Michael Haneke’s 2005 Film Cache, also known as Hidden, implements an extremely unique fusion of French historical events and implements them in his personal transition theme within the movie. This self-created transition that Haneke based the plot of his film on, revolves around the main issue which seems to focus on socio-economic related factors but as the film progresses, it takes a turn and begins to focus more on deep-rooted racial issues and events within Parisian societal formats. The film focuses on the careers of Anne (Juliette Binoche) and Georges Laurent (Daniel Auteuil) and how it might be Georges’ profession, being that he is a television host, that disturbing videos come to their doorstep. Because of his platform and affluent lifestyle, it seems to be implied during some of the beginning parts of the film that whoever is making these video tapes and sending them to the Laurent’s might posses a degree of animosity towards Georges’ and Anne’s career-related actions and lifestyles. However, as the film progresses Haneke begins to implement scenes that offer a new perspective for the audience. As more of these videos begin to appear, Georges is remined of a person from his childhood named Majid, an Algerian whose parents worked for Georges family. Here is where Haneke begins to implement a historical context and a racial transition into the film which fuses it uniquely with Parisian socioeconomic standards and viewpoints. Majid’s parents vanished in the 1961 massacre of Paris. Majid was nearly going to be Georges stepbrother, but the adoption formalities never came to fruition. Believing that Majid was the perpetrator of the video tapes and was trying to enact his own personal vendetta, Georges confronts him and accuses Majid of sending the videos. Later when Majid invites Georges to his house, Majid commits suicide in front of him after denying that the letters were his doings. After his death, Georges then accuses Majid’s son of sending the videos when the confront each other. By implementing this scene, Haneke reveals the racial divisions that have historically coexisted with the social class divisions of Parisian society.
Haneke uses a multitude of shot types in order to symbolize the moods, emotions and settings taking place within Cache. One of the most notable ones is seen at the beginning of the film which shows a rotating long shot that reveals the urban setting of where the Laurent’s had lived. Along with revealing their social standings, this scene also shows a comparison that many critics and film scholars highlighted between it and the beginning scene of the film Rear Window. As it happens that film’s director Alfred Hitchcock was a fan of French New Wave Films which Cache arguably follows the guidance set forth by those cinematographic standards.
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