The
only problem with this absorbing psychological thriller, the tale of an
anonymously menaced couple, is its frustratingly inconclusive ending.
An anonymous videotape is
placed on a man’s balcony, showing that the man is being watched. Another video
follows, and an anonymous call. The man and his wife feel threatened, but the
police say there’s nothing to be done absent an explicit threat. I was thinking
that if this were a Hollywood movie, Mel Gibson or Harrison Ford, as the hero,
would have his friend who’s a forensics expert trace the DNA on the tape and
turn the tables on the villain, who would conveniently fall off a building at
the end of the movie. But instead our hero is played by French everyman Daniel
Auteuil, his wife is the equally ubiquitous Juliette Binoche, and the
writer-director is Michael Haneke, who’s often had the adjective “disturbing”
applied to his work. Haneke, an Austrian whose latest films are in French,
depicts the psychologically challenging behavior of his characters while
leaving plenty of room for the viewer’s interpretation. Lest this seem
ponderous, in this case it’s not (certainly not compared to Haneke’s best-known
film, the sexually perverse The Piano Teacher). From a slow start, Caché becomes more
and more absorbing as the videos lead to marital tension and a revelation about
the past. And then there is the end, when suddenly I wanted Harrison or Mel to
show up and explain things a little better. I don’t mind a little ambiguity at
the end of the movie, but I at least like to be given enough information to
draw my own conclusion. Here, too much remains…hidden.
posted 9/16/13
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