A single, simple, static shot of an apartment, on an average city street; no movement, except for the occasional pedestrian passing by; sitting still, and viewing the image, unmoved and without action; sound comes strongly to the fore; the sound of nearby street traffic, birds, and trees blown by the wind.
The picture is suddenly split in three disjointed fragments, and it is now clear, the picture is being rewound, as Georges and Anne Laurent (Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche) try to figure out why someone has videotaped the outside of their apartment; leaving the tape for them to find at their front door.
Michael Haneke's Cache Rewinds Terror
The couple decide to keep their teenage son, Pierrot, out of the loop, for now, feeling no need to concern the boy. A day passes, and the couple seems only mildly concerned about the video. Night falls, and the image returns; and while at night it’s quieter, the sound of the wind is amplified, giving the voyeuristic experiment a more ominous tone.
Rewind; and again Georges and Anne sit before their television, baffled; and a little more concerned this time, due to the fact that the videotape was delivered, wrapped in a piece of paper with a child-like drawing of a cartoon character throwing up what appears to be blood.
Soon the terror tapes are joined by post cards, with similar grotesque drawings; one is even given to the son’s teacher to pass on to the parents.
Cache Rewinds the Past
One of the interesting and rather unnerving aspects of Cache, at this early point in the film, is Georges and Anne’s nonchalant attitude toward the strange happenings; going so far as to turn their current dilemma into a pithy conversation piece at a dinner party.
On the surface at least, it seems that Georges and Anne have a pretty stable and happy marriage; and the teenage son seems as well adjusted as can be expected; so, any initial ideas about the increasingly menacing messages being an inside job evaporate.
Georges is soon overcome by nightmares of his childhood in the country; in particular two violent incidents involving a childhood acquaintance who drew pleasure from torture and manipulation; memories of which match eerily the cartoonish pictures sent.
Writer/Director Michael Haneke does an excellent job of delicately placing the horror scenes in at just the rights spots, slowly elevating the fear level, to a nice steady boiling point. The mystery thickens when Georges’ troubled childhood companion resurfaces, and complicates his search for answers, by insinuating Georges’ culpability.
At the heart of Cache is an old-fashioned mystery, that pulls at all corners of the viewer’s being; visually stimulating, intellectually challenging, and emotionally adept. The final shot of the film, like the opening shot, will be a static, single shot; and the resolution to the mystery is complete and powerful; so long as the viewer pays close attention.
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