Hidden (Caché) (16)

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Infuriates and captivates

Directed by Michael Haneke, starring Daniel Auteuil, Juliette Binoche, Maurice Bénichou, Annie Girardot, Lester Makedonsky, Bernard Le Coq, Walid Afkir and Daniel Duval.

While his name would not be familiar to the majority of audiences, Michael Haneke is an arthouse director whose films have, like the works of many bigger, more mainstream filmmakers, become events in their own right. His credits include the likes of 'Funny Games', 'The Piano Teacher' and 'Time of the Wolf' - films which have challenged and disturbed viewers, found critical acclaim and won many festival awards. A triple award winner at Cannes this year, 'Hidden' is his most accessible work to date, but is likely to infuriate as many as it captivates.

We are introduced to bourgeois couple Georges (Auteuil) and Anne (Binoche) Laurent. He is the presenter of a very popular TV book programme; she works in the publishing world. They live with their 12-year-old son Pierrot (Makedonsky) in a beautiful home in the centre of Paris and appear to have the perfect life. And someone, it seems, wants to ruin it for them.

Georges starts receiving video cassettes which show that their house is being filmed. He tells the police but, because no threats have been made, they are not interested. Then he starts receiving drawings - one of a face coughing blood, the other of a chicken with its throat cut - with similar ones also sent to his place of work and Pierrot's school. Who has it in for Georges? Is it someone he's never even met or does he know more than he's even willing to admit to himself?

Part whodunit, part allegory and part social commentary, 'Hidden' allows Haneke to explore France's colonial past while pulling the viewer deeper into a mystery which becomes more perplexing at every turn. Here every moment seems to demand (over)analysis and you find yourself confused as to whether background details are trivial or central to the story.

This is a film where your patience isn't fully rewarded, because the questions pile up far faster than the answers. It's natural to become so engrossed in the mystery at the centre that you forget - or even miss completely - some of the underlying themes. On that level, 'Hidden' feels like two films trying to be one and you wonder whether having a resolution would have allowed Haneke to reach more people.

That said, 'Hidden' isn't a film you can feel indifferent about. The performances are excellent, the sense of dread and paranoia is stifling and it will stay with you for a long time. Haneke has once again challenged viewers and their expectations, although the structure of 'Hidden' also means that he could be accused of perpetuating the middle class dinner party conversations his film is, it seems, trying to rail against. The fact remains that his audience will consist more of the Georges and Anne's of this world than anyone else - but perhaps that's an argument best kept until after you go and see it. If you go and see it.

Harry Guerin