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Michael Haneke studied philosophy at the University of Wien (Vienna).
His pessimistic, lugubrious existentialist philosophy, centered around the
theme of "emotional glaciation", permeates his films.
Haneke debuted with
Der Siebente Kontinent/ The Seventh Continent (1989), whose protagonists
(a middle-class family that commits suicide) are incapable of emotions.
Benny's Video (1992)
71 Fragmente einer Chronologie des Zufalls/ 71 Fragments in a Chronology of Chance (1994)
After an adaptation of Kafka's Das Schloss/ The Castle (1995),
Funny Games (1997) is a brutal fresco of mindless sadistic adolescent
violence (two kids torture a family) a` la Kubrick's Clockwork Orange.
and Wenders's The End of Violence, enhanced with Pirandellian
and Becket-ian actor self-consciuosness.
Code Unbekannt/ Cone Inconnu/ Code Unknown (2001)
La Pianiste (2001), adapted from Elfriede Jelinek's 1983 novel,
summarizes all the themes of the previous films, adding a strong
sexual element.
Erika is a middle-age piano instructor who has three personalities.
At home she is the repressed and oppressed daughter of a possessive mother,
who is constantly jealous of her private life. They scream and fight, but then
they sleep in the same bedroom. At the Conservatory she is the stern and
icy teacher who shows no emotions to her students (a girl, Anna, is giving
everything she can and is terrified by Erika's judgements).
When she is not home and she is not at work, she lets her secret fantasies
go wild: she walks into a porn store, rents a video, locks herself in the
cabin to watch it and smells the napkins that are drenched with the sperm
of previous voyeurs (she's the only woman in the store).
The young, handsome Walter falls in love with her when he sees her perform
at the piano at a private party. He has been learning piano as a hobby not
as a profession, and Erika looks down on him, but he is sincerely enthusiastic.
He is as warm to her as she is arrogant to him.
Walter insists in being admitted to her class and, the first time he gets a
chance, he tells her he loves her. She is arrogant and indifferent, but then
spies on him. She spends the night at a drive-in, watching couples make love
in the cars (feeling an urge to pee, she is almost caught by one of the young
people). When she returns home, she has a major fight with her mom who stayed
up in angst waiting for her.
At a rehearsal, Anna freaks out but Walter cheers her up. Erika is visibly
upset, perhaps jealous. She walks into the cloakroom, smashes a glass and
drops the sharp pieces in the pocket of Anna's coat. As Erika is chatting
with Walter, they hear the scream: Anna has cut herself and is in tears.
Erika feels the urge to pee and walks away. Walter reaches her in the women's
restrooms and kisses her. She lets him do it, and even starts masturbating
him. But then stops suddenly and tells him that she wants him to do things
to her in return for her sexual attentions. Walter is trying to behave like
a lover, but Erika is as cold and matter of factual as usual.
Erika meets Anna's mother, who tells her in tears that Anna cannot play for
two months, and therefore will miss the important recital she was preparing
for. The poor girl, who is ugly and shy, has sacrificed her life for the
piano, and her parents have sacrificed everything to pay for the lessons.
Erika is totally indifferent to the tragedy that she has caused and only
interested in Walter. Anna is living the life that Erika lived (is on her way
to become what Erika is) and Erika feels no compassion for her.
Walter follows Erika to her apartment and then insist to get in. Despite her
mother's protests, Erika locks herself in a room with Walter. Erika hands him
a letter than contains her "desires". It contains the sickest sadistic fantasies
a woman can have, particularly the desire to be beaten and raped in that
house itself, so that her mother can hear it. Erika already bought all the
tools to perform that sadistic ritual, but Walter leaves disgusted.
Erika goes to sleep as usual in her mother's bed, but this time jumps on her
and tries to kiss her on the mouth, moaning "I love you". Her mother is
shocked and disgusted, but assumes that this is a consequence of her stress.
Erika comes to realize that she really loves Walter and for the first time
looks for him. She tells him that she is willing to do anything for his love.
He is still upset, but she unbuttons his trousers and performs oral sex.
Except that at the end she throws up in front of him, and, instead of being
moved by her humiliation, he is even more disgusted by her whole personality.
He insults her and walks away.
But then he shows up, in the middle of the night, at her apartment. He locks
her mother in the bedroom and starts hitting Erika. Then he rapes her, just like
she asked him in the letter, while her mother can hear it. Erika doesn't move,
petrified.
The next day, which is the day of the concert in which she has to replace Anna
at the piano, she packs a knife in her purse. She waits patiently in the
concert hall for Walter to arrive, but, when he shows up, he is surrounded
by his family, so cannot strike. Furious, she stabs herself in the shoulder
and then leaves the concert hall.
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