SAFE HOUSE, THE
(director/writer: Lionel Baier; screenwriter: Catherine Charrier/based on the autobiographical novel by Christophe Boltanski; cinematographer: Patrick Lindenmaier; editor: Pauline Cailard; music: Diego Baldenweg, Lionel Baldenweg; cast: Dominique Reymond (Mere-Grand), Michel Blanc (Prof. Etienne Boltanski/grand-father), William Lebghil (Grand Uncle), Aurélien Gabrielli (Little Uncle), Liliane Rovère (Arriere-Pays), Ethan Chimienti (Le Garcon), Adrien Barazzone (Father), Larisa Faber (Mother); Runtime: 90; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Agnieszka Ramu, Laetitia Gonzalez, Yaël Fogiel, Vincent Quénault, Jeanne Geiben; SRG SSR; 2025- France/ Switzerland/Luxumbourg-in French with English subtitles)
“A series of vignettes relating to everyday events.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Swiss filmmaker Lionel Baier (“La Vanite”/”Longwave”) directs and writes this low-budget chamber piece that tries to capture through the eyes of a sheltered Jewish family the volatile political situation during the student riots in Paris. Baier’s co-writer is Catherine Charrier. The writers base their script on Christophe Boltanski prize-winning 2015 autobiographical novel.
It follows a close-knit intellectual Jewish family huddled together in their Paris apartment during the student protests and riot of May 1968.
The family drama is told through the eyes of a nine-year-old boy (Ethan Chimienti), who is Boltanski.
The Boltanski clan is viewed in a series of vignettes relating to everyday events that are either somber or joyful. The boy’s parents (Adrien Barazzone, Larisa Faber) are sympathetic to the students and spend more time with them than at home.
The boy’s enterprising uncles are the younger (Aurélien Gabrielli), a visual artist, and the older (William Lebghil), an academic. His eccentric grandparents (Michel Blanc and Dominique Reymond) are his grandpa medical doctor and his flaky grandma. His most interesting relative is his Ukrainian born grandiose great-grandmother (Liliane Rovère).
The family’s Jewish background comes up during the opening scenes, as bad vibes are given off by some judgmental neighbors.
Things grow tiresome due to its heavy-handed treatment of the dysfunctional family, and shoddy storytelling fails to let the viewer see how tumultuous those protest days were for the family.
It played at the Berlin Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 4/12/2025 GRADE: C+
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