Telluride 2005 #2

The second night of Telluride @ Dartmouth featured the French movie Caché (English title: Hidden), from the Austrian director Mihcael Haneke, known for his minimalism. The story is that of a successful TV host Georges Laurent (Daniel Auteuil) whose steady life and relationship with his wife Anne (Juliette Binoche) and son are sorely tested when a videotape is mysteriously delivered to him one day. The tape contains lengthy, boring, still camera footage of his own house but, more importantly, arrives wrapped in a paper containing a childlike, yet deeply disturbing, drawing of a boy with a triangle of blood gushing out of his mouth.

More such videotapes continue to arrive, often wrapped in similarly disturbing drawings, that obviously mean something to Georges that he refuses to share with Anne. Eventually, however, circumstances force Georges to reveal to Anne some dark secrets of his boyhood days. How will the movie now resolve things? Can it, even? No spoilers here; watch it and find out!

The best thing about this movie is that by using his minimalist approach, Haneke lets the viewers interpret the events on screen any way they like. Some read it as commentary on modern urban life, some as an allegory for current international events, especially terrorism and its connection to colonialism. Others, including me, simply see it as a story of comeuppance that brings out all the tense moments that its protagonist endures. Score: 7.5/10