In The House - 20th April 2013

I picked this film because it happened to be on at the right place, at the right time. I came out exclaiming “Do the French ever make bad films?” I don’t see a lot of French films but I am never disappointed.

“In The House” revolves around a literature teacher who sets his class the innocent task of writing about their week-end. Unwittingly, this encourages Claude to tell his story about how he has finally managed to gain entry at the house of a schoolmate. These two pages of prose encourage a respectable couple to encourage this pupil to turn life into a novel. It is so fresh and inventive that it could be Woody Allen at his peak, a fact referenced when they are shown queuing to see “Match Point”.

Like the writing and directing the performances are impeccable. You know that Miss Scott-Thomas will produce another impeccable bored, middle-class woman but she is up-staged by Ernst Umhauer making his film debut as the troublesome youth. The revelation, however, is Fabrice Luchini who with one raise of his eyebrow in the opening sequence explains this is a teacher (during a headmaster pep talk) who has heard it all before and is clearly disenchanted in his job.

You could therefore clearly understand why he was intrigued by the raw talent of a pupil and was prepared to take unethical risks at help Claude became the writer he was failed to be.

Possibly you can accuse French cinema of being obsessed with middle-class life but when films are as classy as this, who cares. An unsung masterpiece.

Peter And Alice 20th April 2013

For ten years Michael Grandage oversaw excellent productions as Artistic Director at the Donmar Warehouse. He is now involved in 5 shows at the Noel Coward theatre, featuring the cream of British theatrical talent. Having seen the two previous West End productions of “Privates On Parade” I was more keen to see the only new play of the season “Peter And Alice” by John Logan.

Following on from the success of “Red” based upon Mark Rothko he has now turned his attention on the meeting of Alice Liddell Hargreaves and Peter Llewellyn Davies. These are the two real people that two of children’s literature favourite characters are based upon, “Alice in Wonderland” and “Peter Pan”.

This extraordinary premise is turned into a scintillating drama where the protagonists reveal the pleasures and pain of unexpectedly and unwillingly being chosen for immortality. The casting of Judi Dench and Ben Wishaw is truly inspiring. They both effortlessly recapture their youthful selves which led to their appearances in print as well as showing how each dealt differently with their unsought notoriety. The scene where Alice reaches her hand to claim the lost Peter is truly heart-breaking.

This is theatre at its best. Sensibly running at ninety minutes without a break it ensures the momentum built up is not deflated by the imposition of an interval. Oddly enough both performances and writer were involved in the most recent James Bond film “Skyfall”, but here we are in completely different territory.

The writers involved Lewis Carroll and James Barrie are both well played by Nicholas Farrell and Derek Riddell with Ruby Bentall and Olly Alexander impressively creating the bewildered “Alice In Wonderland” and “ Peter Pan”. But the evening belongs to the lead actors.Remaining on stage throughout Miss Dench belies her age with as good a performance I can recall seeing from her (and I have seen countless over the years). In contrast Ben Wishaw re-states his claim to be amongst the best actors of his generation with a welcome return to the stage.

There is a reason why House Full signs are showing outside the Noel Coward theatre. Grab a ticket while you still can.