List by Ronan Doyle
Haneke Ranked
A real tough one this. With the retirement of Béla Tarr, Michael Haneke assumes the mantle of my favourite working director. With eleven feature films under his belt, Haneke has created a hugely distinctive cinema of austere style and harsh themes, constantly confronting the most difficult of human truths with seriously challenging and difficult films. He plumbs the dark depths of the human soul with more uncompromising vision than almost any other filmmaker I've ever encountered. Check the list view for links to the reviews I wrote as part of a Haneke retrospective on Next Projection.
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My list would look entirely different (bar number 10) but it is quite a selection of films, isn't it?
He's one of those filmmakers for whom everyone seems to have a completely different order. It all comes down to which of the many issues he's explored most interests you, I suppose.
Nice list. I did my own one of this a while back, and I think I remember the ranking: Code > Piano Teacher > Cache > White Ribbon > Continent > 71 Fragments > Funny Games > Benny's Video > Time of the Wolf > Funny Games US > The Castle
In case you're wondering what The Castle is, it's one of his TV movies from the mid-90s. Not bad, but not that great either.
I've had it lined up to watch for aaaages. Eager to see it for Ulrich Muhe, but by all accounts it's good not great.
I find it at least partially amusing that my Haneke top 3 is entirely German, while yours is entirely French.
I gave The Castle 6/10 but it could easily be lower. Far too long and becomes boring after a while, which is unusual for Haneke.
Ranking his films is a pointless task, since I love almost all of them so much! Of the eleven I've seen, I've given five of them 10/10 ratings.
Updated with a rewatched and repositioned The White Ribbon, plus 3 TV movies.