My three previous forays into Austrian director Michael Haneke's dark world - The Piano Teacher, Funny Games & White Ribbon - I found to be just a little bit sadistic and nasty, almost for the sake of it.
Why then, would I want to buy his ten-disc Collection, starting with this, his first feature? Wasn't that just rubbing my nose in it? It was cheap, that's why! And, good old curiosity.
The other reviewer certainly goes to some lengths to describe the ins and outs, so I won't. I basically agree but can pare my thoughts back to a few lines.
After the monotonous rituals of daily life, which are sort of compelling, as not only are they part of the ongoing story but show us another country and twenty odd years ago, so culture comparisons are interesting and inevitable. I don't know whether it was me, or intentional, but the destruction in the latter part seemed to take exactly as long as the film had taken to construct it, thus far. Whilst these scenes are unfolding, we don't see any faces, though we know which family member is doing it. It's almost so alien and anonymous, the ripping, smashing etc could have been done by the production assistants.
It is also the unfolding expectation that things are going to get worse, but by how much, we just don't know. That makes it all the more uncomfortable.
From the basis of adapting a true story, it's a well crafted and put together movie. I found the cut-offs, where the screen went blank at unexpected times a bit annoying, but I'm sure that was intentional, to induce a level of unease. The gaps went on for too long, also to be comfortable - all the same length but to the point where you wonder if the disc's sticking; again to create tension in the viewer.
I can't see how it could be improved but it certainly won't be very many people's cup of tea. If you found it enjoyable, someone might say that you were maladjusted yourself, too. On the strength of this one DVD, the rest of the box set looks enticing.....
Why then, would I want to buy his ten-disc Collection, starting with this, his first feature? Wasn't that just rubbing my nose in it? It was cheap, that's why! And, good old curiosity.
The other reviewer certainly goes to some lengths to describe the ins and outs, so I won't. I basically agree but can pare my thoughts back to a few lines.
After the monotonous rituals of daily life, which are sort of compelling, as not only are they part of the ongoing story but show us another country and twenty odd years ago, so culture comparisons are interesting and inevitable. I don't know whether it was me, or intentional, but the destruction in the latter part seemed to take exactly as long as the film had taken to construct it, thus far. Whilst these scenes are unfolding, we don't see any faces, though we know which family member is doing it. It's almost so alien and anonymous, the ripping, smashing etc could have been done by the production assistants.
It is also the unfolding expectation that things are going to get worse, but by how much, we just don't know. That makes it all the more uncomfortable.
From the basis of adapting a true story, it's a well crafted and put together movie. I found the cut-offs, where the screen went blank at unexpected times a bit annoying, but I'm sure that was intentional, to induce a level of unease. The gaps went on for too long, also to be comfortable - all the same length but to the point where you wonder if the disc's sticking; again to create tension in the viewer.
I can't see how it could be improved but it certainly won't be very many people's cup of tea. If you found it enjoyable, someone might say that you were maladjusted yourself, too. On the strength of this one DVD, the rest of the box set looks enticing.....