The Philosophy of Cannes

A still from the film Hidden, which played today at the Cannes Film Festival

I was just over at Roger Ebert's homepage checking out his latest report on Cannes, and was intrigued by this snippet:

Michael Haneke's "Hidden," which is also being mentioned for the Palme d'Or. He plays a Paris TV host whose happy family (his wife is played by Juliette Binoche) is also disturbed by unwelcome visitors -- in this case, videos indicating the family is under surveillance. Who is sending these, and why? Answering the mystery has become a festival obsession, and Manohla Dargis of the New York Times writes brilliantly: "My guess is that the videotapes were not shot or sent by anyone; rather, they simply exist, ontologically, as evidence." Yes, but if they were not shot or sent by anyone, how do they exist? Is ontological evidence visible to physical characters? In this movie, maybe.

Boy, that is quite a riddle. I'll bet it is an amazing experience to be in Cannes at this time of year, screening movies around lots of people who really, really love film. I would be willing to bet you wouldn't normally get that kind of freeform reaction to a movie from a critic who had seen the movie under normal circumstances. I am sure that the whole Cannes experience is a pretty incredible and heady scene, one that brings forth some great ideas from otherwise stale critics.

Posted by Paul Hina at May 17, 2005 10:38 PM