Caché

Saw Caché (Hidden) at the Cumberland Friday night with Mary and Pavlina. This French film was at TIFF 2005 but we couldn't fit it into our schedules or get tickets. Overall, I liked it but parts of it really bugged me. Nevertheless, it does spark a lot of discussion and theorizing.

Caché stars Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche as a married couple who receive a series of videotapes showing their tony French apartment under surveillance. The tapes are accompanied by violent but almost childish drawings. At first they dismiss is as a prank by one of his fans (he plays a famous TV talk show host a la Bernard Pivot) but the tapes persist and it adds to the conflict in their already-strained marital relationship (we never see them kiss or touch - only argue).

Now, if this story took place in a major North American city, most of us would have gone to the police after the first tape. Somehow Auteuil refuses to contact them but lies to everyone telling them of course he's gone to the police. In fact, he goes off solo to confront the person he suspects (someone from his childhood that he wronged). Would any one of us ever show up ALONE at a low-rent apartment to confront a stranger we suspected of terrorizing us? Of course not. This is why this film starts to get infuriating, like my most frustrating movie of all time: A Simple Plan.

As frustrating as this movie can be, it is chilling and thought-provoking as we start to connect the dots and concoct our own theories about who's behind the tapes. And the stark way Michael Haneke shot and directed this adds to the suspense. See it, but you'll have to suspend your disbelief if you are a CSI fan like me. MMMm