The Seventh Continent

The first part of Haneke's loose trilogy about the 'emotional glaciation' of Austria charts, in characteristically understated style, a young bourgeois couple's preparations to take not only their own lives but also their uncomprehending daughter's. No explicit reasons are offered for their actions, but Haneke's meticulous images, precise pacing and careful direction of his cast evoke society's malaise with crystal-clear lucidity.