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Four out of Five stars
Running time: 117 mins

An intriguing, thought-provoking and typically intense thriller from director Michael Haneke, this is beautifully shot and features terrific performances from its two leads.

What’s it all about?
Hidden stars Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche as Georges and Anne, a middle-class couple who live in an affluent Paris suburb with their 12 year old son, Pierrot (Lester Makedonsky). Georges seems to have the perfect life (a loving family, a career as a well-known TV presenter) but his idyll is shattered when someone sends him a mysterious videotape of his house being watched for several hours.

The Good
Haneke keeps us guessing throughout the film, creating an uneasy atmosphere through clever use of video, long takes, shifting points of view, flashbacks and static camera shots used to unnerving effect.

The performances are superb. Auteuil and Binoche make a convincing couple and both actors convey their gradual emotional disintegration in subtly different ways.

The Great
There are some terrific sequences here. There’s also a censor-baiting moment where a chicken gets its head cut off, which will hopefully make it past the BBFC’s scissors, given that it’s a dramatically relevant moment.

Worth seeing?
Ultimately, Hidden delivers no easy answers, which some may find frustrating. However, it’s a superbly directed, challenging film that raises several intriguing questions about guilt and responsibility, both personally and politically. The genius of the film is that it can be viewed as both domestic thriller and political allegory. Highly recommended.