Hidden (aka: Cache)
For a film that opens with a fixed frame, real time shot on a French suburban street, I thought this was going to be dull, or worse, painfully pretentious. I like to think I’m not suckered by reviews but my skin is as thin as the next person and I wasn’t expecting much from a film that had been hailed as a ‘middle class thriller.’ Hidden needed to work hard to get through my expectations and it did, but in a very subtle way.
What starts as a slow burning, brooding narrative ends as an unstoppable psychological thriller. Director Michael Haneke masterfully builds momentum and creates a film that starts as a paced drama and ends as a nail biting, edge of your seat thriller. Hidden is not a film for the faint hearted.
It is true that this film is confusing, perplexing and at times frustrating to watch but this is exactly the emotions you experience with the characters. You travel with them through their confusion and horror when they realise they are being filmed by an unknown and their journey of discovery as to why they have been chosen for this torture. It is a film of audience involvement and at times you wonder why you heart is racing and you’re peering out of the window to see if you’re being watched. Only an expertly constructed film can create this type of audience induced paranoia.
Juliette Binoche is on top form and plays her typical pouting, moody French starlet and acts alongside relatively unknown (in British cinema), Daniel Auteuil. An excellent pairing there is a tangible on screen chemistry that allows the viewer to get entirely embroiled in the tale and unfalteringly believe that their relationship actually exists.
There are a lot of themes running through this and all contribute to making it a sophisticated, tense thriller. Relationships, paranoia, guilt, class and responsibility appear most prominently and it is the characters that carry the burden of these themes.
| Merchant | Title | Price |
 | Hidden (aka: Cache) | £13.99 |
 | Hidden [aka Cache] | £14.99 |
| The Michael Haneke Collection (4 Discs) | £31.99 |
