This summer, cameras rolled on Michael Haneke‘s next film, “Happy End,” an ironic title for a movie from the filmmaker if there ever was one. The latest from the director known for his punishing dramas features Isabelle Huppert (“Amour,” “Time Of The Wolf,” “The Piano Teacher“), Jean-Louis Trintignant (“Amour”), and Mathieu Kassovitz (“Amelie,” “La Haine,” “War & Peace“) in a story centered on a bourgeois, European family, with the refugee crisis serving as the backdrop. And while it remains to be seen just how issues driven (or not) the narrative will be, Huppert has teased what we can expect tonally from the the picture.
Chatting with Little White Lies, the actress described “Happy End” as an ensemble piece, but one that seems like it will be very direct in how it approaches its depiction of characters.
“This movie is completely different from what I did on, say, ‘The Piano Teacher.’ And certainly different to ‘Amour.’ It is an ensemble film, with lots of characters. [Haneke] calls it a ‘freeze frame.’ It’s a portrait of a family, and everything that implies,” Huppert said. “It’s a very quick view of a family. There’s no psychology. It’s very factual. Just the facts. It sounds like ‘Code: Unknown,’ but it’s different to that. It’s certainly more like ‘Code: Unknown’ than ‘The Piano Teacher,’ where you follow a single character. The aim is that everyone who sees it will be able to create their own film.”
Indeed, the “Code: Unknown” comparison — with that film focusing on racial inequality — is an intriguing one, and it sounds like “Happy End” will be taking in perspectives from its handful of characters as the drama unfolds. Definitely something to think about as we wait to hear more about Haneke’s next film.