The last part of the first act is again a combination of the opposites. The act ends with a powerful deed which comes out of the blue and follows several pages of fairly light stuff (in the context of what had happened). Reading it I was wondering why is Haneke loosening the screw. Silly me. Relaxing breathing is allowed only to set up the stage for a powerful punch. And so, the payoff at the end of the act brings back the vibrating tension established at the very beginning.
The way the big event is told is sparse and elegant, if one can use such a word for this kind of drama:
ANNE
(once she’s seated in
the wheelchair)
Why are you back already? What time is it?
Georges has understood immediately. He closes the window noiselessly.
I am surprised that afterwards, as a coda to the scene, the couple discusses Anne’s dead. Suddenly the characters say what they think. I am sure that further reading will reveal the intent of that. Of course, the Haneke’s writing technique becomes transparent by now: if a heavy conversation is coming, than that which precedes it should be lighter. That’s indeed the case, although the lighter comes from a funky funeral description. Still, the differentiation of colors is clear.
I just realized that I am reading it as if it was a 120 pages script. Now I see that it is has only 68 pages. This means that we are in the middle of the story already and that my references to the first act were off. This also means that the screen pacing of the written page will be much slower than normal. Interesting. How is Haneke going to do that?
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