Rich people problems: who cares? I certainly couldn't care less, that is, unless Michael Haneke is directing a movie about them. When acquainting oneself with the prolific Austrian director's initial trilogy The Seventh Continent, 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance, and Benny's Video, one gets the impression that, regardless of class distinctions, the fellow either hates mankind or can sympathize enough with any one of us to excuse murder. We're all one bad decision away from murder or suicide. All the bad decisions and circumstances that lead a person to violence should be indicative enough as to why. Haneke decides not to focus on the desperate struggle for survival that would compel a person to acts of extreme violence…

Caché, but with life's festering wound slowly being opened.
Amour, but without the undying desire to live.
The Piano Teacher, but with the acceptance that no one will understand. And that no one will bother.
The White Ribbon, but with life being the inescapable antagonist and the unattainable protagonist.
Again Caché, but recording the tragedy of life against the placid embrace of the sea.

Happy End feels like a mix of Haneke's films, both stylistically and thematically. It takes its time spreading out, touching each character's life, but only on the surface. It has a deliberate, even invasive cheekiness of brushing aside the sea of bitterness churning underneath. We strive to show our happiest side to everyone we meet, our…

When I was sitting in my favourite café after Happy End, waiting for the next train, I realised something very important: Haneke loves to act out scenes for his actors. He also films everything. This means that somewhere out there there could be footage of two time Palme d'or winner Michael Haneke dancing to Chandelier. If you or someone you know ever comes into possession of this video please leak it. This has been a PSA.

You should take this review with a grain of salt because while Haneke is my favourite director I always felt more drawn to his more radical movies whereas I could never really warm up to Code Inconnu which is in many ways similar to…

If you couldn’t already tell by the fact that this is a Michael Haneke film, the title is indeed ironic. Happy End isn’t a happy film, nor does it really have an ending, instead opting for a series enigmatic vignettes about bourgeois arrogance and misery. (Surprise.) What’s fascinating is that in typical fashion for the filmmaker this appears to be a film aggressively averse to being enjoyed—this is a film that opens with animal cruelty captured on a 13-year-olds snapchat, the implication at first the age-old “social media is rotting society’s moral compass” bullshit, but how the thread eventually develops is something more comedic and surreal than it suggests.

Maybe the most genuinely funny film Haneke’s ever attempted, it plays…