Pamela S
House of D is a 2005 film written and directed by David Duchovny starring Robin Williams and Anton Yelchin. It was not widely appreciated by the critics, but from the first moment of viewing it touched my heart.
Duchovny's writing has a trait of duality which prevails across mediums and seems to be such a reflection of his world view. In an interview with NPR, he stated the role of a director is to make sure the actors know the tone of a film which, in the case of "House of D", was both that of realism and that of a fable. Right there you might have the heart of why the movie "failed" in the eyes of so many critics. House of D was not what one expected from the star of the X Files and the nuance of a film which wasn’t easily categorized into a genre made some critics confused. It is unlikely that at the time of the interview mentioned above Duchovny knew that statement about duality would continue to be true about everything he writes. It is the trait of his written work I find most appealing.
When I watch "House of D" I am intrigued with the role of the outsider, the exiled, the outcast in this film. Because my career has been helping persons with intellectual disabilities to find employment, I noticed immediately that Robin Williams’ character had not one but two community employment situations. David Duchovny included a character with developmental disabilities because as a child there was an adult man with developmental disabilities who rode his bike with the neighborhood kids, protected them from bullies, made sure they got home safely. At the same time, Puff the Magic Dragon was a popular song. As a boy, Duchovny thought of this man who was close friends with one of the neighborhood kids as a sort of Puff who kept the boys safe but would lose the friendship of the boys as they grew up and went away just as one day Jackie Paper came no more to play.
Criticism has been leveled against Williams for a poor performance in this role. I think his performance is sincere, realistic, and heartfelt. From what I have read and heard in interviews with him he was a champion of disability issues, took this portrayal very seriously, understood the complexity of differences in cognition levels and distinctness of disabilities that cause cognition challenges, and selected how to play this character. He played the role of man child frequently in his career but it is always a mistake to think a forty year old person with cognition challenges is "like a child". From my perspective Williams played Pappas as a grown man with grown man emotions and physiological reactions, who was competent with concrete concepts but struggled with the abstract and had been treated as if he was child by society. A difficult role! Like most of us, Pappas was wise and smart about some things and not so much about other things. When the line in the film comes that Pappass’s father was threatening to put him in Willowbrook, my hearts breaks.
Yelchin who as a child actor played the child Tommy is wonderful and the two actors together in both the comedic and dramatic moments seemed to have "chemistry". I believe in the absoluteness of Tommy and Pappas friendship. Tommy was a young boy living in a working class neighborhood and apartment whose father was deceased and whose mother feared he would "end up in the gutter." His way out was his intellect and his scholarship to a prestigious Catholic prep school. Yet in this school his best friend became the "mentally challenged" janitor.
Even though Pappas is remarkably well integrated in his community, he is still the outsider, the social outcast. Tommy's other friend is the female inmate Odelia in the "House of D", the prison in the neighborhood. He never sees her. They communicate through the window of the prison. Without a father and with a mentally unstable mother, these two outcasts are the adults, the surrogate parents, in this young boy's life. The tagline of the film is “You never know who your angels gonna be.”
Two scenes illustrates beautifully how Tommy is the have not in society. There is a scene where Tommy and Pappas are staring in the window at a bike they can dream of only sharing between them with the money earn from delivering meat. The other scene is Tommy delivering meat across town to his girlfriend's apartment complex. She is a have type person, a refrigerator just for sodas, giant lemons, art work on the wall like a museum. Tommy will be allowed in only momentarily and eventually the doorman serves as a metaphoric gatekeeper from Tommy entering the world of the haves.
Tommy ends up running, fleeing to Paris and, even as an adult, is afraid to return to New York. When the adult Tommy played by Duchovny does return it is to connect again and to make peace with those outcasts, Pappas and Odelia, who had shaped him, formed him and loved him. The grown Tommy is, of course, an artist which makes his success a product of his existence as an outcast. If life had not intervened, his scholarship had continued, his mother had never overdosed on prescription drugs, he might have spent his life trying to " stay out of the gutter" as she wanted, but even if he had become a "have" would he have been happy or frustrated by always wanting to have more? We don't know what his teenage years in Paris were like but we can imagine some of life on the streets for the teenager in a foreign country, no friends or family, limited money on his way to adulthood. Was what his mother feared most the best thing that could have happened to him in his path to an authentic life reflective of his own talents?
None of this hits you over the head. That is not Duchovny's style. The class struggle is subtle. The movie begins and ends with lightness and humor. The middle has the darkest of reality: a 13 year old boy on his birthday unplugging his brain dead mother. The contrast is almost too much to reconcile which is why the critics found fault with it. David Duchovny is a writer that understands that the contrast of light and darkness is the journey of life. All of life is a little like a fable, isn't it? It's a beautiful film and is well worth a second or third watch. It has become a comfort movie for me.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
08/23/25
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Stephen C
Funny in 1 hour and 36 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rated PG-13 for Language, Drug References, Sexual References and Thematic Elements!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The USA grossed over $371,100.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
07/14/25
Full Review
Kyle M
David Duchovny provides a noble prompt to ponder on, only to tread senselessly with coerced dynamics despite the conclusive sentimental heart at the end enabled by the cast’s showcases rather mainly through the detached characterization, therefore labeling the feel-good intentions as subpar. (B-)
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
09/29/24
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Tina N
This movie is underrated. It's a beautiful sensitive story of a young mans challenges while growing up in the 70's. Anton and Robin Williams give beautiful performances.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
06/05/24
Full Review
Melanie T
I’ve been a David Duchovny fan since the 90s, and when I saw the critics reviews for this movie, my expectations were low. Then I watched it years after it came out & thought *wait, this was actually pretty good!* A charming blend of humor & drama, Anton Yelchin & Erykah Badu are great! Robin Williams as the character with an intellectual disability might be a bit of a stereotype at times, but it’s not too cringe, he’s still pretty good.
David isn’t even on screen much, but it was his baby, and I like it.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
05/14/24
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Laura Elizabeth
Rotten tomatoes has terrible taste the trash y'all give five stars and then rating this so poorly. Shame on you rotten tomatoes 🍅. This is one of the best movies ever !!!! So deep, evolving and cathartic . I also like "what dreams may come" with robin williams , "august rush"is ok . "The fisher king" is good .This one though . This one is a whole hidden gem !!!
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/22/24
Full Review
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