Among my top 20 films of 2022, and my 2nd favourite animated feature of the year (after Puss in Boots: The Last Wish).

The House is an anthology film of three segments, each involving a singular house in a different time period. All three chapters capture how people spend their lives chasing their biggest ambitions (escaping poverty, profiting from a house sale, and refurbishing the house) but overlooking what truly matters (family, mental health, and an impending natural disaster).

In Chapter 1, the parents are more focused on material things rather than on family. In Chapter 2, the mouse is more focused on selling the house than on his mental health, and in Chapter 3, the cat is more focused on refurbishing the house to her dream than on her wellbeing (the floods around her are getting worse).

In Chapter 1, young Mabel has no concept of riches. But rather comfort. She relishes the basement because it contains items from their old house. Chapter 2 has the mouse (a pest in a human world) trying to get rid of other pests, fur beetles. This is like how in Chapter 1, the rich Mr. Van Schoonbeek corrupts the parents by giving them riches without them needing to work for it.

In Chapter 1, the house was given to the family for free, in Chapter 2 the couple forced their stay without payment, and in Chapter 3 the tenants had no money to pay rent. It could have been part of the house's curse, resulting in others leeching off the mouse owner (Chapter 2) and the cat owner (Chapter 3).

Characters always tried to continually improve the house. In Chapter 1, the house was built, and continued to be worked on even after the family had moved in. In Chapter 2, the mouse worked on the house himself then tried to sell it to buyers. In Chapter 3, the cat had a dream plan to refurbish the house, but she had monetary and skill constraints.

In Chapter 1, the modest parents became rich like Mr. Van Schoonbeek, in Chapter 2 the mouse became parasites like the fur beetles, and in Chapter 3 the cat becomes optimistic like her tenants. The first two are bad examples while the third is beneficial.

Similarly, In Chapter 1, the children are neglected by their parents. In Chapter 2, the mouse is alone without friends or family, but in Chapter 3, the cat's tenants care for her and have no ill intentions.

In Chapter 1, Mr. Van Schoonbeek lied to the family about his intentions. In Chapter 2, the mouse is lying to himself about his mental health, and in Chapter 3, Rosa was lying to herself about her current circumstances.

brokenanklesarentfun on YouTube: "Something I immediately noticed was the color GREEN of the curtains. In the Victorian era (where the first story takes place) wealthy people heavily desired that specific color "Emerald Green" of dye for dresses, wallpaper, and furniture. This dye was so vibrant because it was made with arsenic, so people got sick and died from it. As soon as I saw the scene where she puts down the baby and reaches for the fabric I knew they were going to abandon their children and end up dead. The foreshadowing was very well done. Also, this green shows up in the second story as the color of the bug killer container that eventually puts the rat in the hospital and leads to him giving in to the "pest lifestyle". Then, finally, in the third story the green color was on the wallpaper. She kept trying to put it up but it wouldn't stick, and then Cosmos opened the windows and purified it, removing the paper. The green items were all objects that they used for delusion and illusion, and arsenic has historically been used in these objects (fabric, rat poison, wallpaper), so I think this symbolizes how a lack of authenticity and self-awareness can destroy our lives, and how it is destroying our mental health and planet."

This chapter is titled 'And heard within, a lie is spun'. I don't know what "And heard within" means, perhaps referring to Mr. Van Schoonbeek hearing Raymond (the father character)'s vulnerability, when he drinks and mopes in the woods after his relatives criticised his poverty. Meanwhile, "a lie is spun" certainly refers to Mr. Van Schoonbeek giving the family the house, falsefully seeming of good intentions.

Digital Mafia Talkies: "Despite Mr. Van Schoonbeek’s intentions being unclear, the only people affected by his witchery were those whose inhibitions were not pure from the very beginning. Raymond and Penny were thrilled at the idea of making everyone else envy their opulence. Thomas came off as an actor who gave up his conscience to make money until he was possessed. However, Mabel and Isobel safely escaped the house as they were the only ones who were not swayed by greed and indulgence."

Digital Mafia Talkies also points out that Mabel, the child, reads the story of Princess Esme, who is the only person awake in her kingdom. This captures the exact emotions that Mabel experiences when everyone except her stops making sense.

Interestingly, the top of the house that Schoonbeek gives the family looks like Mabel's dollhouse. This child's play is what Mr. Van Schoonbeek was doing, giving the family a house, food, and clothes, puppeteering them. And the two dolls that Mabel plays with appear to be the couple in Chapter 2, who are "very interested" in the house.

The father character, Raymond, becomes increasingly obsessed with the house's fireplace, which he constantly fails to light up. I do wonder, what is the significance of this? Raymond starting the fire is likely symbolic of his agreement having started the house and its curse. It's self-destruction. But why make the fire difficult to be started? When he is finally able to start a fire, he blindly follows the butler Thomas' command and burns his family's old treasured chair. Penny is obsessed with the sewing machine and high-quality fabric. Raymond then turns into a chair (probably because he no longer regarded his family's heritage in it) and Penny into curtains (probably because she cared more for sewing than for her children). They themselves become materialistic objects. When you forget who you are, you become someone else. Similarly, the mouse turned from intelligible into savage. If the cat had not confronted her reality and make change, she would have died from the rising floods.

This chapter's title, 'Then lost is truth that can't be won' should refer to the mouse losing touch with reality due to his lack of sanity. If the plot about him being a property developer was a hallucination, it means he was a rummaging mouse all along, and the wish of not being that cannot be fulfilled. He kept killing fur beetles because he wanted to shut the idea out. He is ultimately unable to change his fate. He will always be a mere pest. With the mice shedding their skins at the end, revealing that they are fur beetles, it could be that he saw other mice as lesser beetles due to him detesting that he was a mouse. If the plot about him being a property developer was in fact true, the truth lost would be only his sanity, and he ultimately succumbs to being a pest like he was meant to be, a fate he cannot change.

We see the mouse phoning somebody who we believe is his partner. In fact, he was phoning his dentist. It seems that he is struggling with his mental health, and that part or all of the chapter was a hallucination.

The mouse's solitude is heightened by there being no customers wanting to buy the house.

The mouse reduces costs by laying off the carpenters. The fur beetles then infest the house, like how his life has been infested with slight selfishness.

Digital Mafia Talkies: "Despite all his efforts, he feels devastated by the failure to get buyers for the house. Perhaps unable to process this failure, the contractor hallucinates a couple that is “extremely interested” in the house. Perhaps he wants to blame a bunch of imaginary, non-existent people for his own desire to destroy the house. Perhaps the imaginary visitors are just a made-up problem he can seek help for, as he is scared to admit that his real problem is loneliness."

The title of this chapter is rather straightforward. 'Listen again and seek the sun'. The cat needs to get back in touch with reality, to heed the advice of her tenants, her friends. Then, free yourself from self-destruction and embrace being optimistic.

The cat pastes wallpaper on the walls but it kept peeling off. In addition to reminding me iconically of Barton Fink (which is mostly in the character's head and can relate slightly to delusion), this symbolised the cat trying to cover up her reality but not succeeding, because the surrounding floods were nonetheless gradually rising.

The cat has a dream plan of refurbishing the house, but she has monetary and skill constraints. She ultimately heeds her tenants' advice and confronts her reality (the floods are going to get worse, so her dream was actually killing her), and subsequently changes her plans. Nonetheless, the cat does not in fact lose the house. Instead, the house has been adapted such that it can be sailed in the sea. The cat simply sails away with the house. I reckon this is meant to show that ideas can be tweaked to fit specific conditions, instead of being fixated on them or abandoning them entirely. But here she is free with the house, not free from the house. I would prefer if she fully moves on and moves away from the house, though the ending could also be seen as the cat using the house (a curse) for good (as a means to escape the floods).

The cat has a dream plan of refurbishing the house, but she has monetary and skill constraints. Her dream is fantasy, the floods are reality. She ultimately heeds her tenants' advice and confronts her reality (the floods are going to get worse, so her dream was actually killing her), and subsequently changes her plans. Nonetheless, the cat does not in fact lose the house. Instead, the house has been adapted such that it can be sailed in the sea. The cat simply sails away with the house. I reckon this is meant to show that ideas can be tweaked to fit specific conditions, instead of being fixated on them or abandoning them entirely. But here she is free with the house, not free from the house. I would prefer if she fully moves on and moves away from the house, though the ending could also be seen as the cat using the house (a curse) for good (as a means to escape the floods).

Cosmos (the philosophical spirit partner) lets the thick fog into the house. It can be seen as pesticide, cleansing the house from the curse (and relating to the pest infestation in the previous chapter). The overwhelming mist emphasises the cat's blurred vision and scares her into leaving.

YouTube channel BrainPilot: The curse is lifted. She can now take the house wherever she wants to without the hold that it once had (on her and on its past residents).

With the house previously rooted at that position, it would have indirectly killed her because that position was susceptible to the floods. The house would soon lose its purpose of protection, so Cosmos repurposed it into a vessel, without letting it go to waste.

I very much love this film, especially its directing, original writing, cinematography, sound, and original score.

Trivia:

• YouTube channel Unleash the Ghouls points out that the element of light is a motif. In Chapter 1, Raymond and Penny become hypnotised by the light in the fireplace and the lights in the dining room. And initially Raymond is lured towards the light of Van Schoobeek's dining room. Here the light has the power of blinding the parents, it makes them neglect their children. In Chapter 2, the main light is the colour-changing light being one of the mouse's gadgets to try and impress the viewers. He then drops his phone, causing the lights to malfunction and flicker as blinking lights, producing another kind of hypnotic effect. While in Chapter 3, the light is the sun, the hope that the characters follow at the end.