Tension, transition and tone in Michael Haneke's Cach

ISSN： 2040-0594

Source： Studies in European Cinema, Vol.9, Iss.2-3, 2012-09, pp. : 99-108

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Abstract

This article explores some of the frustrating elements of Caché/Hidden (Haneke, 2005), arguing that there is a sense of denial in the film's conflicting levels of `honesty' and control evident within its distinctive style. Examining key sequences in close detail, and frictions that run across the film as a whole, it aims to unpick the intricate ways that the stylistic devices affect tone, bringing about disturbing tonal shifts. I suggest that the transition between the different tonal registers across the two final scenes is unsettling, generating a moral and emotional stasis - directing the audience to return to the film to re-evaluate repressed guilt, while at the same time the narrative and style advocate openness and ambiguity. I argue that tensions of tone, brought about by the film's particular address of its spectator moment to moment, and across the film as a whole, make the film's didactic elements difficult to accept.