Review of Caché (2005) by Rolando B — 02 Jun 2010

One of the reasons I like foreign films is that they often do not take prescribed paths in telling their stories. Cache is a good example. This French "thriller" spins a tale that challenges the viewer to fill in some of the pieces on their own. I put thriller in parentheses because this movie simply did not thrill at all. I thought it asked me to fill in way too many pieces of the story with very few details from which to create those pieces.

Cache won Best Director at Cannes (2005) for Michael Haneke. I will say he deserved the award since the direction is well done. He starts the film with a camera pointed at a building and the credits just sort of type themselves in while we are watching. He attempts to create suspense and/or creepiness with the use of this still camera shot technique that is used throughout the movie. The technique works but any suspense evaporates for me because the story just does not satisfy.

In the film, a couple begin to receive mysterious tapes from someone stalking their home. Good start. The husband (a good performance by Daniel Auteuil) begins to develop theories (or maybe already knows - we're never quite sure) about the tapes and who might be sending them. As his relationship with his wife and child deteriorates around him, he doggedly tries to track the source of the tapes. Meanwhile, he is disturbed by dreams/memories of his childhood that seem to be connected to, or triggered by, the tapes.

Georges' main suspect is Majid who was a child living on his family's farm when Georges himself was a child. Majid's parents were Algerian workers hired to work the farm. After Majid's parents are killed at a protest rally, some altercation occurs between the two children. This is Georges' rationale for why Majid is sending the tapes. A final confrontation about the tapes is truly both shocking and unexpected. Yet it answers nothing and the story continues along before simply just ending.

The film has important things to say about racism: As an Algerian, he became Georges' only suspect; As an orphaned Algerian, Majid was unwanted for adoption by Georges' parents. This appears to be a guilt that triggers Georges' dreams. But overall, it did not seem to lend itself to such a drammatic climax.

Cache is French for hidden. After watching this film, I must confess that whatever Haneke was trying to portray remained hidden to me....