I really need to get around to watching The Time of the Wolf.
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I really need to get around to watching The Time of the Wolf.
Wasn't nearly as emotional (or 'tear jerking') as I was lead to believe, but then it's a Haneke film and they are almost always a variation of the horror genre. This time it reminded me often of The Exorcist where someone has to endure the changes of a bedridden loved one ("what has my daughter/wife become?"). Also a bit of Titicut Follies and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (for obvious spoilery reasons).
As much as I feel at odds with Haneke's worldview and what he seemingly feels are the main points for filmmaking (rigorous and detached longtakes that coincide with humorlessness) he still can be deeply affecting with what he does. I have a feeling this will stick with people a long time whether they want it to or not.
Mal! Mal! Mal! Pigeon.
MAL! MAL! MAL! Pigeon.
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I haven't seen The Exorcist, but to call this movie a variation on the horror genre seems to me kind of a stretch. How is Amour more of a horror movie than, say, Away From Her?
Likewise, your claim that nearly all of Haneke's movies are variations on the genre strikes me as an auteurist over-simplification. To be sure, Funny Games is a sort of commentary on the horror movie, but in Le Temps du loup, Caché, and The White Ribbon, the relationship is somewhat tenuous; in La Pianiste it's extremely tenuous; and in The Seventh Continent, 72 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance, The Castle, and Code inconnu, there's really no connection whatsoever.
As with Kafka, I get the feeling that he's funnier if you speak German. In any case, the final scene of The Seventh Continent is pretty funny, and the full title of The White Ribbon: A German Children's Story got a chuckle both times I saw the film from the one person in the theatre who could read German.Quote:
As much as I feel at odds with Haneke's worldview and what he seemingly feels are the main points for filmmaking (rigorous and detached longtakes that coincide with humorlessness)
My favorite moment in this film is the opening shot. I like to imagine that Haneke is self-aware enough, and has enough of a sense of humor about himself, to have deliberately intended it as an inside joke, or perhaps a preemptive rebuke, to the expectations of his long-time viewers. Two minutes of silent, unassuming opening credits, then suddenly "BAM", a home invasion in yo' face! It made me chuckle anyway.
The pigeon scene was great and if you're reading it metaphorically you're doing it wrong.
I found this movie hypocritical, just like Funny Games.
Meh.
Not sure if I can justify that gut reaction, but it definitely rubbed me the wrong way in how it seemed to flip-flop between wanting to be an impartial observer and a sympathizing storyteller. There is a scene where Anne asks Georges to leave the room instead of gawking to find out how she reads a book with one hand, implying that she wants a semblance of dignity and not be made an object of curiosity, but the camera stays and does show us the very thing she asks not to. This alone wouldn't have soured me, but it does when it's combined with latter scenes where Haneke would start to show a humiliating moment where Georges is helping Anne do everyday stuff, but cuts away before showing their full struggle, before the tediousness and time consumption of having to do things like carrying her out of the toilet really sinks in. It makes it seem like the film is showing these moments just to hit those notes. That felt exploitative to me, which I think is counter to what the film is trying to say about the alienation of old age.
It's a common problem I have with Haneke. I always find that his directing ultimately betrays and sabotages his intentions.
By the way, was William Shimell supposed to playing Haneke? I read that Haneke made the film because this story actually happened in his family.
Interesting point, but I don't see this as hypocritical so much as Haneke being conscious of the inherent exploitation of showing suffering onscreen. That said, I somewhat agree about the film not finding the right balance between impartiality and sentimentality; the use of diegetic music felt like a way of cheating his formal rigor more than anything.
:lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by twitter Michael Haneke
I love that twitter account.
It also allows Haneke that smash cut from a medium shot of Anne's face while suffering through the humiliation of being trained in the steps of having her diaper changed to a flashback wide shot of Anne gracefully playing her piano. Mal!
As well as the scene in which the successful former student of hers whose concert they attended in the opening scene visits the apartment, only to discover first-hand the extent of her condition, so he performs a piece for them on the piano she can no longer play. The irony that scene expresses would be difficult to achieve within the confines of their apartment without incorporating the musician angle.
This was a great film. Haneke makes those all the time. Nothing else to report.