Product Details

• Actors: Évelyne Dandry, François Marthouret, Marina de Van, Adrien de Van, Stéphane Rideau
• Directors: François Ozon
• Format: Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: French (Unknown)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: New Yorker Video
• DVD Release Date: January 13, 2004
• Run Time: 80 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000DIJPW
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #105,791 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Sitcom" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

I’ll never forget the day my father brought it home. I mean, I can understand mom’s distaste for such a pet, however domesticated it was, but who could have ever suspected such unbound horror from this cute little animal.

Through its gaze my younger brother found the courage to declare his homo-sexuality to our family — whether he believed it to be true or not. At first this didn't seem to cause much concern, until my mother tried to "convert" him back by forcing her own sexual impulses on him. I, on the other hand, ended up a suicidal paraplegic dominatrix who tried to seduce my father before his twisted admiration for the rat changed him too, literally. Watching it just sit in it’s cage, minding it's own business, it was outlandish to suggest that this feeble little animal was the source behind the demise of my entire family, but it was. Unbeknownst to any of us, our new pet had powers beyond your wildest dreams.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How do you spell parody?, January 6, 2005

By	French Flic Fan (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

I am amazed at many of the reviews here that take this film so seriously. The title itself should give away the intention to make a film that parodies sitcoms and soap operas.
In my view, it is not only successful at doing that, but plays with audience perceptions and biases in a very clever way and misleads us brilliantly. It is all in good fun and you should enjoy it too if you don't take it too seriously.
Ozon is probably the most original French director working today and it is well worth the time spent to see his other films. He is not that well known in France and this movie shocked some French friends that I watched it with, so question your own prejudices a bit and have fun with this.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rat Daddy, October 21, 2002

By	KSG "ksgnyc" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sitcom [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This film is about the breakdown of the bourgeois family. It is very indebted to the films of Pedro Almodovar and Luis Bunuel. The head of the house brings home at rat. As a result, everyone including the maid, starts acting out their latent desires. S&M, suicide and incest are the rules of the day. Eventually the family realizes that they don't need the rat as they have all been liberated by it and are now free. It becomes apparent that Dad is the rat they need to get rid of. Who needs him? All he does is sit around and read the paper and allow everyone to do whatever they please. It is interesting and some of the sex scenes are very explicit, but it is not for everyone.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Let's have more sitcoms like this one! Airing out the nuclear family rooms..., June 23, 2005

By	J. Holt (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A friend presented this to me -- I had no idea what to expect. If you're reading my review of this item and know little else, devote yourself to my review -- it's best you know as little about the film as possible.

Without giving away the story, I will tell you: this is not your average "sitcom" --> it's a black comedy, the likes of which reminds me of Miike Takashi's "Happiness of the Karakuris" (probably a good bet if you've seen one, thinking about the other). "Sitcom" does so many loopy, funny things with its normal French family (ha) that I was nearly jumping out of my seat going "You'd never see that in an American film!" "No way!!!" "Oh brother!" There are many gut-wrenching laughs to be had here.

This film constantly defies our expectations, twist after twist. On one level, it is very light, parodic fare; on another level, it says a lot of about our subconscious.

Done on a minimal budget, it relies on brilliant characterizations, writing and direction. "Sitcom" is a breath of fresh air.