Sitcom (1998)

August 18, 2023 8:44 PM

TW: Suicide attempt themes

An upper-class suburban family suddenly comes apart when the father brings a lab rat home from works.

Once the rat arrives, the younger brother announces he is gay and the elder sister attempts to unalive herself. The mother desperately tries to restore normalcy in the most unusual of ways while the father blythely ignores the chaos around him.

Written and directed by Francois Ozon. Starring Marina de Van and Évelyne Dandry.

posted by miss-lapin (9 comments total)

After reading a more detailed summary, this movie needs a trigger warning for violence against rats. (speaking as someone who traveled 5 hours on public transit to rehome 2 lab rats, and have kept a few ex-lab rats as pets)
posted by Sophont at 3:23 AM on August 19, 2023

How about a trigger warning about attempted suicide? Or a warning about being a lousy movie?
posted by Ideefixe at 4:30 PM on August 19, 2023 [1 favorite]

If people want trigger warnings, that sounds like a MeTa/FFTalk issue as I don't see them used here with any consistency. I've used them in some posts, but I didn't here because it's a black comedy with surreal and absurdist elements including a fight with a giant rat.
posted by miss-lapin at 6:04 PM on August 19, 2023 [2 favorites]

I've tried a couple of Ozon films (Water Drops On Burning Rocks, which had a dark series of sexual relationships I didn't like, and 8 Women, which was a fun murder musical at first but lost me halfway through). This one sounded interesting at the time; would you say it's worth a watch, miss-lapin?
posted by mediareport at 10:18 PM on August 19, 2023 [1 favorite]

“If people want trigger warnings”

I’m generally not on the “trigger warnings for everything” bus, but I would suggest gently they’re always appropriate for something like depictions of attempted suicide. (And I find the “unalive” euphemism kinda gross, but that’s probably just a personal hang up.)
posted by jzb at 1:02 AM on August 20, 2023

And I find the “unalive” euphemism kinda gross,

I think it arose because some social media platforms automatically refuse any post or comment with the word “kill” in it. If I tell you that I am a Stanley Kubrick fan and that his second and third movies were titled The Killer’s Kiss and The Killing, you might surmise how I discovered this.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:00 AM on August 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

Myself and the other people I watched it with enjoyed it, mediareport. It's absurd from the outset and just gets more so. It's unlike other movies of his I've seen in that they were much heavier and more serious. To me it comes down to do you enjoy absurdist films that contain taboo acts like incest? If you do, then you might give it a shot. Or you can watch the opening 15 minutes and see how you feel knowing it's going to get more and more absurd.

We watched See the Sea together a few months back, which is tonally very different and a much harder watch. It's a fascinating movie and well made, but I wouldn't recommend it to most people.
posted by miss-lapin at 10:55 AM on August 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

Mod note: TW added! Generally, if there’s an ask for trigger warnings, we add them. It’s important that users know that what they’re about to read may contain themes that are troubling/triggering/traumatizing.
posted by travelingthyme (staff) at 6:16 PM on August 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

Uh there was also a request for TW for animal cruelty. If you're going to do TW for this post it should be: incest, suicide attempts, murder, family annihilation, and animal cruelty. Seems easier to do 'em all at once.
posted by miss-lapin at 6:38 PM on August 20, 2023 [1 favorite]