Austrian Director Michael Haneke just picked up the prestigious Palm d'Or award from Cannes 2009 for his new film. Having seen a few of his films I was prompted to continue my viewing of this highly acclaimed director, and next on my list was this French language suspense thriller, Hidden (ou Cache en Francais).
Haneke is a real artist. Every scene is wonderfully constructed with attention to every composition detail. He leads the eye subtly through a picture drawing you slowly to every intricate detail. His direction seems flawless and he pulls excellent performances from an excellent cast which includes seasoned French stars Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche.
Briefly the plot follows a content family whose life style is threatened when strange video tapes start arriving at their home. The family's nerves are tested as they try to find out who is doing this. The following developments test the family's trust and commitment as they have to look into the past.
The film has won many awards and has been well received by critics. I would concur with the professionals that this is an excellent film, but it seems very strange that it is so successful. In all honesty even with a good plot, not a lot really happens. The film is very slow with much in common with art house cinema coming from France. The winning ingredients of this film come from Haneke's perfect structure and balance in telling the story and his skill in painting excellent individual scenes, one after another.
Even though the plot stumbles along, and truly not too much happens, what does happen is extremely powerful, and this maybe the reason for such a slow moving story. There are points in this film I think will stay with me forever.
Although perhaps I preferred the faster pace of Funny Games and the weird characters in The Piano Teacher, but this is still another amazing addition for a director who seems to excel in his work. I am now very excited to see his new film which has given him the full respect of Cannes which he certainly deserves.
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