Haneke. Haneke’s strength for the purposes of this list are the 3 top 500 films (very few of those left at spot #72 here) with remarkable stylistic and narrative consistency in his oeuvre. Dominant during the 2000’s—Haneke gave us 4 films that found their way into the decade’s top 100. I’m not sure he’s a “style-plus” auteur but his films follow a rigid form and are intellectually superior and consistent. He is certainly no caretaker or game manager of great films. Unlike many great auteurs on this list he got his start very late in the game. In fact, Benny’s Video is his firs archiveable film and it was released when Haneke was 50 years old.
Best film: Cache. For me it was the second viewing that cemented this masterpiece as one of the elite films of the 00’s decade.
total archiveable films: 10
top 100 films: 0
top 500 films: 3 (Cache, The Piano Teacher, Code Unknown)
top 100 films of the decade: 6 (Funny Games, Code Unknown, The Piano Teacher, Cache, The White Ribbon, Amour)
most overrated: Amour It is #1 of 2012 on TSPDT. I’ve seen it twice and I did think it was better the second time but I don’t think it’s the best film of 2012 by a long stretch. I’m honestly closer to 10th of 2012 so this is an easy choice for me.
most underrated: The Piano Teacher #717 on TSPDT all-time. It’s a landmark performance from Huppert but this is Haneke’s cold torture chamber of a film (a trait they all share).
- It’s clearly one of Haneke’s best works (and Huppert’s single best I’ve seen) an unflinching portrait of a complicated and icy woman
- Haneke, like many of his works, is incredibly brutal here- he means to flatten us.
- It’s an intellectual work- odd Freudian (sorta) scene later
- There’s a high level Schumann vs. Schubert discussion that could easily be a funny intellectual joke in a Woody Allen movie
- Reoccurring overhead shot of hands playing the piano
- It would make for a nice dual feature pairing with Elle– Huppert’s character and the issues
- Haneke, wisely, spends a lot of time holding the frame (past the point of comfort for most viewers) on Huppert’s icy stare
- Twin obsessions of music and sex— repression, self-mutilation
- Exacting and rigid
- Huppert’s character is clearly cracking up and getting worse
- there’s no musical score to the film—actually I don’t think any of Haneke’s films have a score
- It’s about power and control for Huppert’s character- there’s a very long domineering scene in the bathroom that is tough—it’s a painful watch
- This singular character study by Haneke is like a 2002-2017 PT Anderson later work without the visual flair (I think Haneke would be proud of that but artistically it just puts it a notch below)
- It’s an isolated world—Huppert’s character is in prison (many scenes show he captured)—she sneaks off to a porno rental store—her worlds are colliding here as she’s less and less able to control herself
- She cannot love “you’re sick” he says of her. The scene is devastating. Huppert’s eyes during that scene is extremely powerful acting
- Huppert’s character also tortures a student of hers- but you could read it as she’s trying to prevent the student from having her awful life
- The finale is perfect- we have the self-abuse scene and then the gorgeous exterior concert hall which could substituted as a big beautiful prison—it actually mirrors the school ending in Cache
gem I want to spotlight: Code Unknown
- It’s a very strong entry for Haneke’s oeuvre, Binoche’s, and the intersecting or non-linear narrative (Pulp Fiction, Rashoman, mystery train, Inarritu) sub-genre—the full name of the film is Code Unknown: Incomplete Tales of Several Journeys
- Full of Haneke’s trademark dread and pessimism both in the systems and people’s nature—there are heavy racial tensions
- Half conversations
- Bressionian in the dogmatic approach—very intellectual approach
- A story of moral emptiness
- Cryptic- elliptical editing breaking in and out of these characters who met in the racially charged and superb opening
- No music, simple black and white credits
- Opening and closing are deaf kids who can’t figure out what the other is saying
- Very long-opening shot on the streets of Paris (above)- 9 minutes and it’s marvelous. Intense, filled with social and moral implications—a stunner. The film actually can never reach this level again. The system is a disaster. The black guy is arrested or brought in by the police. The poor begging woman is departed. These are the two victims.
- Haneke stays in frame for an uncomfortably long time. His intent
- Vignettes—great short one of Binoche hearing domestic violence next door and another unbelievably intense one on the subway which has an Arab man playing both the attacker and defender of her
- Haneke loves scenes showing the banality and ineptitude of the affluent
- The 4 characters at the center of the incident on the street are shown in their own worlds throughout the film- sometimes connecting again for a second
- Books as mise-en-scene again for Haneke. He’s targeting the intellectuals who can’t figure it out
- Almost all scenes cut off prematurely in the editing
- The camera never moves in or out but often side to side
- It’s way more intellectually focused and subtle (and less visually appealing) but it’s very similar to Inarritu’s 2006 Babel
- Some scenes are just complete throwaways unfortunately
- A devastating account of the immigrant experience
- Haneke brilliantly interjects some fake scenes as Binoche as an actress- this is a statement for him on movies
- Her scene on the subway is marvelous where she breaks down- great acting
- Long silent finale of the Paris street or the subway is where Haneke should have stopped- the photographer then the deaf kids with not subtitle is a little weaker
stylistic innovations/traits: Haneke is stern, icy, unsparing and controversial. His films are both intellectual and uncomfortable. Again behind the camera he isn’t Cuaron but few are–and the run he went on from 1997 to 2009 put him up there with PT Anderson and others as the best during that stretch.
- children desensitized (because of media, bad parenting)- like , Happy End, Benny’s Video, The White Ribbon or Funny Games. sexual repression, loathsome white privilege
- structured formal opening and closing shots – often repeated bookends
- No musical scores
- No humor—many of Haneke’s films could easily be a comedy in the hands of like Bunuel with this god-awful rich real estate empire family being the “bourgeois”
- the long awkward pauses
- like many of his works, is incredibly brutal here- he means to flatten us.
- Haneke, wisely, spends a lot of time holding the frame (past the point of comfort for most viewers) on
- Exacting, rigid, calculating
- It’s about power and control for Huppert’s character- there’s a very long domineering scene in the bathroom that is tough—it’s a painful watch
- Full of Haneke’s trademark dread and pessimism both in the systems and people’s nature—there are heavy racial tensions
- Books as mise-en-scene again for Haneke. He’s targeting the intellectuals who can’t figure it out
- Mise-en-scene he favors shots of crowds (end of Cache, subway in Code Unknown) – he wants the viewer to pick what to watch—like Hou Hsiao-Hsien
- The average shot length is very high- long takes specifically at the end of Cache, Funny Games and the opening of Code Unknown
- Very anti-Hollywood
top 10
- Cache
- The White Ribbon
- The Piano Teacher
- Code Unknown
- Funny Games
- Amour
- The Time of the Wolf
- Happy End
- Benny’s Video
- The Castle
By year and grades
| 1992- Benny’s Video | R |
| 1997- Funny Games | HR |
| 1997- The Castle | R |
| 2000- Code Unknown | MS |
| 2001- The Piano Teacher | MS |
| 2003- The Time of the Wolf | R |
| 2005- Cache | MP |
| 2009- The White Ribbon | MP |
| 2012- Amour | HR |
| 2017- Happy End | R |
*MP is Masterpiece- top 1-3 quality of the year film
MS is Must-see- top 5-6 quality of the year film
HR is Highly Recommend- top 10 quality of the year film
R is Recommend- outside the top 10 of the year quality film but still in the archives
Haneke making Malick proud, that is so funny. ”bad parenting” in Das weiße Band…obviously a very knowledgeable american reviewer
[…] 72. Michael Haneke […]
What do you think of the Funny Games remake? Is it a lesser piece of art than the original because of how much of a copy it is? Or are there other reasons it didn’t make the archives?
@Declan- that’s it really– it is similar to Gus Van Sant’s Psycho— it is just a total copy (albeit from the same director)– reminds me of some of the older films in back in the early part of the 20th century where they’d shoot it once in English and once in french (von sternberg did this)- I don’t have both versions in the archives
@Declan- I write a little about it here http://thecinemaarchives.com/2019/03/29/gloria-2013-lelio/ and here when watching Lelio’s Gloria, and Gloria Bell http://thecinemaarchives.com/2019/03/29/gloria-bell-2018-lelio/
I haven’t seen either Gloria or Gloria Bell, but I do find it interesting that the distinction you make comes down to how Lelio improved as a visual director between the two films. Haneke would probably say that the second Funny Games is closer to his original vision – it seems a little more “Hollywoodised” visually which ties in with the critical statement it is making. But perhaps the difference there is negligible.
That makes me wonder though, if the 2007 version was the only one that existed, do you think that would be the one to make the archives and achieve an HR grade?
@Declan- fair question- probably right?– interesting if we asked the same thing of Van Sant’s film for the 1998 version
I just watched Caché and while a MP all it’s left me with is a very severe stress-induced headache. I’ve noted Salò is one of Haneke’s favorite films, and it’s one I’ve been thinking about watching recently as well. If Caché was enough to give me a headache this bad, then god help me for when I watch Pasolini’s film.
Of all the films you’ve seen (at least among those actually worth watching), which would you say was the most difficult to watch?
@Zane- Yeah- I mean tough to top Salo here. Birth of a Nation is either in this category or a category slightly different but nearby. Haneke would have a bunch of contenders here (Funny Games, Code Unknown). I’m sure I’m missing some.
You may have said this already but have you seen “71 Fragments Of A Chronology Of Chance” or “The Seventh Continent”?
@Jaxon- I have not, I would like to. How about you?
I’ve seen both as I’m doing a study right now on Haneke, going chronologically, and I’d say “The Seventh Continent” is vastly better than “71 Fragments”, and “Benny’s Video” for that matter. He films the two I mentioned in their own type of style with short scenes, hard cuts, and they feel even more cold as a result. It felt like a little of a mess in “71 Fragments”, but I think it worked great for “The Seventh Continent”. Haneke is one of my all time favorite directors, so I’m trying to not be bias, haha. I could see you archiving them both considering you have “Benny’s Video” in here. Long story short: they’re both worth checking out. And are on the criterion channel.
@Jaxon- Thank you for sharing. I did not realize they were on criterion. I need to check them out. Any films unseen by an auteur on Haneke’s level is a blind spot for me.
Yep. I just saw Code Unknown and would say The Seventh Continent and 71 Fragments are like stepping stones for the style mastered in Code.
@Jaxon- Very interesting. Sounds promising. Thanks for sharing.
Very impressed by another viewing of Cache (2005). It has some Hitchcock traits with the voyeurism and ordinary person put into strange situation but more like a Claude Chabrol film in its emphasis on atmosphere. The lack of closure reminds me of Weir’s Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) which I just watched a few nights ago. However, despite some influences this film is unique in a way that is hard to pin down but it stays with you afterwards for days if not weeks (something not many films can do). Very excited to revisit some of his other work, especially White Ribbon which I was blown away by the 1st time. It seems unlikely given his age, 79, but I really hope he has one more MP in him although I will be a realist here and assume it probably will not happen; that way if it does it will be a rather pleasant surprise!
Starting a Haneke study.
Benny’s Video (1992)
Not an easy film to watch to say the least but I have a feeling I will be saying this a lot with Haneke ha. No regrets picking him for next study though I find his films fascinating
Many close-up shots of hands and arms especially during transactions such as at McDonald’s or a scene at school with money exchanged, reminded me of Bresson’s final film L’Argent (1983) perhaps minimizing the showing of face-to-face interactions, even scenes later in film with Benny and his mother playing board games you rarely see both their faces sharing the frame
Some reviews critique the film’s heavy handed themes related to an obvious criticism that Heneke seems to be making of the modern world and the constant media intake, of course watching this 1992 film in 2022 we see a teenager with an unhealthy obsession that feels almost prophetic given how much time today’s kids (and adults) spend staring at screens all day between smart phones, computers, tv, etc.
I admire Haneke’s commitment to this cold detached style, the Interior of Benny’s house blue and gray, colors are perfect match to the cool detached nature of the film. He never really attempts to explain Benny’s actions. A difficult watch but solid.