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Based on a true story, Haneke s first theatrical feature is a disturbing portrait of familial disintegration which he describes as a depiction of his native Austria s progressive emotional glaciation . Set over a three year period, it documents how the mundane day to day routines of a middle class family alienate them from the world and each other until, suddenly and shockingly, their lives self-destruct. Addressing themes that would inform much of his later work the breakdown of society, violence and the media The Seventh Continent is both intelligent and masterfully composed. Extras: Theatrical trailer/ interview with Michael Haneke
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The seventh continent at the centre of this bleak tale of suburban dysfunction is as vague and enigmatic as the film itself. Are we supposed to believe that the geographical state noted in the title is the rugged, ethereal landscape glimpsed fleetingly throughout key moments of the film, or is it in fact a much higher state of being that can only truly be achieved by purging yourself of the trappings of twentieth century life? The need for transcendence is central throughout The Seventh Continent (1989), the first feature film from Austrian provocateur Michael Haneke, who has subsequently gone on to re-examine this very same theme in his following films - 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance (1994), The Piano Teacher (2001) and Hidden (2005) - by continually probing the very boundaries of human nature and the personal and/or social factors that can drive an individual to the point of complete, psychological transcendence. If you are at all familiar with Haneke's work you will be partially aware of what to expect from the film in question, with The Seventh Continent presenting us with a deep, hypnotic and highly clinical examination of the break-down in communication between members of a middle-class Austrian family, and the desire they have to transcend the drab, soulless grind of their everyday existence and arrive at that mythical place so central to the title.
Even here, with his first film for cinema, Haneke's iconic style and attention to detail is fully-formed, with the same stylistic flourishes found in his recent film, the highly acclaimed Hidden, already presented in the stark, antiseptic presentation of the world created here.... Read more ›
Even here, with his first film for cinema, Haneke's iconic style and attention to detail is fully-formed, with the same stylistic flourishes found in his recent film, the highly acclaimed Hidden, already presented in the stark, antiseptic presentation of the world created here.... Read more ›
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
The horror genre has been done to death but here is another completely different take on it; private horror. Completely sidestepping any filmic cliches this drags you down down down into familiar territory, the every day world.
The opening hour is a family performing their social roles as breadwinner, child and wife. Locked within each character is a deep sense of alienation, a desire to connect and win friendship...but. Also dripping within the background is a bucket of despair infecting each person. The ascent up the company ladder is brought home as meaningless, money an empty promise. At the end of the working life is illness and a dispensation of all possessions within the office. Time spent in the company becomes repaid with a shuffle off the end of the stage with a little push. The wife senses the growing despair and sticks to her routine world, sensing her daughters growing disconnection as she pretends to be blind to win friends.
Vignettes of humiliation, small puddles are left on the floor as each daily interaction builds. Soulless, dehumanisation all too taken for granted rises in small layers.
The film is slow, the long shots of stylised lives sap concentration, but this is the point as it erects its message towards the end. As it unravels the film becomes excruciating in its progression. There were times I just wanted to get up and walk away, going no, they aren't are they?
Based on a true story, it is a relentless attack on the world we have constructed, the paranoia of parents, their slow erosion of psychological health, the hidden meanings they find for their lives. A dreamworld beckons throughout, life in Australia enters as a new beginning, a deserted paradise, but instead we see lives becoming gently eroded.... Read more ›
The opening hour is a family performing their social roles as breadwinner, child and wife. Locked within each character is a deep sense of alienation, a desire to connect and win friendship...but. Also dripping within the background is a bucket of despair infecting each person. The ascent up the company ladder is brought home as meaningless, money an empty promise. At the end of the working life is illness and a dispensation of all possessions within the office. Time spent in the company becomes repaid with a shuffle off the end of the stage with a little push. The wife senses the growing despair and sticks to her routine world, sensing her daughters growing disconnection as she pretends to be blind to win friends.
Vignettes of humiliation, small puddles are left on the floor as each daily interaction builds. Soulless, dehumanisation all too taken for granted rises in small layers.
The film is slow, the long shots of stylised lives sap concentration, but this is the point as it erects its message towards the end. As it unravels the film becomes excruciating in its progression. There were times I just wanted to get up and walk away, going no, they aren't are they?
Based on a true story, it is a relentless attack on the world we have constructed, the paranoia of parents, their slow erosion of psychological health, the hidden meanings they find for their lives. A dreamworld beckons throughout, life in Australia enters as a new beginning, a deserted paradise, but instead we see lives becoming gently eroded.... Read more ›
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Tim Kidner
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:DVD
My three previous forays into Austrian director Michael Haneke's dark world - The Piano Teacher, Funny Games & White Ribbon - I found to be just a little bit sadistic and nasty, almost for the sake of it.
Why then, would I want to buy his ten-disc Collection, starting with this, his first feature? Wasn't that just rubbing my nose in it? It was cheap, that's why! And, good old curiosity.
The other reviewer certainly goes to some lengths to describe the ins and outs, so I won't. I basically agree but can pare my thoughts back to a few lines.
After the monotonous rituals of daily life, which are sort of compelling, as not only are they part of the ongoing story but show us another country and twenty odd years ago, so culture comparisons are interesting and inevitable. I don't know whether it was me, or intentional, but the destruction in the latter part seemed to take exactly as long as the film had taken to construct it, thus far. Whilst these scenes are unfolding, we don't see any faces, though we know which family member is doing it. It's almost so alien and anonymous, the ripping, smashing etc could have been done by the production assistants.
It is also the unfolding expectation that things are going to get worse, but by how much, we just don't know. That makes it all the more uncomfortable.
From the basis of adapting a true story, it's a well crafted and put together movie. I found the cut-offs, where the screen went blank at unexpected times a bit annoying, but I'm sure that was intentional, to induce a level of unease. The gaps went on for too long, also to be comfortable - all the same length but to the point where you wonder if the disc's sticking; again to create tension in the viewer.... Read more ›
Why then, would I want to buy his ten-disc Collection, starting with this, his first feature? Wasn't that just rubbing my nose in it? It was cheap, that's why! And, good old curiosity.
The other reviewer certainly goes to some lengths to describe the ins and outs, so I won't. I basically agree but can pare my thoughts back to a few lines.
After the monotonous rituals of daily life, which are sort of compelling, as not only are they part of the ongoing story but show us another country and twenty odd years ago, so culture comparisons are interesting and inevitable. I don't know whether it was me, or intentional, but the destruction in the latter part seemed to take exactly as long as the film had taken to construct it, thus far. Whilst these scenes are unfolding, we don't see any faces, though we know which family member is doing it. It's almost so alien and anonymous, the ripping, smashing etc could have been done by the production assistants.
It is also the unfolding expectation that things are going to get worse, but by how much, we just don't know. That makes it all the more uncomfortable.
From the basis of adapting a true story, it's a well crafted and put together movie. I found the cut-offs, where the screen went blank at unexpected times a bit annoying, but I'm sure that was intentional, to induce a level of unease. The gaps went on for too long, also to be comfortable - all the same length but to the point where you wonder if the disc's sticking; again to create tension in the viewer.... Read more ›
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