Der siebente Kontinent (1989)'s comments

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campmonster

Brilliant is the word that comes to mind. All of Haneke's films make me feel very uncomfortable... in a good way.

12 years 1 month ago

deadendjob

A shocking, brilliant, unforgettable masterpiece. One of the best feature film debuts of all time.

12 years 7 months ago

Agrimorfee

At the 45 minute-or-so mark, when I understood what was going on, my jaw hung open in disbelief for the remainder of the film.

10 years 7 months ago

Limbesdautomne

Roy Andersson's first commitment. Brecht favorite film. Aki Kaurismaki's last cigarette.

Certainly the funniest/funneste Haneke's game.

2 years 2 months ago

Michael Haneke's first feature, The Seventh Continent, is a mystery for the audience, one that doesn't really include a solution. A family drops everything in order to emigrate to... let's call it Australia, but though there are echoes of a refugee story in the desperation and environment involved, they are only really fleeing the doldrums of suburban life. That's an explanation without being one. Haneke makes the motivations unknowable, his shots concentrating not on faces, but on objects, things being manipulated, more or less the way we see our own world (though today, it'd be a lot of screens) even if we don't acknowledge it. That focus will in fact pay off in the third act. Scenes are brief, mundane, and separated by oppressive black frames that last a little too long, indicating something sinister is actually going, keeping a steady nihilistic rhythm going. There's the unfathomable story that is literally unfolding, but Haneke also manages to evoke the self-destructive act of leaving, whatever the circumstances, giving his mesmeric shots more universality and potency.

2 years 7 months ago