A magnum opus from Haneke and easily his most visually spectacular film
On top of the picturesque beauty, The White Ribbon is formally accomplished as well, and that is what he is most well-known for anyways
Ernst Jacobi does the voice over of the school teacher as an older man in flashbacks and whenever he speaks we get gorgeous landscapes shot in jaw-dropping monochrome
voice-over narration accompanies the incredible landscapes– Haneke’s trademark formal prowess
No musical score- like all of Haneke’s work
The narration says the events “clarify some things that happened to this country”
Stern parents to say the least. The Baron, The Pastor (he’s the one who institutes the white ribbon on his children to remind them of innocence (he really means sinlessness) and purity), the Doctor- no names. They’re all abominations
Gorgeous hallway shot of a dead woman in bed (we just see her legs) at 13 minutes. A meticulously designed frame. Actually looks more like Bela Tarr than Haneke. Another hallway shot later as we get just the audio of the child being beaten for his bad behavior
Gorgeous hallway shot of a dead woman in bed (we just see her legs) at 13 minutes. A meticulously designed frame. Actually looks more like Bela Tarr than Haneke
30 minutes in is the wheat shot jaw-dropper
Haneke is not normally known for photography beautiful enough to rival Terrence Malick
The narrative is superb as well. Mysterious incidents. The Baron’s son missing, a laborer has an accident, suicides, torture– building… a film about death
The narrative is superb as well- mysterious incidents, the Baron’s son missing, a laborer has an accident, a barn is burned, suicide, torture— Haneke is building- film about death
Haneke keeps his trademark chilly distance in his shot length—mostly medium and medium-long shots
many immaculately crafted medium-long tableau shots including the final frame below
A really strong shot of the alley of the church at 65 minutes and then the winter trees at 68
museum-quality photography capturing the seasons
A scene right out of Bergman’s Winter Light between the doctor and his assistant (who he is sleeping with). “You’re ugly, flabby and have bad breathe” and that’s the least of it.
Again with the voice-over and landscapes—a rigorous form like always from Haneke—winter montage at 86 minutes
Certainly in-line with Haneke’s philosophies on evil—- tie-ins to this generation of future Nazi children and the timeline with The Great War starting.
a perfect frame — so nicely done here
Haneke builds insulated worlds for his characters- a sort of monstrous dollhouse
Leering children in the frame—disturbing—it does make you think of Village of the Damned
Leering children in the frame—disturbing—it does make you think of Village of the Damned
Absolute perfection in the final shot – a magnificent frame at the church and then slowly fading to black. It’s not dissimilar from Cache’s final frame. No resolution.
Absolute perfection in the final shot – a magnificent frame at the church and then slowly fading to black. It’s not dissimilar from Cache’s final frame. No resolution.
Drake – I have been using your site to help me in my film appreciation journey, great work, I enjoy how structured the site is along with the content.
I wanted to ask you about a concept you frequently refer to:
You often talk about film form or formalism, I tried looking this up but still don’t fully understand what it means, could you explain and possibly give an example?
@James Trapp- thanks for visiting the site and the comment. Yes- good question- form is tougher to identify than camera movement or editing— hopefully this link will work or you below. Form is theme and variation– reoccurring motifs (visual and/or narrative). We’re on The White Ribbon here so a good example (if you’ve seen the film) is the connective tissue with the wide landscape shots with voice-over– the first picture on the page. It is repeated often.
I do think that shot of the burning barn is the most incredible in the entire film, and I love many others including that brilliant one at the end in the chapel, but no love for this nice little two-shot (https://imgur.com/a/wNazK72) at 100 minutes? Great use of focus and lack of focus here and it looks like it might even be at a slight dutch angle. Most of the closer shots in this film aren’t as excellent as the long shots like the two I mentioned previously but I really like this one for some reason. It just connects with me.
As for the narrative, when was it that everything sort of hit you? For me it was right after the teacher gave Karli’s (the disabled kid) mother the bike, when he found the kids trying to look into Karli’s room and you saw their chilling lack of sincerity. And it really does hit you like a pile of bricks, everything that happened in the film when you get to that point. And I actually kinda already knew it was the kids, since I read about the movie and it was talking about how the film was centered around the children and it didn’t take a lot of thought to connect the dots, but it’s still able to seriously hit you hard.
This is an amazing film and surely a big MP. I think it has strong top 150 potential though I can’t say top 100 absolutely for certain (though I’m not saying it isn’t; not at all), however I don’t mean that as any insult since this is simply an excellent film.
Are you going to move this ahead of Cache as Haneke’s best ?
@Cinephile— I’m not sure- sorry. I know I’ll be moving The White Ribbon Up. It is an extraordinary film.
Drake – I have been using your site to help me in my film appreciation journey, great work, I enjoy how structured the site is along with the content.
I wanted to ask you about a concept you frequently refer to:
You often talk about film form or formalism, I tried looking this up but still don’t fully understand what it means, could you explain and possibly give an example?
@James Trapp- thanks for visiting the site and the comment. Yes- good question- form is tougher to identify than camera movement or editing— hopefully this link will work or you below. Form is theme and variation– reoccurring motifs (visual and/or narrative). We’re on The White Ribbon here so a good example (if you’ve seen the film) is the connective tissue with the wide landscape shots with voice-over– the first picture on the page. It is repeated often.
If you can get your hand on Resnais “Mon oncle d’Amérique” that’s a prime example- or a recent example is The Assistant (2019) from Kitty Green http://thecinemaarchives.com/2020/12/30/the-assistant-2019-green/
https://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~fc76/Handouts/A__Principles_of_Form.html#:~:text=Form%20can%20be%20defined%20as,Form%20involves%3A&text=Films%20are%20not%20random%20collections,rather%20dynamic%20sets%20of%20relations.
Okay, that helps. Thanks, and yes I have seen the White Ribbon, amazing movie, that’s why I chose this page to ask the question on.
I do think that shot of the burning barn is the most incredible in the entire film, and I love many others including that brilliant one at the end in the chapel, but no love for this nice little two-shot (https://imgur.com/a/wNazK72) at 100 minutes? Great use of focus and lack of focus here and it looks like it might even be at a slight dutch angle. Most of the closer shots in this film aren’t as excellent as the long shots like the two I mentioned previously but I really like this one for some reason. It just connects with me.
As for the narrative, when was it that everything sort of hit you? For me it was right after the teacher gave Karli’s (the disabled kid) mother the bike, when he found the kids trying to look into Karli’s room and you saw their chilling lack of sincerity. And it really does hit you like a pile of bricks, everything that happened in the film when you get to that point. And I actually kinda already knew it was the kids, since I read about the movie and it was talking about how the film was centered around the children and it didn’t take a lot of thought to connect the dots, but it’s still able to seriously hit you hard.
This is an amazing film and surely a big MP. I think it has strong top 150 potential though I can’t say top 100 absolutely for certain (though I’m not saying it isn’t; not at all), however I don’t mean that as any insult since this is simply an excellent film.
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