Home (Ursula Meier, 2008)

A close-knit family living in isolation next to a disused motorway has their life thrown off kilter as the road is at last opened up to traffic and they become even more cut off than before. They take it in their stride though, devising ways to keep going as if this were just a minor setback. It has the flavour of an oddball comedy to begin with, but with Isabelle Huppert in customary tight-lipped basket case mode as the mater familias you know that a turn for the worse is always on the cards. And her character is of course the main reason behind this development, refusing to move and in complete denial of the unsustainability of their situation as they slowly sink into a lead-poisoned torpor, having bricked up their remaining windows. The film thereby moves into an atmosphere of stifling horror, and while the motivations of the characters may be improbable, marks are scored for trying to say something deeper about the significance of a home even when it becomes a prison.

6/10