Directed by Michael Haneke
Starring Daniel Auteuil, Juliette Binoche
121 minutes
Opens January 27, 2006
*** ½ stars out of five
If you are a person that likes to have a resolution after getting caught up in the twists and turns of a good mystery, you will not get any satisfaction from watching . I will freely admit that I was thoroughly perplexed when I saw this whodunit and even more confounded after spending some time thinking about it.
The story begins with a couple, Georges and Anne played by Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche, watching a video of a residential street. What we discover is that this appears to be a surveillance tape of the couple’s home taped by a hidden camera across the street. They have no clue who has sent it and since Georges is the host of a television talk show they assume that it might be a fan. More tapes arrive and they are illustrated by childlike drawings of a young child spewing what appears to be blood. The couple’s young child Pierrot, Lester Makedonsky, also receives a postcard with the same disturbing drawing. The police won’t act because they feel no crime has been committed.
One of the tapes reveals a clue, which leads Georges to suspect a man he had wronged when he was a child. This is where the tale turns into a psychological thriller as great as any in the last century. Just when you think you have this mystery figured out, the story veers and takes you into a completely different direction. There is one scene that is so jolting, it will leave you breathless. To reveal any more would give too much away. I would suggest that you do not watch this one alone. You will definitely need to talk about this after viewing.