Anybody else seen yet? Good gravy this movie freaked me out. My friend says its a thriller, but it's scarier than any horror movie I've ever seen.

I saw it. I thought it was okay, with some very nice scenes, but * spoiler coming * although I usually like open endings, I thought it was a bit unapproperiate for this movie. Well, it didn't bother me THAT much, but still...
*end of spoilers*

Although very nice setting, acting,... the thing that bothered me the most was that Michael Hanneke is always making the same kind of movies: dark, cool, pessimistic, about the bad things of humanity.
And I don't mind filmmakers having their own style and beloved thematics, but I also think he should try to something else once. Well, he shouldn't, but it would be nice one time.

I saw Funny games from Hanneke too, have you seen that?
It's very comparable.

The ending bothered me too. It did make sense as far as the story goes but for me I was expecting something stronger to wind it up. Still, it was worth watching.

I really enjoyed his previous film, the apocalyptic drama "The Time of the Wolf". I highly recommend that.

I'm surprised at the lukewarm responses. I think this is one of the best movies I've ever seen, and I'm not one of those people who is always saying that. I can't think of another movie that builds and sustains so much tension and for me the payoff at the end was heart stopping. I was originally really bothered by the secret revealed in the final shot because it seemed to raise more questions and contradictions than answers, but after thinking about it all weekend I realized that there really is only one, unambigous answer for all of the mysteries contained in the movie that makes sense in context of the performances. There's an ending all right. Hannake just makes you work for it. I don't think the ending is as open ended as it seems. Of course I could be wrong and they just wanted to be obtuse. I hope not. That kind of thing got stale in the '60s.

I don't see how that ending could not be considered open-ended, Marco.




spoiler




At the end we are left to wonder what will happen to their family once it is revealed that the son has been contacted by the young Algerian.

MAJOR SPOILERS MAJOR SPOILERS MAJOR SPOILERS MAJOR SPOILERS











I don't think the implication was that Majid's son was contacting Georges' son. It was that they already knew each other. Once you accept that as a clue, suddenly everybody's motivation and behavior seems obvious. You can say for instance --

Majid is probably telling the truth about not knowing about the videos. He seems utterly convincing in denying it, and I don't see any reason to disbelieve him. The blood in the mouth of the drawing was probably a reference to Georges' first lie, not Majid's death. That it so closely foreshadowed Majid's suicide is an ironic result of his son's efforts to bring closure for his father. I'll bet he would never have done it if he knew how it would turn out. When Majid's son confronts Georges at his office, he genuinely doesn't know if his father committed suicide or he was murdered by Georges. Georges' son helped pull the whole thing off because he's a little jerk who hates his parents.

The only thing we don't really know is how Majid's and Georges' sons met each other. Most likely Majid first told the story of his childhood to his son when he recognized Georges on the television. I got the impression that was fairly recent. The boy then set about trying to engineer a way to get the two to meet so that Georges would become aware of his guilt, and his father would have a chance to tell him off. As you know, it didn't turn out so well.

This seems like a lot of speculation, but it's the only scenario that makes any sense, at least to me. Change many of these motivations and it creates too many unresolvable and contradictory problems.

SPOILERS






I considered that Majid and the boy knew each other before because otherwise there wouldn't have been the opportunity to video or set up the video without the boy's collaboration.

I admit I didn't consider that the boy himself was the prime mover. But I don't see how that makes sense considering that there was also a camera at Majid's father's place.

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Majid's son put it there. His father didn't know. Majid's son was able to orchestrate the whole thing with the help of Georges' son, who probably probably shot a lot of the video himself, including at the country estate. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Georges' son wasn't the one paying for all this expensive video equipment.

Just to make it clear, I'm saying Majid's son come up with the whole plan, and approached Georges' son for help pulling it off. It doesn't look like that would be difficult, as Georges' family didn't live in a gated community or anything.

I like your interpretation, Marco. It's hard for me to think if arriving at that interpretation would have made the film more impactful for me. It just doesn't right now.

*spoilers

Am I the only one who found the revealing that the son could have a role in the complot to be not really that believable?
Every kid wants attention from it's parents, but I thought him doing that was just not believable.
I found it to be a bit weak revealling at the end. Or a weak suggestion.

*end of spoilers

Haven't seen 'Cache' yet (or read the spoilers above), but I love Haneke as a director. That long opening shot in 'Code Unknown' was just freaking awesome and more impressive the longer you watched. He's both subtle and shocking at the same time--not easy to do. Totally underrated (or unknown?) in my opinion.

*********SPOILERS*******



Mathieu,
Which son are you referring to? If it's Georges' son, it doesn't seem far fetched to me at all. He was just acting out for whatever reason rich, spoiled brats act out all the time. It was after all, just a video prank. It's something I could see Tom Green doing to his parents.

I don't think Majid's son knew his father was going to commit suicide. It's one of the reasons I believe that Majid really didn't know about the videos. His son obviously loved his father, and I can't believe he would help coordinate the man's suicide. I'll bet Majid was constantly sad and going on extended crying sessions. This is probably why Majid's son was trying to help his father. Maybe he thought he could bring him closure and give some of his dignity back by bringing about a direct confrontation with Georges.

** spoilers **


I don't believe that the rich son would have been able to rig the video cameras inside some other dude's apartment without Mahjid's help. It's not like the rich son is Jack Bauer. I can believe rigging the video outside of his own apartment and providing information on the family estate.

********Spoilers**********





Was it ever established that the footage was taken from another house? I must have missed that. One thing that really bugged me was why wasn't there more of an attempt to find out where the cameras were being placed? That's the first thing I would have done. The second would be to put up a camera in my own window to see if I could catch them.