Code Unknown (2000)
(Code inconnu Récit incomplet de divers voyages)
Country: FR/GER/ROM
Technical: col 117m
Director: Michael Haneke
Cast: Juliette Binoche, Thierry Neuvic
Synopsis:
When an adolescent casts a screwed-up paper bag into the lap of a begging immigrant woman, the lives of an actress, her photo-journalist boyfriend, a black teacher of deaf children and his family are also affected.
Review:
A series of one-take snapshots from the different stories, moving back as well as forwards in time, and not necessarily consisting of anything more substantial than Binoche doing her ironing, this is a deliberately perplexing 'récit' whose single-point-of-view incompleteness leads to unanswered questions and confusion for the viewer. (The one moment of conventional cinema turns out to be a clip from the film being made by the actress, and is just as disconcerting therefore!) What is astonishing, though, is how much cinema can be hewn from such raw materials and Binoche in particular draws some affecting moments. The general thesis, the code of the title, seems to be communication between individuals, hence the preoccupation with race as well as family and neighbourly relationships.
(Code inconnu Récit incomplet de divers voyages)
Country: FR/GER/ROM
Technical: col 117m
Director: Michael Haneke
Cast: Juliette Binoche, Thierry Neuvic
Synopsis:
When an adolescent casts a screwed-up paper bag into the lap of a begging immigrant woman, the lives of an actress, her photo-journalist boyfriend, a black teacher of deaf children and his family are also affected.
Review:
A series of one-take snapshots from the different stories, moving back as well as forwards in time, and not necessarily consisting of anything more substantial than Binoche doing her ironing, this is a deliberately perplexing 'récit' whose single-point-of-view incompleteness leads to unanswered questions and confusion for the viewer. (The one moment of conventional cinema turns out to be a clip from the film being made by the actress, and is just as disconcerting therefore!) What is astonishing, though, is how much cinema can be hewn from such raw materials and Binoche in particular draws some affecting moments. The general thesis, the code of the title, seems to be communication between individuals, hence the preoccupation with race as well as family and neighbourly relationships.
(Code inconnu Récit incomplet de divers voyages)
Country: FR/GER/ROM
Technical: col 117m
Director: Michael Haneke
Cast: Juliette Binoche, Thierry Neuvic
Synopsis:
When an adolescent casts a screwed-up paper bag into the lap of a begging immigrant woman, the lives of an actress, her photo-journalist boyfriend, a black teacher of deaf children and his family are also affected.
Review:
A series of one-take snapshots from the different stories, moving back as well as forwards in time, and not necessarily consisting of anything more substantial than Binoche doing her ironing, this is a deliberately perplexing 'récit' whose single-point-of-view incompleteness leads to unanswered questions and confusion for the viewer. (The one moment of conventional cinema turns out to be a clip from the film being made by the actress, and is just as disconcerting therefore!) What is astonishing, though, is how much cinema can be hewn from such raw materials and Binoche in particular draws some affecting moments. The general thesis, the code of the title, seems to be communication between individuals, hence the preoccupation with race as well as family and neighbourly relationships.