"Home" (Maison) is an intriguing film from France involving a family who has witnessed the growth of a major highway being built just steps away from their front door. The road has set unused and unfinished for years, and the family has over time become acclimated to its presence. They simply cross the road and use the dirt road on the other side leading away from their house to go to school or work. The family's young son (played by Kasey Mottet Klein) uses the highway as a place to play and ride his bicycle.

All seems well until they come home one day and find that the pathway to their house has been blocked by guardrails. Shortly after trucks began to arrive with workers intent on getting the highway completed so that it can be used. Even as the work progresses, no one in the family seems to realize that their lives are about to change.

When the first cars begin to arrive on the newly paved highway the family sees it only as a minor diversion to their daily lives (the children must use the drain pipe under the highway to make their way to school, the car must be parked on the opposite side of the highway from the house, they have to start dealing with the air and noise pollution stirred up by the increasing traffic).

As the days wear on though, the family begins to crumble under the weight of the changes that have been forced upon them. One daughter begins to consistently wear a gas mask to protect herself from the pollution, the parents begin to fight and argue more often than not, and the tension amongst the family members gets more and more unbearable each passing day.

Eventually the whole family moves down into the basement, bricking up the windows in the upstairs rooms. The close quarters and ultimate confinement only tend to make matters worse. Will the situation cause the family to implode, or will they find a solution to stop the breakdown that has already begun.

This is a greatly done film. The slow moving pace, and long delays in switching from one scene to another gives you the feeling of tediousness and dread that you know the family must be experiencing. Kacey Mottet Klein, in his first major role, does an exceptional job as the youngest member of the family, winning the Swiss Film Award for Best Emerging Actor at only 9 years of age.



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