Film Preview: Get Stalked With Caché At The Drafthouse Downtown

The AFS retrospective of Michael Haneke's films concludes tonight with Caché (Hidden), a film which was lauded by critics yet went largely unseen during a national release just over a year ago. Haneke's insistence on audience discomfort probably has a lot to do with this, as he calls into question everything from Western abuse of wealth (by the French) to the inherent goodness of children.

The film begins with a videotape of a Parisian townhouse, which we find out has been made by a stalker. As the harassment grows on the decidedly rich and pampered family, the sheen of their marriage and sanity begins to tarnish amidst lies, omissions, and failure to take responsibility for both past decisions and one's responsibility to trust their significant others. There are racial and political allusions in play here, and they cut both ways. Haneke shows that guilt is oppressed in many ways by the world's most fortunate, and uses his tale to show glimpses of why others in the world can hate as they sometimes do.

He also poses the grandest of questions: does making a selfish or bad decision at another's expense forever make you a bad person? Haneke isn't afraid to ask a lot of his viewers, and while the results are tough to stomach, they are also inarguably powerful and thought-provoking.

[Rent Caché at Netflix]

Caché (Hidden)
Tuesday, May 22nd
Alamo Drafthouse Downtown [Map]
7pm
$4 / Free for AFS members [Tickets]

Image via Sony Pictures Classics.