Republished from the show notes of my other site, Fuds on Film.
Caché was the first Haneke film what I done saw and that, back in the dimly remembered Before Times of 2006, and given that I liked it, it’s a bit of a mystery why I didn’t make much on an effort to seek out the rest of his work. But I suppose that’s what we’re here to fix.
In Caché, Daniel Auteuil’s Georges Laurent and his wife, Juliette Binoche’s Anne Laurent lives a happy middle class life in Paris with their son, Lester Makedonsky’s Pierrot, which takes a turn for the sinister when a videotape shows up on their doorstep, a videotape of their doorstep, and surrounding environs. Someone is surveilling them, and wants them to know it, but apparently not keen on revealing who is doing it.
And, well, at least in terms of the plot, there’s not much more to say, other than as more tapes show up, some with crudely drawn references to events in Georges’ childhood, an atmosphere of threat and mistrust continues to grow, souring Georges and Anne’s relationship as Georges seems unwilling to share the events referenced for which he clearly harbours guilt.
Eventually this leads back to his parents, their farm and their decision to adopt Maurice Bénichou’s Majid, the son of their Algerian farmhands after they went missing in the Paris massacre of 1961. Is this a belated revenge for childhood mistreatment? Georges certainly thinks though, although by the tragic end to Majid’s tale I don’t think we can say there’s a definitive answer to whodunnit, or indeed that the matter is over.
I suppose if you were to judge this solely on the basis of being a thriller, there’s not a lot of satisfaction in that ending, but that would largely miss the point of Caché, and as a look at the way guilt can cause people to reflect on their actions, or indeed not reflect, this is a fine work, particularly given the strong parallels with Europe’s attitude on their colonial past that’s still barely being reflected on today.
All this is backed up by what will become a repeated mantra for Haneke’s work, which is to say that he’s assembled a great cast, gleaned great performances out of them, while working with the cinematographer, most frequently Christian Berger as he does here, to produce something that looks distinctive and compelling, even when it’s just the framing of an ordinary street corner.
While there’s a not a film we’ll talk about today that I wouldn’t recommend on some level, this has perhaps remained my favourite, and the easiest to recommend without caveats about mood. The most common knock on Haneke’s body of work is normally that it’s too clinical, although I think detached is a better way of putting it. There’s certainly that level of distance present in Caché, although I think that given the subject matter, and the way the film feels like it is watching you watching it, it fits better here than in the other films we’ll speak of today.
Haneke has made other films that on an individual basis might look better, or have deeper characters, or have more emotional heft, but Cache may just remain the best overall balance of Haneke-ness if you’re looking for an introduction to his work. So, challenging without being overly so, and a well put together, enjoyable film – that’s Caché. Available in all good stores now.