Hidden: Whodunnit or something more?

It's now deep in exam revising days. I wasn't going to mention it because I'm sure people reading this won't want to be reminded. I apologise profusely.

Last night, as a break I went to see a film, recommended as relevant to the module: Hidden (Cache).

Hidden is the story of a wealthy Parisian family torn apart when they start receiving videotapes of their house, accompanied by crude violent drawings. Daniel Auteuil plays Georges Laurent, presenter of a successful literary talk show on TV; Juliette Binoche is hie wife, Anne, who works for a publishing house run by an old friend, Pierre. The couple have a 12 year old son, Pierrot, who competes for his school swimming team. But someone wants to upset this Idyll, forcing Georges to unearth a dark secret hidden in his past and buried in his psyche.

I'd go out and see this film now if you can! It's one of the most powerful and thought provoking films I've ever seen.

Hidden has sparked a huge amount of discussion: Who sent the tapes? What do the tapes mean? What is the significance of the final scene? But according to director Michael Haneke, although it's good to ask these questions, people are missing the point: "I'm not going to give anyone the answer. All the theories are correct, but if you come out of the film wanting to know who sent the tapes and so on, you didn't understand the film. To ask these questions is to avoid asking the real question the film raises, which is more: how do we treat our conscience and our guilt and reconcile ourselves to living with our actions?" But the film appears to have a much wider message than simply our own personal guilt, but the guilt of countries, nations and perhaps whole civilisations. There are strong references in the film to the French massacre of Algerians in the River Seine on October 17th 1961. The videos can then take on a more metaphorical form, representing dark secrets from the past we cannot avoid, with Georges representing the French nation or possibly the West.

It's deep, it's disturbing and it's completely unforgettable. Highly recommended. Be prepared though, there's a very violent scene half way through the film, which comes as a complete surprise!

Feel free to use the Culture-Communication Message Board to discuss this film in more depth.