Caché (Hidden) [2005]

A number of critics have called Cache Austrian provocateur Michael Haneke’s most accessible film vis-à-vis his other works like Funny Games and The Piano Teacher, because of its lack of nerve-racking or incendiary contents. I, however, beg to differ for the simple reason that it’s intellectual depth far outweighs the other two works, making it a potent and an incisive precursor to his brilliant masterpiece The White Ribbon. A bourgeois Parisian family starts receiving tantalizingly menacing videotape recordings of their home from a mysterious stalker who may or may not have revenge in his mind. And that opens a can of worms from the husband George’s guilt-ridden past that threatens to rip apart his upwardly mobile family through introduction of such destructive germs as fear, paranoia and distrust. But at a broader level, the movie manages to go beyond that. The family’s ordeal forms the perfect allegory to France’s chequered colonial past making the film a powerful socio-political commentary. At the forefront of this work sans any background score lies the astounding performance of Daniel Auteuil as George. The climax will fascinate some, while leave others frustrated; but there’s no denying the movie’s ability to unsettle, disturb and provoke its audience.




Director: Michael Haneke
Genre: Drama/Urban Drama/Psychological Thriller
Language: French
Country: Austria