Private Property

An old, but beautiful farm in Belgium is home to Pascale (Isabelle Huppert) and her twin sons Thierry and François (Jérémie and Yannick Renier). Although loving and ostensibly supportive of one another, each is still reeling from the divorce that divided the family some years earlier. Pascale’s ex, remarried and with a newborn baby, remains close to Thierry and François, but the bitterness behind his break-up with Pascale still lingers amongst all of them.

Now in their late teens, the boys, to some extent, have begun to move in different directions. Thierry has chosen to continue his studies by enrolling in a local University, but François’ passion remains in his incessant renovation of the family house. Both boys work hard, but neither seems compelled to embrace adulthood or the responsibilities that come with it. The two of them continue to rely on their father for money and neither one cares to leave behind the stability they have at home with Pascale.

In between her fulltime job, Pascale lovingly cares for both the boys and her home, but she’s also fallen in love again and beginning to dream of a new life for herself – one that that she hopes will whisk her and her lover away to a countryside B&B they aspire to own together. But what would seemingly be a happy time in her life takes a turn for the worse as she finds herself unable to rise from the shadow of her ex-husband and stingy children. Helpless and in a bid for survival, Pascale leaves the house in the hands of Thierry and François, never suspecting that in her absence, a fratricidal war will change their family forever.

“PRIVATE PROPERTY has the pulse of an emotional thriller, but without commercial cinema’s usual shrieking violins and storytelling beats.” (Manohla Dargis, New York Times)

“Lafosse has made a mordant movie beyond genres -- and one that is too mesmerizing to miss.” (Andrew Sarris, New York Observer)

“Huppert is, as usual, superb, proving yet again that she is the finest actress working in France today.” (V.A. Musetto, New York Post)

“Rhythmically, narratively and emotionally propulsive, this Joachim Lafosse film finds the almost predictably magnificent Isabelle Huppert as a woman of a certain age, trying to swim to the surface with a weight around her leg -- make that two weights.” (John Anderson, Newsday)