Michael Hanake is an Austrian filmmaker known for dark explorations of moral issues and societal breakdowns. He often deals with themes of family and marital issues in an ambiguous, unconventional style that breaks from Hollywood norms. His films tend to have disjointed narratives that blur fiction and reality, showing the harsh truths of life. As a director focused on telling the truth, Hanake inspires the document author with his unflinching portrayal of difficult realities through subtle storytelling and visual techniques.

1. Michael Hanake

2. Films
Michael Hanake is an Austrian film-maker and opera director whose films specialize in dark
explorations of moral issues and break-downs in modern society. He is best known for the films
Piano Teacher, White Ribbon, Cache, Benny’s Video and Funny Games as well as his work as
director on a staging of Mozart’s opera ‘Don Giovanni’ . He often works within the drama
genre, dealing with issues of marital and family breakdowns. However, his films tend to break
the mould of the conventional Hollywood drama : his narratives often end ambiguously or un-
resolved to show the harsh realities of life itself. The stories he writes are often told through
disjointed narratives, blurring real life scenarios with overtly dramatized fiction. This is partly
due to his view that a viewers perceptions of reality are ‘fragmentary’ Both his own film
philosophy and his work are known for being highly critical of American cinema. He argues that
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As a film-maker, he is focused on telling the truth, often to the dislike of many within the
industry. This approach is what makes his films so appealing, as he isn’t afraid to show the
harsher realities, even if that means breaking cinematic convention.

3. Inspiration
As an aspiring film-maker, I find Hanake’s ability to focus in on harsh realities inspiring in
my own work. Watching his films has taught me a lot in terms of editing : his films show
that you often don’t need to cut away from a situation to reveal it’s full impact. The clip
below is taken from Hanake’s film ‘Cache’, and acts as one of the pinnacle moments in
the film. Up until this point, Hanake slowly builds the narrative with subtle visual clues and
motifs, allowing for this moment to have maximum unexpected impact.

4. As well as the previous example, another element of Hanake’s work that has inspired me is his
use of simple narratives to express deeper meanings. He often uses stereotyped characters
that reflect different elements of French society. For instance, the names Anna and Georg are
used to name married couples in his films, as a comment on the french middle classes.
‘Cache’, Anne and George are a middle class couple whose middle class lifestyle is interupted
by a series of video-tapes being posted through their door. What makes this narrative so
unique to Hanake’s story-telling, is the way the narrative slowly builds in these early scenes.

5. Visual Style
Hanake’s visual style is an intriguing mixture of classic French cinema and modern
cinema verite. He often uses wide angle shots to draw out the performances of his actors
: rather than using regularly cut close ups Hanake allows all the action to take place in
one shot. This allows for a closer and more intense atmosphere, making some of
Hanake’s films challenging to watch.
He often works with cinematographer Christian Berger. Berger is known for having a dark
visual style, which is evident in a lot of Hanake’s earlier work.

6. Examples of Visual Style
He is also known for shooting with extreme light contrasts, in order to highlight
changes in character and mood. This is partly due to his collaborations with
Christian Berger whose style is known for shooting in low light conditions. The
shot from Benny’s Video (top left), shows the pinnacle moment in which Benny’s
father attempts to intervene in his son’s behaviour. By spotlighting Benny in this
way, it leaves Benny’s father in the dark, forcing the viewer to view him as
insignificant.

7. Recent Work
Despite his age, Hanake remains a prominent authority on film-making, teaching at the
film academy in Vienna. His most recent film ‘Amour’ became his first film to be
recognized by the Academy Awards, perhaps due to its more conventional narrative.

8. My Cinematic Identity
In terms of my own cinematic identity, Hanake’s work has greatly inspired my sense of
visual storytelling and narrative. His films have taught me that you do not always need a
great deal of action or dialogue to tell a story. Sometimes, it is the restraint and subtlety
of the visuals that can tell a story, something that I have always wanted to emulate in my
own work.
As a film-maker, I will try to develop my own cinematic style by thinking carefully about
shot choices and lighting in order to create my own unique take on a narrative. In order to
do this, I think it is important to know your personal visual tastes. Although I have a lot to
develop in terms of visual idenitity, there are a few visual techniques that I prefer to use.
For instance, I prefer to shoot a lot of extreme close ups in order to create a more intense
atmosphere. Examples of this can be found below.