Code Unknown |
[Code inconnu: Récit incomplet de divers voyages]
Director Starring |
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Here’s why I love Haneke, although I wouldn’t be surprised if others see him differently: he is uncompromising, relentless, and fierce in the way he presents information, but ultimately he leaves everything entirely up to the viewer. I find him an extraordinarily even-handed director, who is trying to engage with, converse with the viewer. He is not trying to convince, or send a message. So I “trust” him in a strange way… it’s the same way I gave myself over to Greenaway in Cook, Thief. There is violence, there is shock, but it comes from someplace honest and I love guys like this for sharing with me that kind of experience.
Anyway as to this particular Haneke: it is a bit rough and at times even unintelligible — certainly by design, though I see Glassman’s point that not every scene feels essential. This interests me though… a movie like this could have been edited dozens of, even countless ways. It makes me wonder why this cut. Gee I wish there’d been a commentary…
I share his interest in exploring communication, and the ways we close ourselves off from one another… there is literally a kind of code unknown between us, say in the apartment code Anne gives out which may or may not be correct. The physical walls between us seemingly absolve us of the need to intervene in the lives of those around us (as when she goes on ironing although she suspects a child is being beaten) and when we intrude on those barriers anyhow, it is either socially unacceptable (the young man who tries to stand up for the woman on the street) or a kind of casual violence (the teenager on the subway). In every aspect of our lives I suppose there is this code we choose to or (more often) choose not to give to those around us — so easy to cut off the lines of communication and personal truth. Lots of interesting stuff, too, in how he represents reality and destabilizes what the viewer implicitly trusts while watching a film.
This is probably one of the most effective films with a large, interwoven cast and non-linear narrative, two often abused techniques but when they work they work.
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