French Directors - Michael Haneke

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French Directors - Michael Haneke

The Michael Haneke Collection Michael Haneke A collection of seven films from Michael Haneke, "perhaps the most important European filmmaker currently active" (Robin Wood, Artforum). Included: The Seventh Continent (Austria, 1989, 104 mins., German with English subtitles), the obsessive tale of a ordinary family's cosmic and suicidal indifference; Benny's Video (Austria, 1992, 105 mins., French with English subtitles), the second film in the director's "glaciation trilogy;" 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance (Austria, 1994, 95 mins., French with English subtitles), a formally rigorous work comprised of 71 film tableaux and the third film in the trilogy; Funny Games (Austria, 1997, 108 mins., German with English subtitles), an unnerving, controversial exploration of violence that won Haneke Best Director at the 1997 Chicago International Film Festival; The Castle (Germany/Austria, 1997, 123 mins., German with English subtitles), an austere interpretation of Franz Kafka's novel, Code Unknown (France, 2000, 113 mins., French with English subtitles), starring Juliette Binoche in a complex tale of four lives intersecting; and lastly The Piano Teacher (Austria/France, 2001, 125 mins., French with English subtitles), a challenging adaptation of Elfriede Jelinek's novel which won honors for Best Actress (Isabelle Huppert), Best Actor (Benoit Magimel) and the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. 7-DVD set. Austria/Germany/France, 1989-2001, 773 mins. DVD $119

71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance Michael Haneke The third film in Michael Haneke's provocative "glaciation trilogy" (Benny's Video, The Seventh Continent) is a profoundly disquieting reflection on the numbing nature of modern life. The formally rigorous work is comprised of 71 film tableaux, including clips of an Austrian student's shooting spree, a homeless man's travels through Vienna, and a young couple's struggles with their newly adopted daughter. Each of these snippets is jumbled and presented out of context, with the persistent presence of a TV newscast shadowing the events in an eerie, foreboding manner. Reminiscent of Haneke's excellent, later work Code Unknown, this film remains "one of the most challenging narrative works of the 1990s" (Senses of Cinema). Includes interview with Michael Haneke (in French with English subtitles). In French with English subtitles. Austria/Germany, 1994, 95 mins. DVD $44.95

Benny's Video Michael Haneke The second film in Michael Haneke's "glaciation trilogy" is a chilling, unforgettable portrait of a fourteen-year-old boy (Arno Frisch) obsessed with mediated experience. Indifferent to his working parents and the dull routine of school, Benny is enraptured by recorded images--action movies, homemade surveillance footage, a violent tape of a pig being slaughtered. When his preoccupation leads him to murder a young girl and videotape the act, the depth of Benny's unfeeling--and the disconnectedness of his parents--becomes distressingly clear. "A tragic portrait of empty privilege, alienated communication, and despiritualized bankruptcy" (Strictly Film School). Includes interview with Michael Haneke (in French with English subtitles). In French with English subtitles. Austria/Switzerland, 1992, 105 mins. DVD $44.95

Cache (Hidden) Michael Haneke Director Michael Haneke continues a string of darkly provocative, intelligent dramas (The Piano Teacher, The Time of the Wolf) with this tautly paced, menacingly atmospheric thriller. Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche star as a European couple raising a young son (Lester Makedonsky) in a sunny, affluent household. When enigmatic video tapes and drawings begin arriving at their doorstep, the family finds their complacent existence shattered by unearthed secrets from the husband's past. "An ingeniously open-ended sort of post-millennial Rashomon" (Premiere Magazine). Includes director interview, behind-the-scenes featurette, trailers, and English and French subtitle options. In French with English subtitles. France, 2005, 117 mins. DVD $37.95

Code Unknown Michael Haneke Juliette Binoche stars in "the most intellectually stimulating and emotionally provocative piece of European cinema of recent times" (Richard Falcon, Sight and Sound). The lives of several characters intersect around one confrontation, but the film also veers off to detail these very separate existences. Indeed, it is the divisions of class, race, and modern existence that really define this morally challenging work from one of the most debated auteurs of modern film. In French, with scenes in several other languages, with English subtitles. France/Germany/Romania, 2000, 117 mins. DVD $44.95

The Piano Teacher Michael Haneke Michael Haneke's challenging adaptation of Elfriede Jelinek's novel won honors for Best Actress (Isabelle Huppert), Best Actor (Benoit Magimel) and the Grand Prize of the Jury at the Cannes Film Festival. Huppert portrays a single, middle-aged piano teacher whose lonely, unhappy existence includes voyeuristic activities and self-mutilation. Pursued by a talented musician (Magimel), she enters into a disturbing relationship of violent, masochistic sexuality. "...watching Huppert, a great actress tearing into a landmark role, is riveting" (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone). In French with English subtitles. France/Austria, 2001, 130 mins. DVD $44.95

Time of the Wolf Michael Haneke This harrowing, apocalyptic vision of a Western society where traditional civilization has collapsed in the face of unspeakable disaster is one of the finest acheivements in Michael Haneke's difficult and celebrated career. Isabelle Huppert is riveting as a mother who guides her two children to a train station outpost where a band of refugees cling to a system of logic that has swiftly become antiquated. With his meticulous 'Scope compositions, Haneke evokes a primeval milieu of darkness and despair, allowing a few small fissures that suggest the hopeful presence of light. "This is what early-millennium Euro art-film masterpieces feel like--lean, qualmish, abstracted to the point of parable but as grounded as a gravedigging" (Michael Atkinson, Village Voice). Includes interviews with Michael Haneke and Isabelle Huppert, production footage, filmographies, trailer, weblinks, and more. In French with English subtitles. France, 2003, 109 mins. DVD $44.95

The Castle Michael Haneke Haneke's adaptation of Kafka's last, unfinished novel is a dutifully complex and appropriately alienating work of near genius. In an austere, dystopian world, a surveyor known only as "K" (Ulrich Muehe, The Lives of Others) is summoned to a distant village by "The Castle," which refers to both the local government and its allegorical mountain stronghold. However, the villagers scoff at his title and Castle authorities only assist K by running him through absurd bureaucratic twaddle. Originally aired on Austrian TV as Das Schloss. With Susanne Lothar (The Piano Teacher). In German with English subtitles. Germany/Austria, 1997, 123 mins. DVD $44.95

Funny Games Michael Haneke An unnerving, controversial exploration of violence from the director of The Seventh Continent and Benny's Video. A wealthy couple and their young son arrive at their seemingly peaceful summer home and soon find themselves at the mercy of a pair of inexplicably calm and cruel young men, who torment them with their "funny games." The perspective of the film shifts to suggest second-hand audience participation in the horror. "It's an uncomfortable, distressing, and altogether provocative take on the global culture of media violence that not only draws the hapless viewer in, but also forces them into the role of fait accompli, like it or not" (Marc Savlov, The Austin Chronicle). Winner for Best Director at the 1997 Chicago International Film Festival. In German with English subtitles. Austria, 1997, 103 mins. DVD $44.95

The Seventh Continent Michael Haneke This challenging, widely acclaimed film by Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke is based on a true story. It charts the unusual progress of a family that seems utterly conventional: life holds no challenge or interest for them--they simply go through the motions of living. The Seventh Continent unsentimentally records their descent into despair and joint suicide. Modern life emerges as the ultimate culprit in this obsessive tale of extreme indifference. In German with English subtitles. Austria, 1989, 111 mins. DVD $44.95