Riding a wave of festival nods and awards, Michael Haneke (’The Piano Teacher’, ‘Funny Games’) brings you his most convulated offering yet. The affable German director does not believe in giving it easy.

How would you react if you found out that someone’s been watching you (and I don’t mean in the shower), and you have no idea who that person is or their motives? Now if you were a couple, would both of you still react the same way?

A typical French bourgeois family, comprising of TV personality Georges (the awesome Daniel Auteuil), his successful wife Anne (lovely Juliette Binoche) and their sulky teenaged son (is there any other?), receive a mysterious video tape left at their doorstep. Picked up by Anne, it’s a 2+ hours of their house being monitored. At first the couple puzzle over it’s intention, and then dismiss it as a prank. Soon other such tapes follow, accompanied by a childish drawing of a violent image. Something about the image stirs up a childhood memory in Georges about an immigrant Algerian boy. As clues pile up, the normally staid family is slowly consumed by fear, paranoia and guilt, the result of which is a single act of shocking violence.

Now let me try to give it to you straight - Haneke is not interested in throwing red-herrings, and offering you a “how come I didn’t think of that?” climax. No, that would be a “standard” film (his own words). He grounds the whole film in a very realistic approach - switching the roles of the predator and the prey and shrouding the whole film in shades of truth, because his reasoning is that real truth is never really transparent - it’s always hidden. So what you have, is a film engulfed in an aura of real-life ambiguity.

The climax? It’s abrupt, it’s unsatisfying - but in the context of the entire film, it’s fitting. For the eagle-eyed viewer, they may notice something in the last frame that will set off another round of deductions and second-guessing as to it’s significance. It is one of those films that will be argued heavily on discussion forums.

A must see film for Haneke fans, and for those that like a vigorous workout for their grey cells.

Running Time: 121 min.
Starring: Juliette Binoche, Daniel Auteuil, Annie Girardot.
Director: Michael Haneke
MPAA Rating: R for brief strong violence.