If you haven’t watched The House animated movie on Netflix yet, you may want to read a preview post or watch the trailer. From here on, there are analyses and hence spoilers. If you do not care, you may proceed. The House is a stop-motion animated movie in three parts, separately directed and themed. The namesake house is a connecting thread in the anthology. Each piece begins with a quote and a timestamp. When they combine, it makes poetry: “And heard within. A lie is spun Then lost is truth that can’t be won Listen again, and seek the sun”

Part 1 – And heard within. A lie is spun

“You will come into possession of the land as well as the estate upon its completion.” When Mr. Thomas makes this pressing offer to Raymond on behalf of the renowned architect – Mr. Van Schoonbeek, he takes it without question.  Raymond is a peasant who shares a small cottage with his wife – Penny, and two daughters – Mabel, eight, and Isobel, a toddler.  Soon enough, Raymond’s other opulent-but-not-so-nice family members show up and snidely remind him that he couldn’t lift his family from “this squalor” despite his education and opportunities. They pass judgments about his drunkard father, who gambled away the good fortune, only to leave behind a few pieces of furniture.  This unpleasant interaction sets the ground for why The House must come into existence. Raymond is humiliated to the core and feels inadequate to support his family. Even the heirloom furniture is nothing more than a relic of disappointments. Amidst this self-loathing, Mr. Van Schoonbeek finds Raymond and lures him into his palanquin. Raymond was ripe for hunger, for over-compensation, and it manifests the moment he returns home and pigs out.  The very next day, Mr. Thomas shows up. “This Van Schoonbeek was a friend of my father’s. He said we would be the envy for miles around. A beacon of light on the hill, Penny.” – Raymond. Set in the Edwardian era, The House takes shape, and the architect gifts it to Raymond’s family without demanding anything in return. His only condition is that the family relinquishes all their belongings and takes residence in their new house. Raymond succumbs to this greedy offer of owning worldly possessions and moves in. Their story has an underlying tone of the blinding power of materialism. The architect showers them with opulence – magnificent ceilings, delicate fabrics, delicious food, and the couple doesn’t even bother to look who cooks for them. Sneakily, the architect also designed a “withdrawing” room with a fireplace and a sewing machine, knowing very well the solace it provides to Raymond and Penny. The room eventually made them withdraw from their two little kids, and they spun furniture and curtains out of themselves, out of their own volition, and were finally “possessed” like material goods.  “Mr. Van Schoonbeek specifically designed every piece himself.” –Mr. Thomas. The brilliance of this story is how lies spin out of truths. Mr. Thomas wasn’t lying when he said – “…come into possession” or about Van Schoonbeek “designing” each piece in it. The House nearly saw its completion as Van Schoonbeek kept making changes to keep everything to his liking. Raymond burned the possessions of his father that he had carried from his humble home, “… a beacon of light on the hill”, as promised.  This story shifts the viewer’s perspective of the word – “possession” and brings out the horrors to the surface with a shift in interpretations. It warns to be wary of one’s limitations, no matter what people say, and to be mindful about accepting gifts and donations beyond one’s footing. It is a solid reminder never to lose the power to say- no, and not lose sight of the family while chasing materialistic goals.  As the first part of the anthology, this piece is a fine example of how a story can weave out of clever wordplays. 

Part 2 – Then lost is truth that can’t be won

This part is about loneliness and introduces anthropomorphism. It presents a rat as the contractor.  Set in the modern era, a modern makeover begins by throwing away old pieces, including the sewing machine. The contractor is fixing it by himself to list it for potential buyers while he lives every bit of the rat race driven by the desire that it deserves everything great that the world has to offer. This story brings forth the horrors we live while chasing everyday bills, the sense of grandiosity we pursue in the name of dreams while we lose ourselves and become lonely.  The contractor has no personal relationships. He makes inappropriate calls to his dentist, shares personal information, and sends him pictures to fill the void. He is in limerence and so sure about the sale that he ignores the news of recession as he fixes the kitchen with a fancy Château Rôtisserie oven and an island made of Italian marble. Some highly clever details are put in the interior, further establishing his lonely ambitions and rat-race anxieties. A rat’s portrait hangs in the bedroom, the chandelier’s image its crown, like a mirage of regal desires. The fireplace with a television and two wall lamps draw a picture of a cat’s face, showing its teeth, ready to devour. Even the giant aquarium houses only one fish.  It is also wonderful to see how this part ties with the previous. The House is now on Van Schoonbeek lane. As potential buyers show up, one couple holds a toddler named Isobel while the elder girl-child runs around the heart of The House –  sitting/dining room made for unwinding; to withdraw. On the surface, vermins are a big theme in this part but dig a little deeper, and there are multiple ways to interpret their presence. Critters creep up everywhere, mainly in the kitchen, and while the contractor tries his best to keep them out, he is blind to his own virminesque lifestyle as he lives in the basement and builds a luxe house above. The creators make it starkly visible in the scene with the contractor on the ground surrounded by bugs, larvae, vacuum cleaner, and pest-killing powder.  The elderly couple that shows interest also emerges in the kitchen, in front of the fancy oven. They just let themselves in and refuse to leave. It makes the contractor even more anxious, and he sees them as vermins. “I’ll give you tea, you bloody vermin.” – Contractor. This piece of the anthology disgusts, like truth. Towards the end, the viewers can appreciate the reality that unfolds. All those calls the contractor made to his significant other were one-sided chats. This part does a great job in concealing it till the needed moment. The contractor fails miserably in his blind ambitions, only to become precisely what he feared – a vermin, crawling out the luxe Château Rôtisserie oven.

Part 3 – Listen again, and seek the sun

Rosa is a no non-sense, focused cat with a plan, and she’s fixing The House in the middle of nowhere. The surrounding area is flooded. The Van Schoonbeek lane doesn’t exist anymore. It is difficult to fathom the timeline, and maybe it doesn’t matter. The grandeur of The House is gone; its structure lay bare, which Rosa is trying to fix by covering it with wallpaper. The water runs brown, the corridors need fixing, and a beetle whirs underneath them. This time The House wants to be finished. The final part of this anthology treats The House a little differently. It has somehow become one with Rosa. The surrounding is exactly like Rosa’s state of mind – hazy. There’s nothing visible beyond a few floating items. The water level rises each day, but Rosa can’t see it. All the tenants have left because of the flooding, save for Jen and Elias, and yet Rosa devotedly speaks about The House’s potential, about how she could make it into a home with happy memories.  There is a subtle message that support may not often look the way we want. Rosa needs help to get in touch with reality, but she fusses that she has no support, forgetting entirely that the presence of Jen and Elias spared her from loneliness. Her constant denial of rising floodwater is only matched with her persistence to fix every nook and cranny of The House, and the means to get there is to have more tenants and for Elias and Jen to pay with real money, not fish and healing crystals.  “You’re living here for free. Why would you want to leave?” – Rosa. “Because everyone does. By tomorrow, the water will be in the house. You can’t stay here, Rosa. Why can’t you see it?” – Elias. Rosa heard them, never truly listened. The arrival of Cosmos made it worse as he uproots the corridor to build a boat for Elias. But he also builds a lever for Rosa to help in her emancipation.  The day comes when the floodwater touches the floor, the mist knocks at the window, peels away the wallpaper, and makes Jen invisible. In this brain fog, Rosa clearly sees her denial of the flood, the lost opportunities of creating memories, and the realization that people need not be useful to be helpful. A fish for rent, a decent meal, and sometimes a stranger like Cosmos were there to help her move on. “Love your past but travel on.” – Jen. There is something spiritually beautiful about coming face to face with our fears. The creators have done a phenomenal job capturing that essence, from demystifying mists to floorboards swept under Rosa’s feet. She comes to face it all. Rosa begs The House to let her go; she begs Cosmos and Jen to return.  No man is an island, but maybe we are all boats. We can choose to steer through the depressing mist without a plan, like Rosa, who steers away, along with The House, looking for the sun. This final piece is metaphorical perfection. “There’s nothing better out there anyway”– Rosa. “For those who decide not to find it, there can be nothing.” – Cosmos.

Final thoughts

The House has a lot to say, from taking shape as a replica of Mabel’s dollhouse to long-surviving as a madman’s artistry. Creators have put in an impeccable amount of attention to detail in conveying little emotions – Mr. Thomas’s shadow before he knocks on the door, the contractor casually holding someone’s hand, Jen’s casual take on Rosa’s view of people as tools. From stunning puppet fabrication to brilliant voiceovers to captivating music to added effects, a lot would still remain unsaid about this remarkable stop-motion movie.