Sitcom [1998] (REGION 1) (NTSC) [DVD] [1999] [US Import]

This film effortlessly establishes Ozon's strengths as an "ensemble" director, as he introduces the idea of bourgeois characters bound together in a claustrophobic location (a familiar idea that will be repeated in 8 Women and Water Drops...) whilst all manner of catastrophe, farce and inter-family relationships are explored and exposed with a cynical (...and, to some extent, satirical) glee. I suppose in some respects, this film is similar to Luis Buñuel's The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (though there are also allusions made to other Buñuel projects, like Belle de Jour and The Obscure Object of Desire), with added nods to filmmakers like John Waters and Michael Haneke (albeit, a less po-faced rendition of Haneke's key-themes) thrown in for good measure.

The film is darkly comic, deranged and completely absurd in the best possible way... the plot focusing on a polite, conservative French family, who each succumb to their own sexual perversions after dad brings home a pet rat (yes, you read that correctly!!). Moments after the little fella has been transported into his new home, the son announces he's a homosexual (and then, seconds later, retires to the bedroom with the maid's athletic husband), the daughter throws herself out of the window and ends up a paraplegic (...she later takes to putting out cigarettes on her bare arms and whipping her boyfriend during kinky S&M), while later in the film, mum turns to incest in an attempt to "turn" her wayward son whilst dad tries to disregard the whole thing as "just a phase". The whole film is completely outrageous and very funny, with Ozon keeping the viewer's attention through the use of brisk editing, colourful composition and some completely extreme sight gags (the sun's metamorphosis from bespectacled nerd into an outré gay-icon, the disabled daughter dragging herself up the stairs with a knife between her teeth, like one of Tod Browning's Freaks and, my personal favourite, mum walking in on one of her son's gay-orgies, only to find a group of leather-clad muscle men playing a polite game of cards).

Ultimately, the film is very frivolous and doesn't really carry much weight as a successful social satire, but it's wholly enjoyable (if you're in the mood for it) and most certainly will leave an impression on anyone who watches it. The performances are strong throughout, and it would be wrong to pick favourites from such a tight ensemble, whilst Ozon's unpretentious direction has a confidence and self-absurdness about it (though it obviously lacks the polish of later efforts like 8 Women and Swimming Pool). I personally felt that the film fell apart a bit towards the end (much like a lot of Buñuel's work too), with Ozon seemingly attempting to riff on Kafka's The Metamorphosis, whilst still trying to retain that sniping sense of social satire (the scenes between the mother and her physiatrist gave a good back-bone to the narrative, and also brought to mind similar scenes in that other darkly-comic classic, Harold and Maude)... it doesn't really work, and is a bit of disappointment, especially after that amazing and literally jaw-dropping opening, and the subsequent madness that occurs in-between.

Like the aforementioned Discreet Charm..., Sitcom is a film obsessed with false endings and double pay-offs (there are at least four possible endings for the film, including the one that opens the film, and, the more disappointing one that actually does end the film), though despite the disappointment connected to the eventual dénouement, I would still recommend this film as one of the standouts of the last decade. Sitcom is a blistering and enjoyable dark-comedy farce, acting as a lighter, more comedic take on the new European extreme of filmmakers like Lars von Trier (Breaking the Waves, The Idiots) and Gaspar Noe (I Stand Alone, Irreversible).