This stop-motion animated dark comedy anthology film involving a house across different eras, and the gripping appeal it possesses, is Kafkaesque in the truest sense. Brought to you by three different directorial teams and written for the screen by Enda Walsh, The House manages to keep you riveted from start to finish. The strange and inexplicable power of this grand structure over its inhabitants seeps into the visual experience, making you question reality as much as the animated characters on screen. Gustavo Santaolalla’s intensely crafted music gives an eerie feel to the anthology’s premise. It’s rare for an inanimate object to be the central character in a story, but the film pushes its title to the limit, with the house and its looming presence being the glue that ties all the narratives together. Although set in vastly different time periods, the structure weighs heavily on the hearts and minds of its occupants, and yet why they feel such an attachment to it is never truly explored or understood. The shorts offer no clear resolution, which makes this surreal feature set in an undefined past, present, and future, all the stranger.
Director – Emma de Swaef, Marc James Roels, Niki Lindroth von Bahr, Paloma Baeza
Cast: Mia Goth, Matthew Goode, Claudie Blakley, Jarvis Cocker, Susan Wokoma, Helena Bonham Carter, Paul Kaye, Will Sharpe
Streaming on – Netflix
Story 1, directed by Emma de Swaef and Marc James Roels, depicts a poor family from the past. Raymond and Penelope have two daughters in nine-year-old Mabel (Mia Goth) and her little sister, Isobel. They live in a dilapidated house just waiting to be renovated. One evening, drunk Raymond signs the contract of his life with an elusive architect. According to the agreement, the family must move to a new large house adjacent to their current premises, free of charge. The couple manifest an intense fascination with the lavish venue, but Mabel finds the events inexplicable; daily alterations occur at the behest of the faceless architect, lavish feasts magically appear at mealtimes despite the absence of staff.
Located nowadays, presumably, Story 2, directed by Niki Lindroth von Bahr has an anthropomorphic rat as a developer selling the same house. He undertakes all the restoration work himself, including a major insect infestation. He constantly calls someone to share his frustrations. When said visiting day for potential buyers arrives, things don’t go as planned. He spots an oddly shaped couple hugging each other, expressing great interest in the place. But despite his best efforts, he is unable to tackle them with them; they refuse to leave, still muttering about the property and asking her for tea.
The final short in the anthology (directed by Paloma Baeza) alludes to an apocalyptic world where climate change has become widespread, with most structures underwater following a massive flood. One of the last properties not swept away by the flood is the proverbial house. The last owner is a cat named Rosa (Susan Wokoma); she has two tenants – Jen and Elias. The first pays rent in semi-precious stones and the second in fish. One of Rosa’s main wishes is to bring out the house’s true potential, but a full restoration requires something she doesn’t have: money. Her attachment to structure and her inability to detach herself from it at all costs are challenged with the arrival of Cosmos, Jen’s carefree, bohemian partner.
One of the recurring motifs in this stop-motion animated anthology is that of restoration and rebirth. In each timeline we see the evolution of the inanimate house either by works undertaken for its benefit or by proposed plans for the future. The first narrative brings out the Kafkaesque absurdity of the story very well, giving the structure a spirit of its own, so to speak. Even the bug infestation in the second story might just be a nod to Metamorphosis. The claustrophobia of the first story isn’t quite replicated in the other two, nor is the lingering sense of unease; several moments in Short 1 make you feel like the rooms are closing in on you and someone is still watching you. All three films in the anthology retain a gripping weirdness, however, but the weirdness associated with the existence of Mabel and her parents in a doll house the type atmosphere is not recreated. The third short, with its happy ending storyline, also undermines the overall sense of the story so far. A terrific OST accentuates the strange, the unsaid, the unknown and the inexplicable to give weight to this very gripping and experimental story with a strange house in the center. The theme of attachment to a physical structure (its inanimate nature, notwithstanding) is another intriguing exploration offered by the creators.
