Film Europa, Volume 7: Michael Haneke's Cinema: The Ethic of the Image

232 Pages·2009·1.49 MB·English

by  Wheatley, Catherine

Michael Haneke’s Cinema
Film Europa: German Cinema in an International Context
Series Editors: Hans-Michael Bock (CineGraph Hamburg);
Tim Bergfelder (University of Southampton); Sabine Hake
(University of Texas, Austin)
German cinema is normally seen as a distinct form, but this new series
emphasizes connections, influences, and exchanges of German cinema
across national borders, as well as its links with other media and art
forms. Individual titles present traditional historical research (archival
work, industry studies) as well as new critical approaches in film and
media studies (theories of the transnational), with a special emphasis on
the continuities associated with popular traditions and local
perspectives.
The Concise Cinegraph: An Encyclopedia of German Cinema
General Editor: Hans-Michael Bock
Associate Editor: Tim Bergfelder
International Adventures: German Popular Cinema and European
Co-Productions in the 1960s
Tim Bergfelder
Between Two Worlds: The Jewish Presence in German and Austrian
Film, 1910–1933
S.S. Prawer
Framing the Fifties: Cinema in a Divided Germany
Edited by John Davidson and Sabine Hake
A Foreign Affair: Billy Wilder’s American Films
Gerd Gemünden
Destination London: German-speaking Emigrés and British
Cinema, 1925–1950
Edited by Tim Bergfelder and Christian Cargnelli
Michael Haneke's Cinema: The Ethic of the Image
Catherine Wheatley
Willing Seduction: The Blue Angel, Marlene Dietrich and Mass
Culture
Barbara Kosta
Dismantling the Dream Factory: Gender, German Cinema and the
Postwar Quest for a New Film Language
Hester Baer
M H ’ C
ICHAEL ANEKE S INEMA
The Ethic of the Image
Catherine Wheatley
Berghahn Books
New York (cid:129) Oxford
Wheatley_final.qxd 9/14/09 11:17 AM Page iv
Published in 2009 by
Berghahn Books
www.berghahnbooks.com
© 2009 Catherine Wheatley
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages
for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this book
may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information
storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented,
without written permission of Berghahn Books.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wheatley, Catherine.
Michael Haneke's cinema : the ethic of the image / Catherine Wheatley.
p. cm. -- (Film Europa ; v. 7)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-84545-557-6 (hbk) -- ISBN 978-1-84545-722-8 (pbk)
1. Haneke, Michael, 1942---Criticism and interpretation. I. Title.
PN1998.3.H36W44 2009
791.43023'3092--dc22
2008047813
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from
the British Library.
Printed in the United States on acid-free paper
ISBN 978-1-84545-557-6 (hardback), ISBN 978-1-84545-722-8 (paperback)
To my parents

CONTENTS
List of Illustrations ix
Declaration xi
A Note on the Titles xiii
Acknowledgements xv
Introduction 1
1 The Last Moralist? 14
2 Negotiating Modernism: Der Siebente Kontinent,
Benny’s Video, 71 Fragmente einer Chronologie des Zufalls 51
3 The Ethics of Aggression: Funny Games 78
4 Emotional Engagement and Narrativity: Code inconnu,
La Pianiste, Le Temps du loup 113
5 Shame and Guilt: Caché 153
Conclusion 188
Appendix I 195
Appendix II 202
Bibliography 203
Index 211

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
1.1 Michael Haneke. 16
2.1 Der Siebente Kontinent (1989):For Anna (Birgit Doll) and
George (Dieter Berner) existence is reduced to a series of
daily rituals. 58
2.2 Gabriel Cosmin Urdes as a homeless Romanian boy in 71
Fragmente einer Chronologie des Zufalls(1994). The film’s
fragmentary narrative cuts off the characters it contains,
preventing them from communicating with others. 70
3.1 The opening scenes of Funny Games(1997) see the Schöber
family (Stefan Clapczynski, Ulrich Mühe, Susanne Lothar)
come under threat from two anonymous intruders (Frank
Giering and Arno Frisch). 83
3.2 Paul (Arno Frisch) holds Georgie (Stefan Clapczynski)
hostage on the sofa in Funny Games. 100
4.1 Juliette Binoche in Code inconnu(2000): ‘The art-house
actress for a generation’. 126
4.2 La Pianiste (2001): Erika (Isabelle Huppert) and Walter
(Benoît Magimel) wrestle for sexual control in the
bathrooms of the Vienna Conservatory. 136
4.3 Apocalyptic imagery in Le Temps du loup(2003). 142
5.1 Juliette Binoche and Daniel Auteuil in the Laurents’ study in
Caché(2005). The diegetic screen dominates the backdrop. 161
5.2 Images of the past haunt the present in Caché. 182
C.1 Promotional poster for Funny Games U.S.(2007). 190
C.2 Naomi Watts and Tim Roth as Ann and George Farber in
Funny Games U.S. The film’s casting belies easy readings of
the film as ‘mainstream’ product. 193