Sitcom

After a series of acclaimed shorts, Ozon goes for the big one - and misses. A vaguely Buñuelian exercise in taking a swing at the bourgeoisie, the film traces the implosion of an apparently typical family under the baleful influence of a predatory pet rat. The story is essentially Boudu Saved from Drowning with a rodent in the Michel Simon role. It is sharpest etching minor social infractions, like the father's complacency, but lacks the restraint which lent Ozon's short films such a powerful, sinister undercurrent. Instead, we get bizarre fantasy, arch black comedy and a charmless camp sensibility.