Private Property

Tensions simmer beneath the surface of a dysfunctional family in this acutely powerful drama from Belgian writer/director Joachim Lafosse. Isabelle Huppert adds to her catalogue of damaged, vulnerable heroines with Pascale, the divorced mother of grown-up twins Thierry and François (played by real-life brothers Jérémie and Yannick Renier). Dreaming of opening a B&B with new lover Jan (Kris Cuppens), Pascale is confronted with her sons' innate selfishness: neither wants her to leave and Thierry's emotional blackmail turns increasingly threatening. Filmed with clinical precision in slow, static takes that belie the tumultuous feelings expressed by the characters, it's an unbearably intimate family portrait set around a claustrophobic, womb-like farmhouse. Portents of doom are everywhere - the boys shooting rats with airguns, the brothers' petulant fights - but it's Huppert's fragile, worn-out mother, her body sagging under the weight of unfair demands, who becomes the true mirror of the film's quiet tragedy.