A married couple are terrorised by a series of surveillance videotapes left on their front porch in this deeply disquieting slow-burn thriller.
Georges (Daniel Auteuil) is a famous TV presenter living in a modern town house in Paris with his publisher wife Anne (Juliette Binoche), and young son Pierrot. They begin to receive video tapes of their house and family, followed by disturbing, child-like drawings. With no perceived direct threat, the police refuse to help. As the tapes become more personal, Georges takes it upon himself to figure out who is putting his family through the horror. In typical Haneke style, the growing menace is delivered in drip-drip fashion en route to its horrifying denouement. His camera is precisely placed, and he firmly controls what we see and how we see it. Haneke compared the film to a multi-layered Russian doll; exploring social apathy, political guilt and historical repression, questioning methods of surveillance and their uses in power and through his masterful control he leaves his audience with more questions than answers. Unmissable. (Subtitles)
France 2005 Michael Haneke 117m
