Directors MORE DIRECTORS CHECKLIST SERIES - Volume #213 - The Films of MICHAEL HANEKE (1 Viewer)

[Martin Teller]

added The Time of the Wolf (2003) - 7/10

 

[Martin Teller]

added The Piano Teacher (2001) - 7/10

 

[Bill McA]

UPDATED:

The White Ribbon (2009) /img/vbsmilies/htf/star.gif/img/vbsmilies/htf/star.gif/img/vbsmilies/htf/star.gif/img/vbsmilies/htf/star.gif (Own the Blu)

Seen 12
Own 12

 

[Brook K]

Updated:

The White Ribbon - A-

 

[Bill McA]

UPDATED:
[COLOR= rgb(255, 0, 0)]Amour[/COLOR] (2012)
Seen 13
Own 12

 

[The Drifter]

Michael Haneke is one of my favorite directors. I actually became a fan of his films when I first saw The Piano Teacher & Code Unknown in a local art house theater back in the early 200X's.

I recently re-watched Cache/Hidden & am resurrecting this old thread to discuss the film - since I didn't want to create a new one. Here's my review, with some questions:

First of all, brilliant movie - it's Michael Haneke's best film. I remember seeing this in the theater back in 2005 & thinking it was fantastic then. However, after re-watching this several more times I noticed more details & appreciate the film much more than on my initial viewing.

The movie is a poignant & fascinating exploration of living with guilt, morality, history, and national identity. Prior to seeing the film, I had never heard of the terrible event that occurred in October 1961, in Paris - quite tragic & horrific.

So, I guess the ultimate question on everyone's mind @ the end of the film is - who sent the tapes & disturbing drawings to Georges Laurent & his family?!

-Well, I can say unquestionably that M. (the boy that came & stayed with Georges & his parents years before) did not send the tapes or the pictures to Georges.

Spoiler: SPOILER

He was obviously genuinely surprised to see the adult Georges at his door, and the entire situation (being thought of as a suspect, etc.) ]was too much for him - which is why he ended up killing himself in front of Georges. He was obviously upset at having to dredge up a past, to the point that he couldn't handle it anymore.

So, that leaves a couple of possibilities:

-The very last scene of the film shows a panoramic scene of the outside of the school that Pierrot attends...we see Pierrot & M.'s son having a brief, intense conversation (that we don't hear). So, did M.'s son set up sending the tapes/pictures up with Pierrot, in order to get back at Georges? However, this opens up the door to even more questions, i.e.:

1) M.'s son apparently knew about the whole situation with Georges lying about M. when they were both kids, which resulted in M. being taken away from the house & going to the orphanage (due to Georges being jealous). However, even if M.'s son wanted to get revenge at Georges because of the way his father had been treated years before, why would M.'s son send the tapes to Georges (including the tape showing the location of M.'s apartment) if he knew Georges would confront M., and dredge up a past that M. wanted to forget? He should have known that M. would react badly - and, as it turned out, he ending up killing himself over this. M.'s son appeared to love his father, so I don't see him doing this....unless he really wanted to get revenge on Georges, and wasn't thinking it through - i.e., wasn't realizing how much this would negatively affect his father.

2) Why would Pierrot be upset at his father enough to do something like this to him?! Sure, Pierrot was obviously angry at his mother because he suspects - probably correctly - that she was having an affair with their friend Pierre. But, I don't sense that Pierrot has any great hatred for his father specifically. That being said, Pierrot knew that the tapes/pictures would cause problems with both of his parents, including his mother - so, he may not have cared how this affected his father.

3) And, how did Pierrot even meet up with M.'s son?! They obviously don't go together to the same school (M.'s son is at least high school age, or older).

-Other than M.'s son & Pierrot setting this up, the only other slight possibility I can think of is that Georges's mother sent him the tapes & pictures - since she's the only other person who would even remember the situation/incident(s) with M. from years before. However, I seriously doubt this - she's bedridden & infirm (as seen in the one scene when Georges goes to visit her) and it's unlikely that she would have the means, inclination, or motive to set up something like this. And, I doubt she would do something like this to upset her son.

-The least likely possibility is that Georges has another enemy that is doing this to mess with his mind. However, unlikely that it's a person we don't see in the film because it would have to be someone that knew about the situation from his childhood - and, the only people who would know would be M., his son, and Georges' mother.

What makes this even more mysterious is that it appears that even after M.'s tragic death & his son's confrontation with Georges Laurent (at Laurent's work) the house still has surveillance - as seen in that scene towards the end of the film. So, who is still conducting the surveillance?! Is it still M.'s son & Pierrot (if they were ever even doing this from the beginning)?! Or, is it someone else?

 

[The Drifter]

A while back, I re-watched Haneke's The Piano Teacher on the most recent Criterion Disk.

Excellent print, and the booklet that came with this was very informative. The film is extremely difficult to watch, but at the same time it's compelling & tough to turn away from.

Isabelle Huppert is strikingly beautiful. That being said, her beauty has a definite "coldness" - as such, her appearance really fits her character in this film - possibly more than in any other role she's played. Her character obviously has to always be in control 100% of the time in her professional & sex/romantic life outside of her home. And, the reasons for this seem to be that her mother controls her personal life @ home - and, she has deeply bottled resentments because of this.

Her character in the film is obviously extremely disturbed -

Spoiler: SPOILER

the self-mutilation scenes are stomach-turning & tough to watch.

Worse than this, however, is that her character is unquestionably one of the biggest personifications of evil I've ever seen in cinema.

Spoiler: SPOILER

I.e., the scene when she intentionally put glass in the pockets of the meek & dedicated young pianist - therefore ruining her chances of her ever having a career playing piano (especially since that's all she had going for her, based on what her mother said) were extremely malicious & horrific. Huppert's character is beyond redemption, and her nervous breakdown at the end of the film was quite fitting.

-Side-note: When I initially saw TPT (in the theater), I do remember there being numerous walk-outs as the film progressed; the theater was practically empty when the film was over. Understandable, since the movie was quite horrific in many ways; I think of myself as having a relatively strong stomach for horror/violent films, but there were several scenes in TPT that were quite sickening/stomach-turning.