Imagine a film in which the plot turns ever more twisted with each circumstance. As if "Le diner de cons" meet "Pulp Fiction". Murphy's Law tangles every well laid plan into a unexpected and ever deepening mesh of disastrous consequences, in which every character willingly and cathartically expose themselves to be exactly the opposite of who they are portrayed to be… shockingly so in fact. "Bienvenue chez les Rozes" is like a book that you can't put down. The difficult and delicate elements that make dark humor work are held in perfect balance by Palluau's direction, screenplay and gifted cast in this excellent and inspired film. Dramatic, sexy, gory, comedic, shocking and smart, from its star studded cast to the "four randonneurs" who cue the quirky haunting musical theme just in time to remind us that this is a comedy, "Bienvenue chez les Rozes" is at the top of my favorite French Film list, and I recommend it highly to American viewers as well. Bravo!

In his first long-feature movie, "Sitcom" (1998) the nasty piece of work François Ozon exploded a middle-class household with the intrusion of a rat that set the libido of the family free. In this flick directed by Francis Palluau, we will also watch a middle-class breaking into pieces. But the disruptive element isn't a rat but a duo of escaped prisoners (later in the film we will learn how they could escape in, let's say preposterous circumstances which cement a little more the hare-brained climate in which the movie bathes). So, these two ex-convicts, MG (Jean Dujardin) and Gilbert (Lorànt Deutsch)find refuge in a charming middle-class house whose couple is about to celebrate its 20-year old marriage. Our duo has no other solution than to take this entire brood in hostage. But, contrary to all expectations, they are warmly greeted by the occupants who don't think twice before helping them, they are even ready to put their guests off, even to kill them if necessary...Palluau takes the spectator by surprise and takes him where he doesn't expect to go. Where he expects to encounter panicked hostages, he discovers strangely quiet and unscrupulous occupants. The Roze couple seems to be disconnected from the real world and from the gravity of the situation. By sheltering MG and Gilbert, they constitute themselves accomplices. One has to say that MG and Gilbert, in spite of their guns aren't bigmouths. So, the movie is constructed in its major part with a constantly eccentric tone which is out of step in relation to the action. The consequences are the following ones: to play down the importance of the murder sequences and sometimes it's nearly a dialog of the deaf between certain characters. To increase this gap between tone and action, Palluau even wrapped each shot of the house or the garden with a shimmering photography and shiny lighting effects. This doll's house seems to be virtually cut of the world although it belongs to a beautiful urban area (where apparently nothing happens...).The starting point (the hostage-taking incident made by two gangsters to save their skins is 1000 miles from originality but the treatment is drastically different and as the movie unfolds before our eyes, we can guess the director's intentions: to shatter this soft middle-class household but also to let the failings show through. Palluau couldn't resist (it was almost inevitable) the craving for exploding the Roze family and removing the masks of its members. Throughout the movie, we will discover their mindless even fatuous behavior and their hidden vices. I think that Palluau's intentions have a little family likeness with Chabrol's cinema, notably in the malicious humor. Besides, nods to one of the 5 best masters of suspense are well present either it is in gastronomy (the delicious plain macaroons or the exquisite oenology session) and the cast includes an actor who acted in movies which constitute Chabrol's creative peak in the end of the sixties and the early seventies: Michel Duchaussoy (the Beast Must Die, 1969, the Breaking Off, 1970).And while we linger on the possible references, the tandem formed by Dujardin and Deutsch isn't very far from the ones Francis Veber made popular. That said, Dujardin's performance is more subdued than Depardieu's. Beside him, Deutsch as the awkward and timid Gilbert can match Richard.For the rest, there may be irregularities of rhythm: decent in the beginning and at the end of the film but slow-paces even sluggish in the middle but it's in these moments that the movie reveals what it has best in store. In the last half-hour, the plot really evolutes and comes to life. Moreover if the reversal of situation is contemplated but not completely finished, it's to drown a little more the Roze couple in ridiculous and bring out their idiocy. Then, elsewhere Palluau scattered his work with sarcastic humorist details which fit the intentions of the film closely.In the end of the road, Palluau was within an ace of targeting the perfect black comedy. Just a little more effort and the work will be done. At last, this cue pronounced by Carole Bouquet: "how nice it is to be a lovely b****!" is worth the trip.

...would still be a great Black comedy. Francis Veber has a lot to answer for and he is now gaining disciples, which may be fitting for Veber himself is a French Billy Wilder (albeit one who lives in Hollywood) in all but name. It's difficult to comment on this film without going into spoiler mode, to say 'dysfunctional family' is to insult the Borgias. Suffice it to say that any movie with the fantastic Carole Bouquet is not to be missed and when Bouquet, the personfication of elegance gets blood on her hands she fails miserably her Lady Macbeth audition. If you like movies that begin innocuously and spiral progressively out of control only to be resolved like a chord by Schoenberg then this one has your name on it.