A cinema of disturbance: the films of Michael Haneke in context

The aim of the author is to find the characteristics of Michael Haneke’s movies. He tries to do so
by case studies of the movies The Seventh Continent, Benny’s Video, 71 Fragments of a
Chronology of Chance, Funny Games, Code Unknown, Piano Teacher, Time of the Wolf,
Hidden, and The White Ribbon. In this essay I will focus on authors research of Haneke’s
exploration of the spectatorship – violence relation on the example of four movies; The Seventh
Continent (1989), Benny’s Video (1992), 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance (1994)
(Vergletscherungs-Trilogie) and Funny Games (1997).
In the analysis of this group, the author explores Haneke’s intention to make movies that invite
and provoke spectator’s reactions and interpretation. He attempts to make movies that explain as
less as possible, in which the acts and intentions of the characters are obscure, in order to
provoke the interpretation of the spectators. In these works, Haneke’s intention is to explore the
ways of representing violence and its effects on the viewer.
,,I try to make anti-psychological films with characters who are less characters than projection on
surfaces for the sensibilities of the viewer; blank spaces force the spectator to bring his own thoughts and
feelings to the film...’’ Michael Haneke

1. In the movie The Seventh Continent, Haneke provokes interpretation by using close-up shots
of hands or objects instead of shots of the faces, he avoids showing the characters appearances.
The family in the movie commits suicide, but their reasons are left unclear. He gives only a
slight insight into the psychological state.

2. In Benny’s Video, he portrays a story about a boy who kills a girl to ,,see how it is’’. The
character is emotionally distant and cold and has no guilt over the committed crime. He was
isolated from the real world and occupied with the videotaped one. The killing of the girl is not
shown, but it is suggested by the sounds that she is making. Haneke tries to deny the visual
approach to the violent act in his movies, he rather emphasizes its effects.

3. In 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance, Haneke refferes to a true mass killing incident.

The breaks form the likear narrating principle, and uses the snapshots of unrelated stories of the
future victims and the killer, and we follow the story prior to the violent act.

The question isn’t “how do I show violence?” but rather “how do I show the spectator his position vis-à-
vis violence and its representation?” – Michael Haneke

4. In the previous moves the subject was the critique of contemporary Austrian society, but in
Funny Games, the emphasis is on Haneke's exploration of the movie medium itself. The plot is
about the family that encounters two young men in an ordinary situation, that turns to the
terrorizing and killing of the family by the two men without a reason. The violence is again
shown as less as possible, suggested by the soundtrack and on the expressions on the faces. The
research of the medium is employed in the games with ordinary film expectations. There is a
direct interaction of the killer and spectator and with the movie process. One killer turns to the
camera and poses a question to the spectator ,,what would you bet that this family is dead by nine
o’clock tomorrow?” The explanation for the continuous torture is that the movie is still filming,
and the killer can control what happens. When one of the two killers is shot by the mother, the
other one rewinds the scene with a remote control to prevent this action.
In the representation of violent acts, Haneke’s tries to focus on the suffering of victims. The
actual acts and the motivations of the killers are avoided, and not given to the viewers.
I try to give back to violence that what it truly is: pain, injury to another.

– Michael Haneke