CODE UNKNOWN (2000)

Michael Haneke has an impressive filmography, including Amour, The White Ribbon and both versions of Funny Games. Obviously, such an impressive calibre of filmmaker is going to have actors knocking at his door and that is what happened with Juliette Binocche. She expressed an interest in working with Haneke and Code Unknown was born. The film follows several main characters and is told in ‘incomplete stories’ as Haneke calls them at the beginning of the film, yet I would refer to them more as flashes of life. Haneke likes to spend a lot of time holding the shot which makes for rather engrossing moments; none so much as the opening sequence. In this first scene, we are introduced to the majority of the main characters - including Binocche’s Anne, who is an actress - through a chance encounter.

After this encounter, none of the characters ever really confront each other again. Instead, Haneke revels in offering us nothing more than those flashes of life. Yet, they are intriguing flashes of life, with Binocche’s character being the clear standout. Anne’s flashes can be one thing or the other; either a moment in her life or a moment in her acting life and the lines between the two can often be blurred to the point where it takes a minute or so to work out which Anne we are seeing.

Flitting across countries and lives, these vignettes capture happiness, tragedy, anger and most importantly, reality. The film ends in a way that isn’t completely satisfying but that is testament to the way Haneke has built these characters into a way where you want to know what happens next to them. Although it’s not ultimately clear what Haneke’s point is, the journey is too captivating to care. Score: 72/100