This movie is absolutely flawless. The current story is tackled in french in contrast to his "white ribbon" being in german. Its the familiar flawlessness of Haneke that we're used to, but the particular subject matter that he is tackling makes this movie feel fresh and new. As you can tell by the main cast members, this movie explores the harsh reality and troubles related to old age. And you can tell that this movie is very personal film to him (and the fact that he's is over 70 years old is of some relevance). It's gonna suck when he dies, but I feel this movie is his acknowledgement of death. And that whether we like it or not, our physical bodies are no meant to last. A part of this movie that I love is that this movie is brutally honest in every depiction it makes. To sugarcoat the most horrific moments of ones life would not only be dishonest, but it would not be as emotionally effective, and this is a film that aims to hurt. Putting all that aside, I'm monumentally impressed by how well he's able to convey emotions through minimal use of music. And I respect his intellectual consistency whenever he does use music. The few points where we do hear music overtop scenes in the movie, it's actual music being played in the movies universe, so its as if your watching a scene where a characters dialogue continues to play despite jumping from different points in the film. Except instead of dialogue, its audio from a song being played. And this way he's able to provoke emotions by overlaying songs on top of scenes. But unlike almost every other movie with a soundtrack, the music actually exists in the movies universe. It's as if he's using tools that only exist the movies universe and feels its illegitimate to do otherwise. And whats more honest than that? And even though, I love movies with great soundtracks, I have to admire his ability to do without one. Visually, he sets up every single shot perfectly. There is very good reason why he's my favourite director. And I would consider him a genius at what he does.
Review by DeletedBlockedParent2015-11-24T03:22:39Z
This movie is absolutely flawless. The current story is tackled in french in contrast to his "white ribbon" being in german. Its the familiar flawlessness of Haneke that we're used to, but the particular subject matter that he is tackling makes this movie feel fresh and new. As you can tell by the main cast members, this movie explores the harsh reality and troubles related to old age. And you can tell that this movie is very personal film to him (and the fact that he's is over 70 years old is of some relevance). It's gonna suck when he dies, but I feel this movie is his acknowledgement of death. And that whether we like it or not, our physical bodies are no meant to last. A part of this movie that I love is that this movie is brutally honest in every depiction it makes. To sugarcoat the most horrific moments of ones life would not only be dishonest, but it would not be as emotionally effective, and this is a film that aims to hurt. Putting all that aside, I'm monumentally impressed by how well he's able to convey emotions through minimal use of music. And I respect his intellectual consistency whenever he does use music. The few points where we do hear music overtop scenes in the movie, it's actual music being played in the movies universe, so its as if your watching a scene where a characters dialogue continues to play despite jumping from different points in the film. Except instead of dialogue, its audio from a song being played. And this way he's able to provoke emotions by overlaying songs on top of scenes. But unlike almost every other movie with a soundtrack, the music actually exists in the movies universe. It's as if he's using tools that only exist the movies universe and feels its illegitimate to do otherwise. And whats more honest than that? And even though, I love movies with great soundtracks, I have to admire his ability to do without one. Visually, he sets up every single shot perfectly. There is very good reason why he's my favourite director. And I would consider him a genius at what he does.