The story of a family that get together for the first (and, perhaps, the last) time in years: an idyllic weekend on the Costa Brava turns into a mess of of secrets, grudges, and manipulation in this Catalan comedy drama by Dani de la Orden.
Montse (Emma Vilarasau) is determined to have a perfect weekend with her family in the house she is planning to sell. She invites her grown-up children—her son and his new girlfriend and her daughter and her family—and her ex-husband with his new lover. Preoccupied with their own lives, none of them seem excited about the reunion that Montse has been dreaming of. Desperate to restore lost relationships and scheming to attract their attention, Montse accidentally burns down the house.
Although House on Fire seems to continue the European tradition of comedy dramas mocking bourgeois families, Eduard Sola’s screenplay avoids grotesque characters and absurd situations. Instead, he mixes in dialogues balancing between jokes and bitterness and ridiculous actions, the motivation behind which remains unclear. Dani de la Orden’s film is a study of family as a system where care is a strategy for control and tenderness is inseparable from selfish interest, inviting us to take a critical look at the melodrama associated with it.
The film will be screened in Catalan and Spanish with Russian subtitles.
House on Fire
Director: Dani de la Orden
Spain, Italy, 2024. 108 min.
18+