When I first heard about this movie, I remember people questioning whether this was some sort of sequel to Hanake's last film, Amour, since we're back in France with Isabella Huppert again playing Jean-Louis Trintignant's daughter. But it's really like a crazy amalgamation of all of Hanake's films - going all the way back to early films like Benny's Video and The Seventh Continent, and yes, up to Amour, where... let's just say the circumstances of the Trintignant's wife are conspicuously identical. It's as if all of his past movies were compressed into one, dysfunctional family. And I don't just mean the characters, but everything from the stylistic flourishes to Haneke's ruminations on media and inventive concepts... two thirds of the way through this movie, I was just waiting for somebody to pick up a remote control and undo what we'd just scene, or for Huppert to stab herself in the shoulder. It's like "The Monster Mash" of Haneke's body of work.
I don't necessarily think that's a criticism, but I see it has resulted in some less positive fan and critical reaction, largely because the film comes off as a bit unfocused. Love or hate Funny Games, that movie's got one idea to explore, which it sinks its teeth into at the very start and never lets go of until the bitter end. It's not as easy to zero in on precisely what this film's about; I see a lot of viewers online questioning what the "point" was. There's an ensemble cast, and their issues and personal struggles never seem to quite dovetail into a singular, focused plot with a targeted resolution. And I don't think it helps that there was some early press that this film was "about" the current European refugee crisis, when really, that's just a subtextual touchstone that occasionally rings out in the film. But that said, I really don't think Happy End is nearly so convoluted or aimless as its harsher critics make it sound.
It's Haneke, so you should know going in that he's not going to hold your hand stressing out about whether anyone in the audience might ever get irritated. But I really don't think there's an impenetrable barrier between audience and understanding being put up here. It's all out in the open; this is Haneke's Happiness, with everybody struggling to reach and define their own happy endings in ways that really aren't terribly disconnected. And I don't think anybody denies that it's an expertly photographed film with an unstoppable cast. Also, if fans were worried Haneke has been softening up or losing his edge; this is a film that starts out with iphone footage of a woman being surreptitiously filmed in the bathroom, and the first lead character we're introduced to is a twelve year-old girl who poisons her mother with her own antidepressants. And that little girl handily holds her own among all the great performances. So if you're a fan of Haneke's other work, I really don't think there's any reason to be anxious about diving into this one.
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2018 Artificial Eye UK blu-ray. |
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2018 Artificial Eye UK blu on top; experiment bottom (see below). |
Now, please don't misunderstand. I'm absolutely not claiming my "experiment" is an absolute properly contrasted/ corrected shot of how the film should definitively look by any means. I spent about 30 seconds on that in photoshop just to quickly and roughly illustrate my point. All I did was bring the blacks down to the point where the mattes were perfect black, so you can see how that affected the rest of the shot. And I definitely, absolutely may well be barking up the wrong tree, and AE's levels could actually be 100% perfect. But it certainly strikes me as suspicious, and I'll be very curious to see if Sony's upcoming blu winds up coming out the same way.
Let's move on to the extras. Both the German and UK discs share one key feature: a 22-minute 'making of' featurette. This is quite good, low on clips from the film and high on sit-down interviews with Haneke and his crew and behind-the-scenes looks at production and post-production. And it has the usual on-set interview soundbites from the cast. If you own a lot of Haneke discs, you know his own collaborators seem to produce many of his extras (this one was directed by his regular editor, Monika Willi), resulting in much higher quality stuff than your standard promotional featurette. That's all the German disc has, but the UK disc also has a 97-minute "masterclass with Michael Haneke." This is essentially a long talk between Haneke and a critic about his entire body of work, including a few clips from his films and an audience Q&A session at the end. It's quite good - the critic really knows his stuff - though it should be pointed out that they specifically avoid talking about Happy End. In fact, they tell the audience that they'll be back later for a Q&A about Happy End later that day... why the heck isn't that on here? That's a strange and slightly infuriating choice; but putting that aside and just focusing on what we do get, I have to say the masterclass was very interesting the entire hour and a half and I'm glad to have gotten it.
Artificial Eye's release also includes the theatrical trailer and comes in a slipcover.
Okay, so should I have waited for the Sony disc? Well, had it been announced back when I ordered this version, I probably would've waited to see how that one comes out. But I'm not kicking myself. It sounds like I dodged a bullet with that Warner Bros disc, and I'm guessing Sony won't have the masterclass or any special features besides that making of featurette and the trailer. And the blacks? Even assuming I'm onto something here, it's not that bad. Nothing struck me as amiss when I first sat down and watched it on my 4k TV. It was only when I was taking screenshots on my PC that I noticed mattes were light. So A) again, it's possible the film's supposed to have that slightly paler look, and B) you can always tweak the contrast and brightness on your TV to get it where you prefer anyway. So I'd say it's either nothing or a minor flaw. Again, I'm definitely curious to see how the Sony disc handles it. But either way, I'm not sure it's a big enough issue that it should put you off AE's disc. I mean, come on, we could all be dead by July 24.
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