The Seventh Continent (1989)
This was in many ways one of the most difficult Haneke films to watch, but for a different reason. It is not difficult as in hard to watch because it is so sinister or depressive, though it has plenty of that too, but more because I felt it was the most closed of film of his. His films are always leaving most interpretation up to the viewer, refusing to give answers. It is just taken a bit further here. We follow a seemingly normal family doing ordinary routine things, so a whole lot of scenes with practically nothing happens - like long scenes from inside a car wash. For a good while we don’t even see their faces, just their bodies and their surroundings. Since it is Haneke, there is a nihilistic theme to everything, as the family ends doing some in-explainable actions that I see as a symbolic physical destruction of their identity and place in society. From what I can gather from an interview with Haneke, it seems like he wanted to dive into how many people in modern society are not living, but merely existing in a series of repeated routines, destroying their identity. In a way that is more or less a recurring theme in most his films. It just didn’t git me so hard personally, because I don’t really agree with that assessment. I love routines, and the sort of reassuring/comforting predictability of every day life. Most of our life are just that, not the big events, so I think it is key to be able to find happiness in that. The film still works for me, as all of Haneke’s work does, especially because he refuses to give explanations, which allows for the viewer to bring so much themselves to the film’s themes.
Rating: 4