Cast: Birgit Doll, Dieter Berner, Leni Tanzer, Udo Samel, Silvia Fenz, Elisabeth Rath, Georg Friedrich. Screenplay: Michael Haneke, Johanna Teicht. Cinematography: Anton Peschke. Production design: Rudolf Czettel. Film editing: Marie Homolkova.
In The Seventh Continent, Michael Haneke reveals himself as a mannerist filmmaker, relying more on camera and editing technique than on conventional narrative and characterization. He knows precisely how to manipulate the audience, realizing that they're likely to have a visceral reaction to images of tropical fish flopping in their death throes, money being flushed down a toilet, or perfectly good clothing and furniture being ripped to shreds and smashed wantonly, and that their reaction has a greater emotional immediacy than the fate of his human characters. He only trusts that the audience will realize the enormity of their reactions afterward. The problem, I think, is that his mannerisms become almost comic, allowing viewers to distance themselves from whatever Haneke may be trying to say about existential ennui or whatever else motivates the ordinary family in his film to do the terrible thing they do.
