Private Property (Nue propriete) (2006)

73% of critics liked it
(33 reviews)
64% of users liked it
(821 ratings)

The sale of a family home causes some ugly truths to be uncovered in this drama from writer and director Joachim Lafosse. Pascale (Isabelle Huppert) is a middle-aged divorcée living in a restored farmhouse in the countryside with her twin sons, twentysomethings Francois and Thierry. After years of… More The sale of a family home causes some ugly truths to be uncovered in this drama from writer and director Joachim Lafosse. Pascale (Isabelle Huppert) is a middle-aged divorcée living in a restored farmhouse in the countryside with her twin sons, twentysomethings Francois and Thierry. After years of bickering with her ex-husband about the estate, Pascale has decided to sell the farmhouse with an eye toward opening a guest house in a resort community, but the twins are vehemently opposed to the idea. Pascale persuades her boyfriend to talk with Francois and Thierry in hopes of changing their mind, but the meeting does not go well and the twins inadvertently discover a long-held family secret that causes them to turn against Pascale, as well as one another. Also starring Jérémie Rénier and Yannick Renier as the twins, Nue-Propriété received its world premier at the 2006 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 45 min.
Directed By: Joachim Lafosse
Written By: Joachim Lafosse, François Pirot
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: May 18, 2007 Limited
On DVD: Sep 11, 2007
Studio: New Yorker Films

Critic Reviews

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
An impeccably acted character drama revolving around a mother and her teenage twin sons, Private Property shows how strong and how terrifying the bonds within families can be.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
What draws us into "Private Property" is how so many things happen under the surface, never commented upon. At any given moment, we cannot say for sure what the characters fully feel, since they often act at right angles to their emotions.
Tasha Robinson, Chicago Tribune
[Director] Lafosse's frustrating, yet beautifully elegiac coda emphasizes the point that his production and storytelling style have been making throughout: Private Property is about processes, not conclusions.
Andrew Sarris, New York Observer
Lafosse has made a mordant movie beyond genres -- and one that is too mesmerizing to miss.
V.A. Musetto, New York Post
Huppert is, as usual, superb, proving yet again that she is the finest actress working in France today.
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
The performances are impeccable, but while director Joachim Lafosse carefully creates an atmosphere of suffocating dread, he could have let a little more air into this simmering hothouse.
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
Intense and very involving drama by Belgian director Joachim Lafosse.
James Christopher, Times [UK]
Brilliantly acted but oppressively dour.
Steve Watson, Film4
Ingeniously uncomfortable but occasionally too opaque, Private Property is a darkly inventive family drama.
Tom Dawson, Total Film
Thanks to the acuity of their performances, the old adage "You always hurt the ones you love" rings new and true.
Jamie Russell, BBC
Huppert is superb, her lonely heroine both sympathetically vulnerable and yet also slightly culpable for her sons' terribly selfish behaviour.
Elliott Noble, Sky Movies
Save the effort by asking the neighbours if you can come round for ten minutes every night for a week. A wet week. Before pay day.
David Parkinson, Empire Magazine
There's not a wasted word and the performances are impressive in Joachim Lafosse's hugely impressive film.
Don Willmott, Filmcritic.com
Once again Europe shows Hollywood how to put together a funny, sexy, scary, thought-provoking drama and pack it into 90 intense minutes
Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly
The effect of all this acting out is less erotic than helplessly childish.
Jules Brenner, Cinema Signals
Lafosse gives it an arbitrary rest without clearing up a few mysteries, which unfortunately means he doesn't have to acknowledge or deal with them.
Scott Tobias, AV Club
It wouldn't be accurate to call Private Property a thriller, but it has a slow-burning intensity that's oddly suspenseful, and it shifts gears effectively once the tense family dynamic suddenly changes.

Read all 17 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Mark A

Tough to watch this family disintegrate before our eyes, but that is what we are asked to do. Pascale (Isabelle Huppert) has indulged her adult twin sons, the dreamy Francois (Yannick Renier) and the brutish Thierry (Jeremie Renier), all of their lives, so is it any surprise that they… More
Tough to watch this family disintegrate before our eyes, but that is what we are asked to do. Pascale (Isabelle Huppert) has indulged her adult twin sons, the dreamy Francois (Yannick Renier) and the brutish Thierry (Jeremie Renier), all of their lives, so is it any surprise that they seem to have an over-inflated opinion of themselves? When Pascale suggests her idea to sell the family home and move, we realize that this family seems to have lost any ability to converse without rancor and because of that, the viewing experience was not very pleasant. The cast worked together very well, the scenery was lovely, but the story irritated more than entertained.
Walter M

[font=Century Gothic]In "Private Property", Pascale(Isabelle Huppert) lives with her two grown sons, Thierry(Jeremie Renier) and Francois(Yannick Renier), in a large house in the country that was purchased by her ex-husband, Luc(Patrick Descamps). That having been said, she… More
[font=Century Gothic]In "Private Property", Pascale(Isabelle Huppert) lives with her two grown sons, Thierry(Jeremie Renier) and Francois(Yannick Renier), in a large house in the country that was purchased by her ex-husband, Luc(Patrick Descamps). That having been said, she does not want to have anything to do with him, even ten years after their divorce. She has recently gotten involved with a neighbor, Jan(Kris Cuppens), and is now looking to do something new with her life which leads her to dreaming of opening a bed and breakfast. In order to get the money for this, she plans on selling the house which does not go over too well with anybody...[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]"Private Property" is an intriguing little number about the lingering effects of divorce on a family. To be more precise, it is not the divorce itself but the way this one was handled, as neither parent took control in the situation and the boys were caught in the middle of a perpetual tug-of-war. So, in the end they were spoiled by both parents and were never given a full chance to mature. Now, they are at an age where most young men would be impatient to move out to claim their own lives, but instead they stay at home most of the time playing video games, dependent on their parents for petty cash and rides into town. Pascale reinforces this by behaving around them as if they were small children.[/font]