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France, Austria, Romania · 2000
1h 58m
Director Michael Haneke
Starring Juliette Binoche, Thierry Neuvic, Josef Bierbichler, Alexandre Hamidi
Genre Drama, Romance, War
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An angry boy from rural France angrily throws a bag of half-eaten pastry into the lap of a homeless woman, prompting a confrontation from a young Franco-African boy named Amadou that gets violent. The police show up and quickly arrest the homeless woman and Amadou, as the inciting incident begins to splinter further into different characters’ lives.
Haneke, who wrote and directed, is a skillful, minutely observant filmmaker who trusts his audience to be able to put two and two together. Unfortunately, he's often too cryptic, which leaves viewers still trying to make connections when they should already be reacting to the moral lessons implied by them.
The New Yorker by Anthony Lane
The movie is, literally, a tough act to follow, thanks to the brusque, undemonstrative way in which Haneke chops from one subplot to the next. [3 Dec 2001, p.105]
New York Daily News by Elizabeth Weitzman
For those who've become increasingly conscious of the connections between strangers sharing a city, it's a challenge that's hard to resist.
The kind of art film that's rarely seen anymore -- the kind that trusts the audience to be as intelligent as the director.
Village Voice by Jessica Winter
Code Unknown is Haneke's most expansive and, oddly, hopeful work -- not a gaze into the void, but a fierce attempt to scramble out of it.
New York Post by Jonathan Foreman
The thing that makes Haneke’s Code Unknown so enjoyable and effective is that that he says it in such a wonderfully restrained and light-handed yet suspenseful way.
Chicago Reader by Jonathan Rosenbaum
I couldn't always keep up with what was happening, but I was never bored, and the questions raised reflect the mysteries of everyday life.
Los Angeles Times by Kevin Thomas
Haneke illuminates beautifully the lives of his people with an eye for the revealing nuance and detail.
Chicago Tribune by Michael Wilmington
Code Unknown is a film you think more than feel. Though each scene is executed close to flawlessly, the cumulative effect is often oppressive. But at the center of the film -- the real reason it was made -- is Binoche, one of the genuinely radiant presences in movies today.
Philadelphia Inquirer by Steven Rea
One of the finest pieces of screen acting in the career of Juliette Binoche -- the actress playing the actress in this extraordinary film.
Perversion --- at its absolute best.
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