For the first time in Singapore, a Michael Haneke retrospective will be held!
Who is Michael Haneke, you ask?
Well, the Austrian director is simply one of the most important directors working today. Twice winner of the Palme d'Or, Haneke is well known for highly provocative and thought-provoking films that ask tough questions about the socio-cultural condition of contemporary Europe.
InCinemas picks 3 of his films that you have to watch.
1. Amour
Winner of the Palme d'Or in 2012, Amour tells the story of husband and wife, Georges and Anne, a pair of cultivated and retired octogenarian music teachers. One day, Anne has a stroke, and the couple's bond of love is severely tested. This is Haneke's most tender film but is, at the same time, an unsentimental portrayal of old age.
2. Funny Games
When Ann and her husband George and their son Georgie arrive at their holiday home, they are visited by a pair of polite and seemingly pleasant young men. Armed with deceptively sweet smiles and some golf clubs, the two men proceed to terrorize and torture the tight-knit clan, giving them until the next day to survive. Haneke has said that his "films are intended as polemical statements against the American 'barrel down' cinema and its dis-empowerment of the spectator." He aims to shatter the audience's complacency and this is perhaps one of the best examples.
3. Benny's Video
Obsessed with violent movies and video technology, 14-year-old Benny takes advantage of his parents' absence to have a girl come over and watch a tape of a pig slaughter he has viewed repeatedly. Afterward, he kills her with the slaughtering gun used in the video and records the murder. His parents decide to cover up his crime. While his mother takes a seemingly indifferent Benny to Egypt, his father gets rid of the evidence. It is unnerving how prescient Haneke was with this film. In 2018, with the astronomic rise of social media, this film is more relevant than ever.
4. Michael Haneke: Profession Réalisateur
Okay, we said 3 films. But technically, this is not a film by Haneke. It is a documentary film about Haneke. Through the vision of his actors and previously unseen footages, the documentary, directed by Yves Montmayeur, depicts the work of an artist working at the peak of his power.
The retrospective will be held at Alliance Francaise. Tickets can be bought here: http://alliancefrancaise.org.sg/cultural-events/