Text Commentary

Abandoning classical composition

The object of the camera's gaze remains, as the film's title suggests, hidden. In these paired chaotic compositions, which respectively open and close Haneke's Caché (2005), the viewer's gaze is left adrift. The feeling of being unmoored, of being abandoned by the camera, pervades the film on both formal and thematic levels. The suggestion of a buried clue does little to suggest the location of the truth: the identity of the kidnapper, the legacy of racism in France, the object of the voyeuristic gaze implied by the videotape. 

Closing shot of Caché by Michael Haneke (2005) An illustration of the abandonment of classical composition

Opening shot of Caché by Michael Haneke (2005) The opening sequence of Caché, in which the director abandons classical principals of composition and reveals the status of the image to be a video recording.