First, a confession: Michael Haneke's previous film, 'The Piano Teacher' (2002) was amongst the most depressing pictures I have ever seen. And though his latest, 'Time of the Wolf' isn't quite in the same league of pure bleakness, this apocalyptic, end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it drama is hardly a walk in the park. Moreover, it should be approached with extreme caution by those schooled in Hollywood's version of the same subject matter.
Retaining his leading lady from 'The Piano Teacher', Isabelle Huppert plays Anna, the matriarch of an apparently normal French middle class family. As usual, the family visit their holiday home for a break, but they arrive to discover that it has been infiltrated by a stranger. But much worse is to come as Anna's perfectly ordered world comes crashing in around her.
This time around, Haneke goes for the less is more approach with his pared down minimalist form of filmmaking, dispensing with background music and a conventionally layered narrative. In their place are stark, provocative images and deliberately long takes which merely re-enforce the feeling of extreme unease that the director successfully conjures up as soon as he establishes his grave premise. Some may feel that to maintain and indeed accelerate this deeply oppressive atmosphere throughout, without any hint of a payoff is dishonest, but endurance seems to be a requirement of Haneke's work. Quite simply, 'Time of the Wolf' is a picture with no easily digestible conclusions or neat configurations, other than a searing indictment of the throwaway attitudes of modern culture. Whether this does it for you is a matter of personal taste, but it's nice to see Beatrice Dalle back in the game, even if she plays a character who has a tendency to go as mad as a bag of cats. Life imitating art, anyone?
