Caché Reflection

During Thursday’s screening we watched the French film, Caché, which was about a family that starts receiving anonymous letters, pictures, as well as tapes that showed they were being monitored, recorded and watched. The pictures in the letters hint at a possible murder, as they show red blood spewing from the neck of a child-like drawing. The couple tries to go to the police, but because the stalker has not acted on their threats, they can’t do much. It turned out the stalker was a long lost adopted brother of Georges. The pictures foreshadowed his own suicide after years of abuse by Georges’ family. The way in which the film is able to change the plot from a possible murder within the family to the suicide of someone else gives the plot an element of surprise, as the viewer does not really expect the radical change especially so far into the film’s running time. I thought that the plot of the film was very well thought out, as it managed to keep me engaged by guessing who the potential stalker may be. When the adopted brother of George denied the allegations, I was even inclined to believe him. However, as the film reaches its climax, we see this is clearly not the case. Another aspect I particularly liked of the way the film was shot was the lighting. For example, in the scene where Georges gets back home after his step-brothers suicide, the lighting is particularly important to conveying the plot of the film. Georges is featured with a lot of side light and bottom light, in a dark and dim setting. Bottom light is usually used to portray evil and eeriness, and this is definitely the case for Georges. He was clearly hiding this secret from Anne, and he chose not to report the suicide to the police. He also refused to accept that the abuse to the step-brother was the reason for his suicide and attempted to get rid of any feeling of guilt that he had. Overall, I enjoyed the film and taught it was not only engaging, but unpredictable, which was an element that has been missing in a lot of films as of late.