The Alienating Refuge Huis clos cinema as an architectural lens on the domestic space

by Arla Williams Roffe

The Alienating Refuge

Huis clos cinema as an architectural lens on the domestic space

This thesis uses huis clos cinema as a research tool to investigate contemporary domestic space as both a refuge and a site where mechanisms of isolation and control are reproduced. In current societies, the home is idealized as a goal, an investment, and a sanctuary from the external world. Yet, as Sigmund Freud’s notion of the Unheimlich and Paolo Virno’s idea of “familiar horror” suggest, the very space that promises comfort and intimacy often harbors unease, dependency, and repression. The domestic environment thus embodies a central paradox: it appears to offer security and self-realization while enclosing its inhabitants within invisible systems of expectation, labor, and emotional strain.

To examine these mechanisms, this research treats the home as an “architectural huis clos,” a structurally confined space where social roles, rituals, and hierarchies are intensified. The domestic sphere is not inherently alienating; rather, it reveals the underlying forces that shape everyday life. Huis clos cinema operates here as both mirror and magnifying lens, capturing moments in time and revealing how a society’s structures become visible through space, gesture, and routine. Within the cinematic huis clos subgenre, spatial limitation heightens these dynamics, allowing repressed tensions and social codes to surface.

Through the analysis of four case studies—Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (Chantal Akerman, 1975), Dogtooth (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2009), Amour (Michael Haneke, 2012), and Vivarium (Lorcan Finnegan, 2019)—this thesis explores how domestic interiors mediate intimacy, dependency, and alienation. Each film transforms the home into a stage where broader social forces are condensed, rehearsed, and revealed. By using huis closcinema as an analytical framework, this research proposes a reading of domestic environment as an architectural and cinematic construct that mirrors and magnifies the mechanisms of contemporary life.