer) is, among other things, out to seduce another student's mother (Emmanuelle Seigner). Ozon's film contemplates the difference between everyday life and fiction, and shows how messy things can get when one impinges on the other. Light, deft performances from a solid ensemble cast (which includes Kristin Scott Thomas as Luchini's wife) simply add to the enjoyment of what is a playfully disturbing tale.