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Michael REVIEWED BY ALLAN HUNTER
The very idea of a serious film about the everyday existence of a paedophile will be enough to deter some viewers. Add to that the factMichaelneither judges nor redeems the central figure, and you have a film which seems the very definition of a tough sell. Look beyond the subject matter to the film itself
and you will discover a rigorously responsible, endlessly disquieting piece of work, acutely sensi- tive to issues of exploitation. The approach is one of almost clinical detachment which is more akin to an academic study or psychiatric report than a tabloid witchhunt. The intriguing subject matter and assured handling should combine to shine attention on writer-director Markus Schleinzer and attract adventurous distributors to what seems likely to remain a controversial title. Schleinzer has worked as a casting director on
more than 60 films, and claims his work casting and coaching the children for Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon gave him the confidence to make his first feature. Haneke is an obvious influ- ence on a film which strips away emotion and sen- timentality to focus on an almost forensic presentation of the evidence. The tone is cool, the often-static camera acts as a calm observer of
n14Screen International at the Cannes Film FestivalMay 15, 2011
COMPETITION
Aust. 2011. 96mins Director-screenplay Markus Schleinzer Production companies Nikolaus Geyrhalter Filmproduktion, Film Institut, Film Location Austria, Film Fonds Wien, Cine Tirol International sales Les Films du Losange,
www.filmsdulosange.fr Producers Nikolaus Geyrhalter, Markus Glaser, Michael Kitzberger, Wolfgang Widerhofer Cinematography Gerald Kerkletz Editor Wolfgang Widerhofer Production designers Katrin Huber, Gerhard Dohr Main castMichael Fuith, David Rauchenberger, Christine Kain, Ursula Strauss, Viktor Tremmel, Xaver Winkler, Thomas Pfalzmann
events and we only see what is necessary to gain a sense of what is happening. Michael (Fuith) is a 35-year-old man whose life
has all the surface appearance of normality. Every- thing about him seems unremarkable. He is a dumpy, balding, insignificant man whose beige complexion seems at one with his wardrobe. He is the kind of man who neighbours will say tended to keep himself to himself. In the earliest scenes of the film we see him
arriving home from work, carrying shopping. He sets the table, cooks dinner and prepares to share the meal. The only real difference is that he will be sharing it with David (Rauchenberger), the 10-year-old boy who is kept prisoner in his cellar. We assume the situation has existed for some
time, as the man and boy appear to have settled into a domestic routine. Michael even appears to act as a loving parent as he cuts the boy’s hair, allows him to watch a little television in the evening and occasionally takes him out for a visit to an animal park. Time and again, Schleinzer stresses the normality of this abnormality. He makes us realise Michael could be your son, brother, father or colleague. If that were all the film had to offer, then it
might become a little tedious. The conclusion that perhaps paedophiles are just people too would be too trite for such a film. Schleinzer manages to convince us the film has much more to offer by gradually extending the
focus. There are touches of humour and even moments of awful tension when Michael goes on the prowl to find a companion for the boy in the cellar. There are even elements of a thriller developing
as the audience is encouraged to speculate on how this could all end, if the boy might be able to escape and, inevitably, relating the situation to real-life cases which have grabbed the head- lines in recent years. Mercifully, Schleinzer spares us the gory details
of the sexual relationship between man and boy. He merely allows us a sense of what is hap- pening especially in an unsettling moment when a lustful Michael lounges on a bed staring in anticipation at his quarry. The performances of the two leads are both
commendable in their restraint and plausibility. Rauchenberger is especially impressive at sug- gesting the vulnerability and steeliness of David. His downward glances and the way he flinches at every touch from his captor makes us attuned to his suffering in a way that makes anything more graphic superfluous. The restraint of his performance is in tune with a film which takes the sting out of a white-hot topic and transforms it into a troubling, thought-provoking and quietly disturbing drama.
SCREEN SCORE ★★★
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