Der Siebente Kontinent (1989)
Genre: Drama
Duration: 104 minuten
Alternative title: The Seventh Continent
Country:
Austria
Directed by: Michael Haneke
Stars: Dieter Berner, Udo Samel and Leni Tanzer
IMDb score:
7,6 (18.810)
Releasedate: 20 October 1989
Der Siebente Kontinent plot
A socially successful two-income family with a daughter has an immaculately cleaned car and a neat house with an integral garage. However, the daily rituals, such as tying shoelaces and a visit to the supermarket, where heavenly muzak is supposed to make the frozen vegetables more attractive, have long since ceased to be a bliss. The family sometimes thinks about emigrating, and the question of whether the daughter should be taken along is considered with almost mathematical rationality.
Actors and actresses
Anna Schober
Georg Schober
Eva Schober
Optician Customer
Georg's Superior
Fault Service of the Post Office
Alexander
Eva's Teacher
Bank Clerk
Reviews & comments
sinterklaas
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- 11811 messages
- 3315 votes
The debut of Michael Haneke also beheld, and even his very first film is a striking blow. Of course it starts and continues on the Haneke style, subtle, meaningless, but with the message that an eruption is taking place. And for that you only have a family of a man, a woman and a daughter. Who become completely stressful from daily life and the things / wishes they get into their heads that are impossible, and choices also play a major role in this. We get to see all of that neatly in a timeline of 3 years. It starts so innocently, but the family gets crazier and crazier especially with their obsession to emigrate. Even the daughter becomes suicidal. And I think it is portrayed a bit too pessimistic in the film, but the film can still be regarded as 1 big rage. The ending is a big blow where they start demolishing all the stuff in the house and end up poisoning their own with an overdose of pills anyway. I also found that very last minute very creepy, with that snow noise from that TV screen and that lurid statement about that family that is expressed in letters. I always find that so scary.
But otherwise an excellent debut from Haneke where you can see that he was already excellent then. In the beginning you would think, what should I do with it, but that will soon change.
4.0*
Translated from Dutch · View original
Spetie
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- 38871 messages
- 8141 votes
After recently having seen a very good Haneke, I went looking for other films by him, to see if there might be more good ones. That's how I ended up with his debut film. And it must be said that Der Siebente Kontinent also impresses, although the film takes a long time to get going.
In the beginning we get to know the family and although it is filmed quite distantly, we get to know the people fairly well. The repetition of all the daily actions they experience is very tiring to see on the one hand, but on the other hand it shows very well in which rut the family has ended up. They don't feel like doing certain things at all and you can clearly see that. In the end, Haneke pulls out all the stops in the last half hour and we work towards an ending that I didn't immediately see coming, but also left me a bit stunned.
The waythey say goodbye to life is impressive. All memories are erased, possessions destroyed, money flushed down the toilet with as lifeless a way as they themselves are in life. At least it ensures that the film sticks well and very well happens. Der Siebente Kontinent is therefore again a very strong film by Haneke and even very good for a debut film. The message works and in the end I also understand Haneke's way of filming in the first part. That may take some perseverance in the beginning, but in the end you will get something impressive in return.
4.0*
Translated from Dutch · View original
Movsin
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- 8264 messages
- 8426 votes
In his first full-length film, Michael Haneke already shows the trend that will characterize his further work : a portion of anger, aggression or violence, a sharp view of society in an event whose essences are ripe for interpretation for the viewer.
If there are quite a few rather banal, repetitive scenes in the first part of this "Der Siebente Kontinent", hardly interrupted by an event that is also not that important, know that with Haneke nothing is meaningless.
Personally, I think that the director is targeting the "brave" banality of a bourgeoisie : their lies (the girl at school), their envy (happening at work), their hypocrisy (the rather sanctimonious letters to parents), their self-satisfaction (the richly filled table and the determined way of eating), their aloof, taciturn and rather haughty behavior, their passivity (the car wash), their supposed mutual understanding ...
The last half hour of the film is thunderous and poignant. the destruction scene is du jamais vu and the suicides presented in a painful realism.
Good camera work with beautiful images, close-ups... and the actors are unknown to me but put on a convincing act.
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