Ciné club
Wednesday 18 March 2015 at 20:00
CERN Council Chamber
Funny Gmaes
Directed by JMichael Haneke
Austria, 1997, 108 minutes
Two seemingly well-educated young men approach a family on vacation. They are, apparently, friends of the neighbours, and, at the beginning, their true intentions are not known. But soon, the family is imprisoned and tortured in its own house violently, and the viewers are forced mostly to imagine and to share a certain complicity with the criminals. It might be some kind of game with the lives of husband, wife, son and dog, but why are they doing it?
Original version german; english subtitles
Wednesday 25 March 2015 at 20:00
CERN Council Chamber
La Pianiste
Directed by Michael Haneke
Austria/France/Germany, 2001, 131 minutes
Erika Kohut is a pianist, teaching music. Schubert and Schumann are her forte, but she's not quite at concert level. She's approaching middle age, living with her mother who is domineering then submissive; Erika is a victim then combative. With her students she is severe. She visits a sex shop to watch DVDs; she walks a drive-in theatre to stare at couples having sex. Walter is a self-assured student with some musical talent; he auditions for her class and is forthright in his attraction to her. She responds coldly then demands he let her lead. Next she changes the game with a letter, inviting him into her fantasies. How will he respond; how does sex have power over our other faculties?
Original version french/german ; english subtitles