The Film
Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche play Geroges and Anne, a successful, upperclass couple who find themselves terrorized by an unseen stalker who leaves cryptic notes and videotapes that tie to secrets in Georges' past.
Spectator Culpability
Like many Hitchcock films, Cache paints a picture of "terror by day", exmplifying the many unexpected and undesirable things that can interrupt normal, daily life. Most interestingly at work in this film are the respective roles of "the threat" and "the threatened", and which characters they are assigned to. The film begins with an extremely long master shot of a street featuring several house fronts. Soon, we realize that what we are looking at is a surveillance video, taken, our protagonists presume, to intimidate them for unknown reasons. Taking cinema's naturally voyeuristic character to task here, the viewer is instantly put in the position of the threat, as culprit of the crimes to follow. Yet, in order to take anything at all from the film, to enjoy it on even a superficial level, we must also identify in some way with the protagonists, specifically Georges, the principle target of the mysterious and psychologically unnerving terrorism.
The Authors of Our Own Terror
And what is to be taken from this vicissitude? In Haneke's world, where upper class society becomes its own worst enemy, individuals become the culprits of their own terrors and anxieties. In the film, the viewer never discovers who sent the tapes, who is directly responsible. Guesses can be made, but there are no definite clues. Not only is there a camera operated by an invisible agent, but there is even one present in a scene where Georges confronts who he beleives is the culprit, filming their heated exchange. This second man, who we discovered had his childhood ruined by Georges, is not less terrorized himself. In fact, it could be convincingly argued that he suffers far worse, as he finds himself arrested, suspected of kidnapping, and is ultimately driven to suicide over what seems to be some deep and unknown guilt. Thus, the viewer and the narrative's lead protagonist are both hero and villain, sharing equally in the responsibility of each.
Guilt and Paranoia in a Modern World
Haneke asks us to look into the mirror when searching for one's enemies, be it at a personal or social level. How does it feel to have a man's death on your conscience? Georges simply goes to bed, hoping to wake to a day where everything that happened is behind him and he is allowed to go about his life as he sees fit. Is this true? Will his conscience allow it? The viewer is not given that answer, and is left to speculation. In his house, literally surrounded by media and the products of modern uppercrust society, will he take a lesson to heart, or continue to hide behind the world he has spent his life building?
The End
Watch the final scene closely, searching beyond the boundaries of conventional scene structure.
