Directed by Michael Haneke and his filmography

Undoubtedly, Michael Haneke - a bright and colorful figure in the cinema. He and master director, and an extraordinary screenwriter, and a talented actor. His merits in the cinema are marked by a number of prestigious awards. Michael Haneke is involved not only in directing. He also spends a lot of time on theatrical productions and television shootings. Almost every Russian director can envy his fame and popularity. Michael Haneke succeeded independently, no one helped him in his career. What is so unusual in his work and why do they touch the viewer? Let's consider this issue in more detail.

Facts from biography

Some sources believe that Michael Haneke is an Austrian, although he was born in German Munich on March 23, 1942. The thing is that the family of the future actor during the Second World War was forced to move to a more peaceful place, which was chosen as the Austrian city of Wiener Neustadt. Michael's parents were actors.

After graduating from school, the young man submits the documents to the University of Vienna, where he learns the basics of psychology, philosophy and theatrical art.

Carier start

It would be a mistake to declare that Michael Haneke began to professionally engage in directing as a young man. First, he tries himself on television, where he subsequently is entrusted with the post of editor of the television channel. In parallel, he publishes copyright articles of critical content in newsreels.

In 1970, he focuses his work on writing scripts for the cinema, and four years later his short film "After Liverpool" is released. He enthusiastically works for theatrical stage, putting copyright works in Hamburg, Vienna, Berlin, Munich.

What distinguishes the film master

Directed by Michael Haneke - one of those who want to teach the viewer to think carefully about movies.

He believes that real cinema should combine such categories as sincerity and the generation of conflict. The aim of the director is to make the viewer think, look for answers, empathize with the characters. All Haneke's works deal with human communication and related problems. The director accentuates the viewer's attention on how important interpersonal interpersonal skills are for people. Michael Haneke, whose films have won a huge audience popularity today, I am sure that the problems arising from the misunderstanding in the family are pushing the society to disaster.

The first steps in directing

His directorial debut Michael Haneke, whose filmography today has more than a dozen films, was noted in 1989, when the picture "The Seventh Continent" was filmed. She was also put on the competition program of the film festival in Locarno. Already in his first work, the maestro demonstrated to the viewer his creative feature, which was expressed in a manner of alienation.

By focusing on the family in which suicide occurs, Haneke does not consider it necessary to explain something to the viewer: he simply demonstrated in all colors what kind of reality is from the cinematic point of view.

In a similar genre was released and the second work of the master called "Video Benny", filmed in 1992. The key element of the plot is the everyday life of a young man named Benny. His favorite entertainment is watching horror films and paintings dominated by violent scenes. But one day the line between real and "cinematic" reality is erased: a guy kills a girl. Here the director's tasks are already somewhat extended: Michael Haneke not only condemns the principles of the bourgeois model of behavior, but also warns about the negative impact of television production on the younger generation. The film fell to the taste of a huge part of the audience and was awarded the FIPRESCI prize of the European Film Academy.

World glory

Haneke's popularity is gradually gaining momentum. In 1997, the director goes to the festival in Cannes to announce his next film work "Funny Games."

The picture tells how two young people are looking for thrill, considering cruelty the norm of behavior. Naturally, this film also contained many scenes of violence, which not everyone could calmly endure. In particular, it was a well-known director Wim Wenders who came to the film festival to present the author's film: "The End of Violence". One way or another, but the work of Michael Haneke became the most discussed, although no reward was awarded.

Undoubtedly, after the release of "Funny Games" the director's popularity rating began to grow rapidly, but the film was highly appreciated only by the viewers of the Old World. In the US Haneke became famous only after the "Funny Games" were filmed in English and with Hollywood stars (2007). Despite the fact that the second variation of the tape seriously differed from the original, the Americans nevertheless considered him a director who shoots an unusual movie.

"Pianist" - the masterpiece of the maestro

Of course, not all critics could understand the benefits of the films directed by Michael Haneke.

"Pianist" - a vivid confirmation of this. This film was released in 2001 and immediately made a lot of noise. And all because she is stuffed with frank scenes of violence and sexual episodes. There were a lot of critics: they say, the film turned out to be gloomy again, it greatly depresses it. In particular, Slovenian culturologist Slava Zizek noted that for him the intimate scene between the main characters is the most depressive one he ever saw. At the same time, this odious picture revealed the main problems of people's interaction in society and their real perception of sexual culture. Anyway, but a huge number of viewers recognized that the film is not devoid of profound philosophical meaning. In addition, as a positive component, it was noted that the actors performed their roles brilliantly. The film "The Pianist" with a furor swept through the major film festivals and was awarded the Grand Prix. Actors Isabel Huppert and Benoit Mazhimel were awarded awards as the best actors.

In 2005, another Haneke film appeared - "Hidden". She again proves once again how ghostly happiness can be. Again the family idyll comes to an end. Many were sure that the film would receive the "Golden Palm Branch", but the jury of the Cannes Film Festival issued another verdict. However, the director awarded the FIPRESCI award for this work.

Latest movies

The last works of Haneke are also filled with depressiveness and gloominess.

Again in them the whole range of colors of the cruel and cynical world is exposed. However, in these films there is already a note of tenderness and compassion. It should be especially noted the film "The White Ribbon", which was filmed in 2009. In it, the director studies the ideology of Nazism and the origins of its emergence. The chairman of the Cannes festival, Isabelle Huppert, awarded Haneke for this brilliant work "Golden palm tree".

Three years ago, the motion picture "Love" came out. Michael Haneke considers her the last director's work. In the center of the story is the fate of an elderly couple. The husband and wife are music teachers, they are trying to resist old age. Suddenly the husband falls ill, and the husband shows maximum care to his beloved. The tape literally shocked the audience with its sincerity and insight. It was also marked by the "Golden palm branch".

A family

The director is happy in marriage. He is married to a woman named Siusen, who gave birth to Michael Haneke four children.

"The most important thing in cinema is dialogue and provocation"

Among the favorite films of Haneke are: "Salo" (Pier Paolo Pasolini), "Psycho" (Alfred Hitchcock).

Michael Haneke states that his task as a director is not to demonstrate the scenes with violence in all colors, but to reveal the feelings of the main characters in front of him.

"I oppose my work to films that are removed according to the laws of American fast food. The cinema should make the viewer think about the actual problems, and not to dazzle with vulgar and silly jokes. The film should not impose conditionalities, it should encourage search. Cinematography should make a person think and worry. I do not offer artificial solutions for the problems that are faced to the viewer. The most important thing in the cinema is dialogue and provocation, "the maestro stresses.

The director is not for nothing trying to force the viewer to pay attention to communication problems. He believes that it is in his personal life and family that conflicts that can lead a society to a catastrophe arise.