Code Unknown
Director: Michael Haneke
Starring: Juliette Binoche, Thierry Neuvic, Josef Bierbichler, Alexandre Hamidi, Maïmouna Hélène Diarra
Code Unknown
Director: Michael Haneke
Starring: Juliette Binoche, Thierry Neuvic, Josef Bierbichler, Alexandre Hamidi, Maïmouna Hélène Diarra
Haneke illuminates beautifully the lives of his people with an eye for the revealing nuance and detail.
Haneke, who wrote and directed, is a skillful, minutely observant filmmaker who trusts his audience to be able to put two and two together. Unfortunately, he's often too cryptic, which leaves viewers still trying to make connections when they should already be reacting to the moral lessons implied by them.
Haneke brings his usual dark sensibility to bear on the multifaceted story, expressing the fractured quality of modern city life through scenes that wander through a labyrinth of missing links and lost connections.
The thing that makes Haneke's Code Unknown so enjoyable and effective is that that he says it in such a wonderfully restrained and light-handed yet suspenseful way.
With virtually no music and very little expository dialogue, this is one of the rare films with enough faith in moviegoers to let them figure things out for themselves.
Jürgen Jürges
Camerimage (2000)
Michael Haneke
Cannes Film Festival (2000)
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