Hate/La Haine (1995) - Fired up radical drama involuntarily bares Europe's immigration, crime problems

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Happy End (2017) - A worthy full stop for Haneke's dark oeuvre

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A recording of a loading site for boats make up this mysterious, curiosity-sparking poster for Michael Haneke's Happy End

A young girl moves in with her father and his big family, after her mother has been poisoned. 

 

Happy End is written and directed by great German-born Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke (The Seventh Continent/Der Siebente Kontinent (1989)).

Haneke is back in sober, unsentimental top shape here with this potent drama, which is a continuation of the story of the old man and his daughter who we met in his Amour (2012).

Fantine Harduin (Fanny's Journey/Le Voyage de Fanny (2016)) is brilliant and disturbing as the girl; Jean-Louis Trintignant (Z (1969)) is just as inimitable as the suicidal grandfather. 

The ending loses a bit of the subtlety that otherwise esteems the film: The party is too white, and the racism that is showcased was already outlined in the masterly dog bite scene. - But this cannot overshadow that Happy End is a sublime, though-provoking, relevant film and a very handsome (possible) end for the European master's long career.

 

Related posts:

Michael Haneke: 2012 in films - according to Film Excess
Amour (2012) - Tender love, unseizing death in Haneke's pictures
2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

Funny Games (2007) - Haneke recreates his strong critique of movie violence consumption for the American audience 

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Top 10: Best drama-thrillers reviewed by Film Excess to date 

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 
Hidden/Caché (2005) - Haneke's slick, cold surveillance drama-thriller   

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

Time of the Wolf/Le Temps du Loup (2003) - Apocalyptic meanderings by Haneke 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Reportedly 12,034,009 €, approximately 13.3 mil. $

Box office: 2.6 mil. $

= Box office disaster (returned 0.19 times its cost)

[Happy End premiered 22 May (Cannes Film Festival, main competition) and runs 107 minutes At least 21 companies and support bodies cooperated in the financing and making of the film. Shooting took place from July - August 2016 in France and in London, UK. The film opened #35 to a 23k $ first weekend in 3 theaters in North America, where it never attained a higher position although it widened to 20 theaters, grossing 301k $ (11.6 % of the total gross). The film's biggest market was France with 563k $ (21.7 %). 2nd biggest was Netherlands with 337k $ (13 %), and North America was the 3rd biggest. The film lost the Palme d'Or to The Square and was also nominated for 2 European Film awards, among other honors. Haneke seems to have retired after the release of the film. Isabelle Huppert (Mama Weed/La Daronne (2020)) returned in Mrs. Hyde/Madame Hyde (2017); Trintignant returned in The Best Years of a Life/Les Plus Belles Années d'une Vie (2019); and Mathieu Kassovitz (La Haine (1995)) in Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017). Happy End is fresh at 70 % with a 6.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Happy End?

Gothika (2003) - Stars caught in frightfully poor script

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Star Halle Berry is caught in the rain with a disturbing, presumably self-made injury on her left arm on this chilling poster for Mathieu Kassovitz's Gothika

A woman psychiatrist in a mental hospital for women suffers a car accident and wakes up three days later, accused of having murdered her husband! Against all odds she has to prove to herself and the people around her that a ghost did it!

Gothika is written by Sebastian Gutierrez (The Big Bounce (2004)) and directed by Mathieu Kassovitz (Café au Lait (1993)).
The story of Gothika is extremely silly and sluggish, though the events still fly by way too fast to warrant any effect. Instead of telling a frightening tale the filmmakers emphasize disturbing special effects.
The otherwise skilled actors are struggling with a frightfully dumb script in Gothika: Halle Berry (Race the Sun (1996)), Robert Downey Jr. (Due Date (2010)) and Penélope Cruz (Not Love, Just Frenzy (1996)) and the rest make little impact here.

Related posts:

Mathieu Kassovitz: 2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Amélie/Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001) - Jeunet's hugely overrated Paris romance is an unbearable construct and trial (co-star)
The Crimson Rivers/Les Rivières Pourpres (2000) - Se7en-type action crime flick in the French Alps

Watch a 3-minute scene from the film here

Cost: 40 mil. $
Box office: 141.6 mil. $
= Big hit (returned 3.54 times its cost)
[Gothika premiered 13 November (USA) and runs 98 minutes. Berry was paid 6 mil. $ to star in the film. Shooting took place in Québec, including Montréal from April - ? 2003. Downey Jr. broke Berry's arm during filming by accident, halting production for 8 weeks. The film opened #2, behind fellow new release The Cat in the Hat, to a 19.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for another 3 weekends (#4-#4-#4) and grossed 59.6 mil. $ (42.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Kassovitz's native France with 10.4 mil. $ (7.3 %) and the UK with 9.6 mil. $ (6.8 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to 2 notches higher than this one. Kassovitz returned with Babylon A.D. (2008). Berry returned in Limp Bizkit music video Behind Blue Eyes (2003) and theatrically in Catwoman (2004). Gothika is rotten at 15 % with a 4.1/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Gothika?

The Crimson Rivers/Les Rivières Pourpres (2000) - Se7en-type action crime flick in the French Alps

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Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel star in Mathieu Kassovitz's The Crimson Rivers

QUICK REVIEW:

4 small hearts for this easily forgotten but entertaining, stylized and pictorially heavy (cinematography by Thierry Arbogast (Léon (1994)) buddy cop-action-thriller from the French Alps, in which a bitter, beautiful, young woman and her twin sister abuse and murder with much ingenuity.
The film stands in great debt to David Fincher's Se7en (1995), but is no match to the modern serial killer classic.
The enthusiastic genre-play in Rivers, - for instance in the artistic fight scene with Vincent Cassel that seems to come out of the blue, - takes, - together with several other misrepresentations, - credibility from the mystery that otherwise sparkles with humor and an irreverent treatment of the university-world.
Director Mathieu Kassovitz went to Hollywood after the success of Rivers and made forgettable Gothika (2003) and Babylon A.D. (2008). His most recent film is the French Rebellion (2011) about hostages in a French colony, starring himself in the lead. His best film seems to be widely recognized as his small, early drama Le Haine (1995) that stars Cassel.
Rivers was followed by the sequel Crimson River 2: Angels of the Apocalypse (2004) by Olivier Dahan with  returning Jean Reno and Christopher Lee. 

Related reviews:

Vincent Cassel: Mesrine: Killer Instinct + Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1 (2008) - Epic Cassel gangster extravaganza
Jean Reno: The Big Blue (1988) - Dolphin mishap # uno

Jean Reno with a shotgun in Mathieu Kassovitz's The Crimson Rivers

Watch the trailer for the English dubbed (yes) version of the film here

Budget: 14 mil. $
Box office: 60 mil. $
= Big hit

What do you think of The Crimson Rivers?
Please contribute your opinion, if you've seen other Kassovitz-films

Amélie/Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001) - Jeunet's hugely overrated Paris romance is an unbearable construct and trial

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Audrey Tatou looks at us with a threateningly whimsical, odd look on the heavily stylized poster for Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amélie

Amélie is an odd Parisian, who wants to help people, and who now discovers love.

Amélie is a world-beloved romantic comedy/fairy tale from the visually focused French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Alien: Resurrection (1997)), co-written by Jeunet and Guillaume Laurant (Call Me Elisabeth (2006)).
I don't understand Amélie, only that I hate it. (It is one of very few films to hold that particular distinction.) It is a horrid film that is best described in adjectives: Indie-quirky; witty; enthusiastic; facetious; grossly detached from reality; dank; PRETENTIOUS, and is consequently an unbearable picture to sit through, if you are me. If, on the other hand, you feel my verdict is childish or unfair, feel free to attack it in a comment.
Cannes Film Festival director Gilles Jacob called Amélie "uninteresting" and refused to have it screened at Cannes in 2001. This caused controversy, because most critics and audiences loved Amélie, - and the infuriatingly whimsical Audrey Tautou (The Trouble with You/En Liberté! (2018)) in the title part, - which also became what is still the highest grossing French film in the US.
So you may love it like most other people seemed to do, but watch the trailer below and ask yourself first, if you are not more fit to join on the exclusive team of Amélie-haters along with Cannes' Jacob and this signature? Let's retire this Jeunet nonsense.

Related posts:

Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Alien: Resurrection (1997) or, Queen of the Goo Massacre!
Delicatessen (1991) or, The Brown Quirk

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 10 mil. $
Box office: 173.9 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 17.39 times its cost)
[Amélie was released 25 April (France, Switzerland, Belgium) and runs 123 minutes. Jeunet originally wanted Emily Watson (Breaking the Waves (1996)) for the lead, but as she was unavailable, he instead found Tatou. Shooting took place in France, including Paris, and in Germany. The film opened #29 to a 136k $ first weekend in 3 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #8 and in 298 theaters (different weeks), grossing 33.2 mil. $ (19.1 % of the total gross) during its 35 week long engagement. The film's main production country France was its biggest market with 44.4 mil. $ (25.5 %). North America was the 2nd biggest, and Germany the 3rd biggest with 15.3 mil. $ (8.8 %). The film was nominated for 5 Oscars, winning none: It lost Best Original Screenplay to Julian Fellowes for Gosford Park, Foreign Film to Bosnian No Man's Land, Cinematography (Bruno Delbonnel (Infamous (2006))) to Andrew Lesnie for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Art/Set Decoration to Moulin Rouge! and Sound to Black Hawk Down. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, won 2/9 BAFTA noms, 4/13 César noms, was nominated for a David di Donatello award, won 4/5 European Film award nominations, an Independent Spirit award, a Goya award and a National Board of Review award, among many other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, translating to four notches higher than this one. IMDb's users have voted the film in currently at #91 on its Top 250 list, sitting between A Clockwork Orange (1971) and Double Indemnity (1944). Jeunet returned with A Very Long Engagement (2004). Tautou returned in God Is Great and I'm Not/Dieu Est Grand, Je Suis Toute Petite (2001), Mathieu Kassovitz (Ladies/De Plus Belle (2017)) in Birthday Girl (2001). Amélie is certified fresh at 89 % with an 8.1/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Amélie?
What widely celebrated film/s do you hate?
Why?