The Austrian director returns to many of his classic themes in a stark, unforgiving and gripping satire on bourgeois Europeans and the people who serve them.
Dryly humorous and exceptionally sour.
Happy End is very absorbing viewing. We’ve seen similar characters in countless other dramas and soap operas but their stories have never been told in as mysterious a way as they are here.
Happy End is Michael Haneke’s latest ironically titled exercise in cinematic hostility and, in some respects, it’s very much business as usual as he starts picking once again at the scab of bourgeois privilege.
A pitiless saga of privilege, complacency and a chilling disregard for the lives of others.
It is perhaps not top-notch Haneke but Happy End is an intermittently gripping film about loveless people in a joyless world. They could all do a lot worse than go on holiday with the characters from Paddington 2.
Michael Haneke’s new film finds dark wit in assisted suicide, overdoses and the refugee crisis.
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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