As if taking part in two of the most celebrated films of the year, Mia Hansen-Løve’s Things to Come and Paul Verhoeven’s Elle wasn’t enough, Isabelle Huppert will also bring the new drama Souvenir to TIFF (where she’ll give a masterclass) and she recently wrapped Michael Haneke‘s new feature Happy End. Although it marks a reunion following The Piano Teacher, it looks like we can expect a much different film.
We’ve previously learned it centers on a “bourgeois, European family, blind to what is going on in the wider world around them,” specifically with regard to Europe’s migrant crisis. Huppert has now talked with Little White Lies, saying, “This movie is completely different from what I did on, say, The Piano Teacher. And certainly different to Amour. It is an ensemble film, with lots of characters. He calls it a ‘freeze frame’. It’s a portrait of a family, and everything that implies.”
She adds, “It’s a very quick view of a family. There’s no psychology. It’s very factual. Just the facts. It sounds like Code: Unknown, but it’s different to that. It’s certainly more like Code: Unknown than The Piano Teacher, where you follow a single character. The aim is that everyone who sees it will be able to create their own film.”
It sounds like an intriguing change-up for Haneke following his Oscar-winning feature, and we assume Huppert’s last line indicates moreso that things will be left up to the audience’s interpretation, as is the case for most of the director’s work. Also starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Mathieu Kassovitz, and Loubna Abidar, we’d expect a Cannes 2017 premiere. As we await more details, see Louis C.K.’s recounting after viewing The Piano Teacher.