Le Septième Continent

Le "Septième continent" et "71 fragments de chronologie du hasard" sont le contraire exact de la raison pour laquelle j'étais obsédé par les films quand j'étais enfant. Une poétique visuelle nulle, pas de développement de l'histoire ou des émotions. Aucunes couleurs ni nuances. Seulement un raisonnement mécanique - bien que brillant intellectuellement - sur la laideur ou l'incompréhensibilité du monde, délibérément composé de plans statiques, parfois longuement épuisants. Montés délibérément de manière insensible car Haneke est un rebelle et ne veut pas manipuler le spectateur avec ce qui rend les films agréables (montage) ou émotionnellement puissants (musique). (02/06/2017)

A precise vertical cut in one seemingly incomprehensible tragedy. Haneke composes with masterful abruptness sharp shards of long shots of mundaneness, which, for the most part evoke in the viewer an incomprehensible feeling of banality and a creeping distress, which is an omen of the third part. In it, Haneke carries out a frontal attack with image and sound and, from a hitherto unmotivated collage, he creates a surprising and brutal image of decay. His cold cynicism, professorial detachment, and rational arguments aimed at capturing the seemingly inexplicable show elements of refined sadism, with which the creator torments the viewer through hints and uncertainty. The hitherto vaguely suspected distress comes to a scathing climax, which reflects the immense creative discipline with which Haneke prepared the climax in its entirety. The Seventh Continent is a dark, cynical and misanthropic study of the despair that results from absolute prosperity and order. Michael Haneke's debut shows all the hallmarks of a well-thought-out and perfectly fulfilled method that cuts off fat deposits of clichés from reality, removes the facade of idyllic conception and lets bleed the irrational essence of human existence and the pandemic emptiness of "blissful" modern society. (03/02/2010)

Great! I’ve always preferred more serious, profound and depressive films over the easygoing, jolly, shallow and positive ones, but this one was too much, even for me. I don’t know, I’m just unable and unwilling to fully accept what the film talks about. But it’s superbly made, no doubt about it. (04/06/2011)