Der Siebente Kontinent

Michael Haneke's first feature film augurs much of what takes place in his subsequent films: boredom, repetition, nihilism, voyeurism and violence are taken to absurd extremes. To some extent these movies work as an examination of all that, but the necessary conjuration makes all that pretty tough going. In this case it is very tough going indeed - mainly because at this stage of his career he hadn't yet developed the proficiency that he clearly shows in Funny Games. Which is the best of Haneke's films, I think, but I can't even recommend that one unless you're prepared to endure an awfully long look at pathological behavior, vividly depicted. Which just might include the making of movies like Funny Games. And watching them.