Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
A 14-year-old video enthusiast obsessed with violent films decides to make one of his own and show it to his parents, with tragic results.
Haneke's second feature is a chillingly clinical dissection of media desensitization and bourgeois moral vacancy. The plot is deceptively simple but philosophically loaded — a teenager's mediated relationship with violence erupts into real murder, and the parents' response is more disturbing than the act itself. The cinematography is characteristically Haneke: static, detached, surveillance-like framings that implicate the viewer in the same voyeuristic passivity as the characters. The film is deeply singular — Haneke's cold Austrian-modernist voice is unmistakable and essentially inimitable, placing it high on Novelty. Acting is competent and naturalistic but not particularly distinguished. The ending, while conceptually satisfying in its grim logic, lacks the full knockout punch of later Haneke conclusions, settling into a quietly unsettling but somewhat abrupt close.