ReviewNetflix movie review: The House – darkly comic stop-motion animation offers a unique and transporting experience

The House tells the tale of a British town house in three parts, following its construction, renovation and disrepair

Voiced by Helena Bonham Carter, Matthew Goode and Jarvis Cocker, The House was written by Irish playwright Enda Walsh

2-MIN READ2-MIN

Raymond (left, voiced by Matthew Goode) and Penny (Claudie Blakley) in a still from The House, directed by Emma de Swaef, Marc James Roels, Niki Lindroth von Bahr and Paloma Baeza. Photo: Netflix

Published: 6:45pm, 31 Jan 2022

4/5 stars

Charting the changing fortunes of a stately British town house, this eerie and darkly comic stop-motion animation follows the residence’s evolution from its construction, through renovation, to disrepair.

Penned by Irish playwright Enda Walsh, whose previous film work includes the screenplay to Steve McQueen’s Hunger, The House is composed of three free-standing yet complementary short stories, directed by Emma de Swaef and Marc James Roels, Niki Lindroth von Bahr, and Paloma Baeza respectively.

Part one, titled “And heard within, a lie is spun”, is a Faustian tale of gothic horror, in which an impoverished family agrees to relinquish their modest abode in return for the newly constructed residence of the title.

No sooner have Raymond (Matthew Goode), his wife, and two young children moved into their palatial new home, however, than they discover the terrifying reality of their deal with the mysterious Mr Van Schoonbeek.

The second chapter, “Then lost is truth that can’t be won,” unfolds in the present day, as a desperate and debt-ridden property developer – an anthropomorphic rodent voiced by Jarvis Cocker – prepares to view the house in a make-or-break deal.