Cache (2005) Film Review

Let’s watch another film from one of the masters.

Cache is a hard film to fully describe. We follow a happy couple Georges (Daniel Auteuil) and Anne (Juliette Binoche) after they receive a strange videotape on their front door. The tape shows their home for a lengthy period of time, but why the film was made is not entirely clear.

As more tapes begin to arrive, Georges begins to suspect he might know who is behind, but the why is still elusive. Hiding this from Anne, we see their relationship strain and the idea how festering secrets can undo a relationship are at the forefront. Things from the past seem to have a way of coming back to the present.

Michael Haneke is excellent at making films with a centralized theme that is hard to escape. Georges cannot hide from his past (no matter how much he tries) and this becomes an analogy for past racial tensions in France. Themes of power, guilt, and colonialism emerge quite quickly.

While this film does have some moments of extreme violence, the dull and quiet dread of what is going to happen is more powerful. We are watching in hopes to see what the truth is, but as we also see, the truth can be edited, cut, and streamlined to give a different perspective.

Cache offers no easy answers and instead leaves us with the tough questions to explore on our own. It is a slow burn (as is almost every Haneke film), but those looking for something that they will be thinking about the day after this one is hard to miss.

The best thing I can say about this movie is that it is wholly unique. There is not another story like this one that I am aware of. For folks who are tired of the same-old crap, give this one a shot. It demands patience, but it is rewarding.