As anyone who is familiar with Haneke's work is aware, he's the director of such cheerful joy-fests as FUNNY GAMES and BENNY'S VIDEO. THE SEVENTH CONTINENT is the third of Haneke's films that I've seen, and I feel much the same about it as his other films. They all tend to be "strong", but in a detached and cold way that makes the unfolding events have less impact than if the characters in the film would have been more "human"...
The film centers around a family who are caught up in the day-to-day routines of an upper-middle-class life. A good portion of the film is focused on the family's (mother, father, and daughter) routines, as opposed to the family itself. We get multiple scenes of eating where the focus is on the monotony of the experience - not on the characters themselves. Several scenes of going to the car-wash, highlighting the mechanisms of the car-wash itself as opposed the people in the vehicle. As the film goes on, we find that the family has grown tired of their useless and repetitive existence and decide to leave it behind...
Yet again, Haneke delves into material such as alienation, hopelessness, anti-socialism - dark territory that seems to be his forte. But as with his other films - this one too left something to be desired from me. I couldn't "connect" with any of the characters involved, so their final bleak outcome had little impact on me. The film was also FAR too long and could have been summed up about 30 minutes earlier. I understand that the repetitive scenes were made to show the mind-frame of the characters and to build suspense for the closing scenes, but I felt like it was being beaten over my head at a certain point. The performances were all decent - but again - this film wasn't so much about the specific characters, but about their lack of any real "characterization". Recommended for those that like down-beat films, or are fans of Haneke's other works - others will find it either too much of a downer, or too boring to be of any worth...7/10
The film centers around a family who are caught up in the day-to-day routines of an upper-middle-class life. A good portion of the film is focused on the family's (mother, father, and daughter) routines, as opposed to the family itself. We get multiple scenes of eating where the focus is on the monotony of the experience - not on the characters themselves. Several scenes of going to the car-wash, highlighting the mechanisms of the car-wash itself as opposed the people in the vehicle. As the film goes on, we find that the family has grown tired of their useless and repetitive existence and decide to leave it behind...
Yet again, Haneke delves into material such as alienation, hopelessness, anti-socialism - dark territory that seems to be his forte. But as with his other films - this one too left something to be desired from me. I couldn't "connect" with any of the characters involved, so their final bleak outcome had little impact on me. The film was also FAR too long and could have been summed up about 30 minutes earlier. I understand that the repetitive scenes were made to show the mind-frame of the characters and to build suspense for the closing scenes, but I felt like it was being beaten over my head at a certain point. The performances were all decent - but again - this film wasn't so much about the specific characters, but about their lack of any real "characterization". Recommended for those that like down-beat films, or are fans of Haneke's other works - others will find it either too much of a downer, or too boring to be of any worth...7/10