Hidden (Cache) (2005

Going back to one's expectations before watching a film, I had heard nothing but praise for this French film from Austrian director Michael Haneke, many of whose earlier movies were scarily good.  However, having now seen this film, I must report that I found it abso-bloody-lutely infuriating.  I don't like to use the word "cheat", but this is as good a description as any.  In its favour the director managed to provide an ongoing sense of suspense and threat and I truly wanted to understand what was behind the anonymous surveillance videos and nasty drawings being sent to media personality Daniel Auteuil and his wife Juliette Binoche.  Well, I'll never know since the film offers no believable explanations and these seem to be no more than a device from a look-at-how-clever-I-am director.  He appears to be making some comment about how successful people can not disassociate themselves from their pasts which will return to haunt them, except Auteuil's boyhood actions against an innocent Algerian orphan have left him with little or no guilt.  The movie is full of red herrings and totally unrelated scenes involving the couple's 12-year old son and is, in the final analysis, probably not that well-made.  It was a glossy but empty major disappointment.