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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Year:	1997
Country of origin:	Austria
Director:	Michael Haneke
Genre:	Social horror / exploration of social conventions
Starring:	Frank Giering, Arno Frisch, Susanne Lothar, Ulrich Mühe
Rating:	5/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119167/
Tagline:	Ein Alptraum.
Favourite line:	N/A - Subtitled

Michael Haneke's sublime horror / thriller is a must watch for fans of irreverent film making.
I think this is only the third German movie I've seen (the others being Downfall and Run Lola Run) and this is as good, if not better than the others, though neither has any commonality with the other.
The film sees a regular German family taking a holiday in an idyllic lake side cottage.
The morning after arrival, a young man whom they waved hello to the previous day arrives and asks for some eggs as he claims to have unexpected visitors. He deliberately drops the eggs, pretending it's an accident, and demands some more from the wife, who is alone with him - the father and son are at the water tending to the yacht for the day ahead.
After some squirm inducing tension, as the man crosses social boundaries with aplomb, he goes to leave, and pretends that he has dropped them again, and again insists that she supplies him with more.
Now his friend appears, and joins in the argument.
The wife becomes hysterical, and asks them to leave when her husband returns. After more jostling with the boundaries of social expectations, the husband slaps the second newcomer, who promptly instructs his associate to smash the husbands leg with a golf club.
So begins the worst night imaginable, as the pair torment and humiliate the family, forcing the woman to strip, smothering the boy with a cushion case, and inflicting further damage on the already incapacitated husband.
To the young men, it is just a game, a way to pass the time, and it is this lack of reason that makes their actions all the more chilling.
In a neat gimmick, the tormentors occasionally address the audience directly, and acknowledge the fact that they are in a movie. It's clever, and isn't overused, which is good as, used sparingly it drills home the message, rather than becoming tiresome. Only once does it cross the line (the 'remote control' moment), but even this can be passed over due to the quality of the rest of the movie.
There's a remake by the same director for those US citizens that struggle to read subtitles.