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Glad to be of service. When I first saw it, I thought the other stuff was just an unfortunate misfire, and was surprised when it was all anybody else talked about - but I came to it in blissful ignorance of anything Haneke had said about it, or of its critical reception (which had barely started).

Haneke sure knows how to spoil a film (see his comments on White Ribbon).

denti alligator wrote:Haneke sure knows how to spoil a film (see his comments on White Ribbon).

Which comments do you mean?

mfunk9786 wrote: Tue May 21, 2019 7:17 pm I'm not sure you and zedz are saying the same things at all, really

I was responding to the idea of its being a horror film rather than an art film. . .

Brian C wrote: Wed May 22, 2019 3:20 am

denti alligator wrote:Haneke sure knows how to spoil a film (see his comments on White Ribbon).

Which comments do you mean?

That the movie is about that generation who would grow up to become Nazis. As if somehow being a Nazi were like being born evil and had no societal dimension whatsoever.

I actually don't mind his illuminating The White Ribbon's subtext that way. The whole film plays to me as a warning about what happens when a society of adults utterly ignores, abuses, and stifles a generation of children and young adults, only depicting the tragedy and sparing us a direct link to a depiction those children post-WW1.

denti alligator wrote: Wed May 22, 2019 12:44 pmThat the movie is about that generation who would grow up to become Nazis. As if somehow being a Nazi were like being born evil and had no societal dimension whatsoever.

The White Ribbon is about that societal dimension, though, isn't it? And I didn't take away the notion that anyone in the movie was "born evil" - more that there was a rot in that society that tolerated and even enabled people's worst impulses.

That was my take too, like letting carelessly bad seeds growing. I'm not sure if we're supposed to assume the parents' generation is evil too, though, but I didn't, hence the idea that the movie is all about societal contextual impact.

Right, but Haneke's statements seem to sidestep that societal dimension.

Rather surprisingly after reporting was respectfully distant from going into detail upon her death, Haneke flatly confirms in the interview on the Criterion disc that Susanne Lothar committed suicide in 2012. Obviously was what most suspected especially because her cause of death was not spoken of at the time, but a real shame nonetheless.

mfunk9786 wrote: Tue Jun 04, 2019 11:55 pm Rather surprisingly after reporting was respectfully distant from going into detail upon her death, Haneke flatly confirms in the interview on the Criterion disc that Susanne Lothar committed suicide in 2012. Obviously was what most suspected especially because her cause of death was not spoken of at the time, but a real shame nonetheless.

I had wondered about this because it was not spoken of publicly but rather insinuated heavily online. A real shame.

Also, Haneke is delightful. I can't say I'd spent as much time with him as I did in the nearly half hour interview on this disc, and he has such a keen sense of humor about what he's trying to do with this film - he comes off much less snobby and more congenial here than I'd assumed he was. Still has that film professor way about him but is in a very good mood in this interview and seems quite proud of his work on Funny Games in a charming way, not a smug way.