- Title: King of Cannes, Haneke could get record third Palme d'Or with 'Happy End"'
- Date: 22nd May 2017
- Summary: CANNES, FRANCE (MAY 22, 2017) (REUTERS) ****WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** CAST OF 'HAPPY END' AND DIRECTOR MICHAEL HANEKE GATHERED ACTRESS ISABELLE HUPPERT AND HANEKE PHOTOGRAPHER NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (French) GERMAN DIRECTOR MICHAEL HANEKE SAYING: "My aim is always to tell as little as possible to provoke the maximum in the viewers' imagination, if you want, it's not a system, it's a method."
- Embargoed: 5th June 2017 16:16
- Keywords: Isabelle Huppert Happy End film movie Michael Haneke
- Location: CANNES, FRANCE/ VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
- City: CANNES, FRANCE/ VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: France
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Film
- Reuters ID: LVA0016HX87D9
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Austrian director Michael Haneke could take a record third Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival where "Happy End" screened on Monday (May 22).
Known for his uncompromising and often cruel stories such as "Funny Games" and "Cache", critics were right to assume that the title of Haneke's latest film was ironic.
It stars French film royalty Isabelle Huppert and Jean-Louis Trintignant.
Several critics complained that Haneke, 75, whose last Palme d'Or was for "Amour", also starring Trintignant as a character facing the end of life, was retreading old ground.
"A curious, disconcerting and sometimes insidiously effective greatest hits tableau," was The Telegraph's Tim Robey's summary.
The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw hailed "Happy End" as "a black comedy of pure sociopathy ... as gripping as a satanically inspired soap opera, a dynasty of lost souls".
While co-star Isabelle Huppert has now made four films with Haneke, for British actor Toby Jones, it was a first.
"Before reading the script I said yes, it doesn't matter if it's one line, of course I will do anything for Michael Haneke," Jones, who plays Huppert's fiance, said.
All the actors spoke of Haneke's demanding, precise direction, not allowing them any room to diverge from his vision of the characters. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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