Review of Caché (2005) by Mark O — 24 Dec 2008

I'd read a lot about Hidden (cache - fr) - but luckily its surprises were still just that. This is a great movie, one which might leave moviegoers used to conventional narrative a little cold. If you can handle not being given answers and prefer to be provoked rather than patronised, you should love hidden.

Georges and his wife are a middle class french couple, media types, with a 12 year old son. At the start of the film a video tape is found on their doorstep, which runs for two hours and shows the outside of their house. Whats weird is that at one point on the tape, Georges walks past where the secret filmer is standing. "It'll remain a mystery" he says of this. As indeed it will, although you may very well draw a definite conclusion at the films end. What follows is a thriller where the characters in the film try to find out who is sending these tapes (which grow increasingly sinister), we're given plenty of opportunity to speculate on who is behind it. Ultimately though, the identity/s of the assailant is not too important. What is more interesting is the hidden pasts and secrets of its characters.

If you do watch it, pay close attention to the closing shot, which occurs right after the flashback/dream at the farmhouse - it shows steps outside a building with many people on it, we've seen it once earlier in the film. Filmic convention may dictate your eye will be drawn to a specific part of the screen, but it pays to be vigilant here and challenge this instinct. Although, what is revealed could mean many things.

This is a masterful, lean movie which makes me excited to see Haneke's other work.

(If you want to know what I think about the identity of the sender of the tapes, email me).