Film review: The White Ribbon

Director: Michael Haneke
With: Ulrich Tukur and Susanne Lothar
Released: November 13

Going to see a Michael Haneke film could well be the worst possible choice for a first date. Anyone masochistic enough to sit through a quadruple bill of The Piano Teacher, Code Unknown, Funny Games and Hidden will know that his work throbs with guilt, pain and cruelty, however rosy life might appear in the opening scenes. In Haneke's world, middle-class complacency is always just a few minutes' away from being obliterated by a burst of violence.

The Austrian writer-director's new film, which won the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes festival, explores this theme again, but in other respects The White Ribbon is a radical departure. Shot in crisp, clear monochrome, and featuring no music except what's played by the characters on the piano and harmonium, the film is a period drama. The entire story takes place in and around a German village just before World War 1.

To begin with, it seems as if the feudal hierarchy is settled to everyone's satisfaction. The local baron and baroness are respected by all, and the doctor and pastor are held in high esteem, not least by themselves. The peasants toil dutifully in the fields, while the youngsters are seen and not heard. The pastor even ties white ribbons around his children's arms to remind them of the purity he expects them to preserve.

The first cracks appear on the surface of this bucolic existence when an unknown hand ties a trip wire between two trees, and the doctor is thrown off his horse. It's not a one-off incident. Over the course of a year, the village's certainties are shaken by numerous mysterious deaths and injuries, some of which might be accidents, and some of which definitely aren't. At the same time, we see more and more of the spite that is chipping away at relationships behind almost every closed door in the district. The village, like Europe at large, has been keeping a lid on problems that are coming ever closer to boiling point.

Another characteristic of Haneke's films is that they end abruptly, leaving several questions hanging in the air, and so it is with The White Ribbon. Maybe the director would prefer not to let his audiences off the hook by giving them any easy answers, but this practice can leave you feeling cheated when you've been watching for two-and-a- half slow and stately hours. At least it means there's always something to talk about afterwards. So maybe Haneke's films aren't so bad as first-date movies, after all.

Nicholas Barber