The Strangers in the House
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"The quintessential roman dur: direct, spare, sensuously atmospheric, hypnotic in its realism, and honest in a way that few novelists would dare to be."-- John Banville, LA Times, 2018 "In one of his recent novels, Les inconnus dans la maison, Georges Simenon describes a juvenile gang of thieves in a small French town.--Curiosities of the Self (1965) by Theodor Reik |
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Les Inconnus dans la maison (1940, English: The Strangers in the House) is a 'roman dur' by Georges Simenon, the story of an alcoholic lawyer living with his daughter. In the house of the two a dead man is found and the boyfriend of his daughter is the prime suspect.
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Synopsis
After his wife left him and their young daughter in favor of another man, Hector Loursat gave up on almost everything in life. Throwing away his law career in favor of alcoholism and reading, Hector paid little attention to his daughter Nicole, unsure if he was even her true father. As such, he was largely unaware of her life until he hears someone fire a gun within the house. Upon investigating Hector discovers a man dead in one of the bedrooms. Nicole, now a teenager, and her friends brought him home after hitting them with their car, only for one of the group to murder him. The authorities believe the killer to be Nicole's boyfriend Emile and quickly charge him.
To the surprise of some, Hector takes up Emile's defence, as he ultimately believes the young man to be innocent. Proving this requires Hector to team up with his daughter Nicole, who only somewhat tolerates him as a result of years of neglect.
In the end Emile is acquitted with Luska being exposed as the murderer.
Adaptations
The Strangers in the House has received four film adaptations, the first of which was a 1942 French film directed by Henri Decoin. This adaptation featured Raimu as Hector Loursat and André Reybaz as Émile Manu. An adaptation and remake of the French film followed in 1967, starring James Mason and Bobby Darin as the fallen lawyer and the young man accused of murder. Geraldine Chaplin, fourth child of actor Charlie Chaplin, starred as the daughter. The film under-performed at the box office, with the studio reporting a loss of $795,000. This film was itself later remade in 1997. A second French adaptation was made in 1992, L'Inconnu dans la maison, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo as Jacques Loursat.
Reception
The novel has been described as "wonderfully claustrophobic". John Banville regards Strangers in the House as one of Simenon's finest novels, and "the quintessential roman dur: direct, spare, sensuously atmospheric, hypnotic in its realism, and honest in a way that few novelists would dare to be".
See also
It may also refer to several film adaptations of the novel:
- Les Inconnus dans la maison, a 1942 French film directed by Henri Decoin
- Stranger in the House, a 1967 British film directed by Pierre Rouve
- L'Inconnu dans la maison, a 1992 French film directed by Georges Lautner
- Stranger in the House, a 1997 Canadian-American film directed by Rodney Gibbons
