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“Cache” was written and directed by Michael Haneke who recently directed the shot for shot remake of his own “Funny Games.” My parents actually gave me the DVD to this film for Christmas, and I went ahead and watched it before I saw the “Funny Games” remake in theaters. With all the polarizing opinions regarding his new movie, I felt it was in my best interest to see “Cache” before I saw “Funny Games” because I was afraid that if I hated that film, then I would never get around to watching the DVD my parents gave me. I have enough trouble watching a lot of the other movies they have given me over the years, but this one had a great quote on the DVD cover by Steven Rea of the Philadelphia Inquirer:
“Like Hitchcock, only creepier.”
I read that, and immediately I was hooked. The fact that it took me several months to actually sit down and watch the movie is another story altogether. Heck, I’ve rented movies from Netflix and kept them for six months before I finally watched them. That’s why I cancelled my subscription initially. But anyway, let’s get back on track here…
“Cache” opens up with a shot of an exterior of the residence the main characters live in. It is a long and uninterrupted shot that lasts a good 3 or 4 minutes. But suddenly we hear voices, and we realize that we are actually watching a videotape along with two people who rewind it at one point. The couple is made up of a TV talk show host named Georges Laurent (Daniel Auteuil) and his wife Anne (Juliette Binoche), and they have received this tape that was anonymously left for them on their doorstep. This starts off the movie to an easy start as we see this couple continue to receive videos, and the lives of this couple begin to unravel as the layers of the story keep getting peeled away.
Describing a movie like this is difficult because its creator makes it rather ambiguous to the point where we have no choice but to draw our conclusions as to what has happened and what we have witnessed. These videos end up reawakening long dormant memories for Georges as we come to see events in passing from when he was a child that may or may not be real, and it uncovers a guilt that he thought he was over, but in fact has left a lifelong scar that is being picked at more than ever. In the end, it does not matter who is actually making these videos the couple is being sent as much as the effect they have on Georges and on those closest to him.
As I saw with “Funny Games,” it’s clear that Michael Haneke likes to play around with the audiences’ expectations. We are so conditioned by the formulas of the movies that mainstream cinema churns out with consistent regularity that anything that challenges it threatens to give us a headache. Those looking for a resolution that tidies everything up to the satisfaction of the regular movie going audience will be endlessly frustrated with this movie. Haneke is not a director interested in spelling out everything for the audience as he is in trying to get you to figure out the story for yourself.
What is revealed is that Georges ended up doing something to another person that he never really forgave himself for. Now the past is coming back to haunt him, and it ends up isolating him in his own guilt and fears and alienates him from his family. Anne, Georges’ wife, is incensed that she is not being let on any guesses that her husband has about who might be putting them through immense anxiety. Georges is never portrayed as a bad person, but in the end, it doesn’t matter if he is a good person. Guilt tears away at him, and while some make peace with the past, he will never have that luxury. This guilt may end up being carried on by his only son who only has inklings of what is going on between his mom and dad.
Between this movie and “Funny Games,” “Cache” is the better movie of the two as well as the more accomplished of both. It will serve as better entry point to the work of Michael Haneke than the aforementioned movie which succeeded in viciously turning off a lot of people. Haneke won the Best Director award at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, and it was probably well deserved. He keeps you hooked into the story which is like an onion that keeps being peeled away, and he succeeds in generating strong tension without the use of music score. This seems to be a common thing in the movies I have seen from this director so far; there is no film score to speak of, and there is practically no music played throughout the movie. The only other movie I can think of that succeeded in keeping us on the edge of our seats without the aid of a film score was “The China Syndrome.”
All the performances are excellent without ever being at all flashy. Daniel Auteuil creates a character that is morally ambiguous and not always easy to get along with, but we still care about what he goes through during the movie. The most recognizable face in the movie is Juliette Binoche, and this is another in a long line of brilliant performances from her. She makes Anne’s panic and anxiety all the more real as she keeps getting shut out in the cold of what’s really going on. As time goes on, her Oscar upset over Lauren Baccall when she won for “The English Patient” seems a lot less surprising. Also, Maurice Bénichou, who plays a very pivotal character in the movie, brilliantly shows how a person can be threat while remaining perfectly calm.
“Cache” is a brilliant exercise in suspense, and it shows how much of a master Michael Haneke is in this genre. There are no easy answers to be found here, and the ending itself is quite ambiguous, but not all movies are meant to be easily understood. Some are meant to engage you mentally so that you can draw your own conclusions. What’s wrong with having a movie like that every once in awhile? We need challenging movies that break the typical formulas that dominate most of American cinema today. “Cache” engages you with the unblinking eye of the camera, and it traps you in the world of its characters to where it is impossible to look away. Movies don’t get more suspenseful than this.
**** out of ****
“Like Hitchcock, only creepier.”
I read that, and immediately I was hooked. The fact that it took me several months to actually sit down and watch the movie is another story altogether. Heck, I’ve rented movies from Netflix and kept them for six months before I finally watched them. That’s why I cancelled my subscription initially. But anyway, let’s get back on track here…
“Cache” opens up with a shot of an exterior of the residence the main characters live in. It is a long and uninterrupted shot that lasts a good 3 or 4 minutes. But suddenly we hear voices, and we realize that we are actually watching a videotape along with two people who rewind it at one point. The couple is made up of a TV talk show host named Georges Laurent (Daniel Auteuil) and his wife Anne (Juliette Binoche), and they have received this tape that was anonymously left for them on their doorstep. This starts off the movie to an easy start as we see this couple continue to receive videos, and the lives of this couple begin to unravel as the layers of the story keep getting peeled away.
Describing a movie like this is difficult because its creator makes it rather ambiguous to the point where we have no choice but to draw our conclusions as to what has happened and what we have witnessed. These videos end up reawakening long dormant memories for Georges as we come to see events in passing from when he was a child that may or may not be real, and it uncovers a guilt that he thought he was over, but in fact has left a lifelong scar that is being picked at more than ever. In the end, it does not matter who is actually making these videos the couple is being sent as much as the effect they have on Georges and on those closest to him.
As I saw with “Funny Games,” it’s clear that Michael Haneke likes to play around with the audiences’ expectations. We are so conditioned by the formulas of the movies that mainstream cinema churns out with consistent regularity that anything that challenges it threatens to give us a headache. Those looking for a resolution that tidies everything up to the satisfaction of the regular movie going audience will be endlessly frustrated with this movie. Haneke is not a director interested in spelling out everything for the audience as he is in trying to get you to figure out the story for yourself.
What is revealed is that Georges ended up doing something to another person that he never really forgave himself for. Now the past is coming back to haunt him, and it ends up isolating him in his own guilt and fears and alienates him from his family. Anne, Georges’ wife, is incensed that she is not being let on any guesses that her husband has about who might be putting them through immense anxiety. Georges is never portrayed as a bad person, but in the end, it doesn’t matter if he is a good person. Guilt tears away at him, and while some make peace with the past, he will never have that luxury. This guilt may end up being carried on by his only son who only has inklings of what is going on between his mom and dad.
Between this movie and “Funny Games,” “Cache” is the better movie of the two as well as the more accomplished of both. It will serve as better entry point to the work of Michael Haneke than the aforementioned movie which succeeded in viciously turning off a lot of people. Haneke won the Best Director award at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, and it was probably well deserved. He keeps you hooked into the story which is like an onion that keeps being peeled away, and he succeeds in generating strong tension without the use of music score. This seems to be a common thing in the movies I have seen from this director so far; there is no film score to speak of, and there is practically no music played throughout the movie. The only other movie I can think of that succeeded in keeping us on the edge of our seats without the aid of a film score was “The China Syndrome.”
All the performances are excellent without ever being at all flashy. Daniel Auteuil creates a character that is morally ambiguous and not always easy to get along with, but we still care about what he goes through during the movie. The most recognizable face in the movie is Juliette Binoche, and this is another in a long line of brilliant performances from her. She makes Anne’s panic and anxiety all the more real as she keeps getting shut out in the cold of what’s really going on. As time goes on, her Oscar upset over Lauren Baccall when she won for “The English Patient” seems a lot less surprising. Also, Maurice Bénichou, who plays a very pivotal character in the movie, brilliantly shows how a person can be threat while remaining perfectly calm.
“Cache” is a brilliant exercise in suspense, and it shows how much of a master Michael Haneke is in this genre. There are no easy answers to be found here, and the ending itself is quite ambiguous, but not all movies are meant to be easily understood. Some are meant to engage you mentally so that you can draw your own conclusions. What’s wrong with having a movie like that every once in awhile? We need challenging movies that break the typical formulas that dominate most of American cinema today. “Cache” engages you with the unblinking eye of the camera, and it traps you in the world of its characters to where it is impossible to look away. Movies don’t get more suspenseful than this.
**** out of ****
This is Haneke's masterpiece on a number of levels. Excellent review.
I only saw both Funny Games from Haneke, but saw bits and pieces of this on some TV show. Great review