House of Boys

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Jean-Claude Schlim directs. Carlo Thiel behind the camera. Gast Waltzing scores. Katharina Schmidt cuts. Produced in Luxembourg, Germany. Dialogue in Letzeburgesch, German, French, English, Arabic.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Shot for just $2.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
• 2Released 17 years ago.
• 3Dialogue crosses 5 languages: Letzeburgesch, German, French, English, Arabic.
• 4International production across 2 countries: Luxembourg, Germany.
• 5Directed by Jean-Claude Schlim, shot by Carlo Thiel. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 6Original score by Gast Waltzing. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 7Editor Katharina Schmidt shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 8Layke Anderson and Benn Northover and Udo Kier carry the top of the cast.
• 9Marketing tagline: "Make Love Your Goal".
• 10IMDB entry: tt0405022 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 11Only 46 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
• 12Classified under 16 themes, including "aids", "love at first sight", "amsterdam, netherlands", "brothel".

The technical file

Cinematography

Carlo Thiel

Original score

Gast Waltzing

Editing

Katharina Schmidt

Production design

Christina Schaffer

Costume design

Clara Velle

Makeup / hair

Claudine Moureaud

Sound

Tilo Busch

Runtime

120 min · 2h 0m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$2,500,000

Original language

EN

IMDB

House of Boys (2009) ↗

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Community reviews

What people are saying

• CinemaSerf2025-03-19
  ★ 7/10

  “Frank” (Layke Anderson - anyone else thing he looks a lot like Freddie Fox?) is a young British gay lad living in Amsterdam who has just left school and who is looking for life, love and some sort of adventure. He arrives at the “House of Boys” where “Madame” (Udo Kier) believes his assertions that he’s a great dancer - even if he looks bedraggled! He has to share a room with the club’s straight star “Jake” (Benn Northover) who kicks him out each time his girlfriend come for a visit, but quickly this eclectic yet friendly group welcome him to their fold and he starts to become popular. The emphasis now shifts a little to “Jake” who is having a fairly torrid time with his “my body my rules” partner whilst simultaneously providing services for wealthy visiting Americans who pay well to sleep with him. Things come to an head when someone steals his savings and when he discovers who took it, feels betrayed and that’s where the arms of the waiting “Frank” might come in handy. Their relationship starts to take on a new dimension but it’s not long before an incident leads to an hospital appointment and the entry of Stephen Fry’s “Dr. Marsh” who has some news to deliver - news that was grabbing headlines all around the world in 1985! Initially, this is quite a light and fluffy look at stereotypical gay culture, centred around a seamy dance club where sex is bought and paid for with scant regard to any though of the repercussions. It’s only when the story beds down and the characters become a little more established that it becomes a bit more substantial. It looks a little at transitional sexuality, and it addresses (albeit entirely one-sidedly) issues around abortion but the main thrust of the plot sees two characterful efforts from Anderson and Northover emerge from the “Magic Mike” elements and take us on quite a tormentedly plausible story set at the outset of the HIV/AIDS epidemic that was being stigmatised by not just the community at large, but the gay one too whilst the scientific one struggled to get it’s head around people with no T-cell count at all in their blood! The plot is not that original, but it has an earthiness to it; a darkness peppered with bits of sarcastic comedy and some decent drag routines at the start to illustrate quite potently a naive and cavalier way of life that was in for a shock. Given it’s timeframe, the outcome is pretty much writing on the wall, but to watch now when the disease is relatively manageable reminds us that a mere forty years ago this was an out-and-out killer.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• DE

  Delux Productions

  LU

• 

  Elsani Film

  DE

• MO

  Moonstone Entertainment

  US

Key crew

• Production DesignChristina Schaffer
• Sound Re-Recording MixerTilo Busch
• Makeup DesignerClaudine Moureaud
• Additional HairstylistBéatrice Stephany
• Makeup ArtistAntje Huchel
• Foley EditorHenning Hein
• Set DecorationCecile Heideman
• Costume DesignClara Velle
• Prosthetic Makeup ArtistNicola Pandel
• Additional HairstylistJoël Seiller
• Sound MixerPhilippe Kohn
• Co-ProducerAnita Elsani
• Associate ProducerErnst Etchie Stroh
• Art DirectionBenoît Bechet
• Associate ProducerAhmed Abounouom
• Makeup DesignerKatja Reinert-Alexis
• ProducerJimmy de Brabant
• ProducerBob Bellion
• Costume DesignCaroline de Vivaise
• Costume DesignFrançoise Meyer
• Makeup ArtistFrederic Roeser
• Sound DesignerKarl Atteln
• Executive ProducerJean-Claude Schlim
• CastingMonique van der Waals

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• aids
• love at first sight
• amsterdam, netherlands
• brothel
• cabaret
• bully
• male homosexuality
• lgbt
• brothel madam
• 1980s
• rent boy
• rent boys
• gay theme
• hiv/aids epidemic
• homosexual
• gay sex

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical2009-11-20

Also known as

International titles

• 男孩之家CN
• Το σπίτι των αγοριώνGR
• Allir Laugardagar heima hjá SteinIS
• Vaikinu namasLT
• Dom chłopcówPL