Arkadien (2 May 1979)

Director:

Michael Haneke

Writer:

Michael Haneke

Stars:

Regina Sattler, Christian Ingomar, Eva Linder

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Regina Sattler	...	Evi Wasner
Christian Ingomar	...	Christian Beranek
Eva Linder	...	Sigrid Leuwen
Paulus Manker	...	Sigurd Leuwen
Christian Spatzek	...	Fritz Naprawnik
Hilde Berger	...	Anna, Dienstmädchen
Walter Schmidinger	...	Prof. Georg Schäfer
Elisabeth Orth	...	Gisela Schäfer
Bernhard Wicki	...	Herr Leuwen
Gustl Halenke	...	Frau Leuwen
Kurt Sowinetz	...	Herr Naprawnik
Greta Zimmer	...	Frau Naprawnik
Rudolf Wessely	...	Herr Wasner
Ingrid Burkhard	...	Frau Wasner
Kurt Nachmann	...	Dr. Aigner

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

number in title

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Austria

Language:

German

Release Date:

2 May 1979 (Austria)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Schönbrunn-Film, Sender Freies Berlin (SFB), Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

In a scene taking place in the autumn of 1959, two characters mention they would like to see the new Ingmar Bergman film, "The Virgin Spring". In fact, that film would not be released until February the following year.

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Connections

Followed by Lemminge: Verletzungen (1979)

User Reviews

Haneke unplugged - consistent themes, early, bare-bones exploration.

The dark mood is set in the first scene: the vandalizing of cars. At once a deeply anti-bourgeois impulse and an act that expresses the faceless anomie of the post-war generation, this film is a melodramatic exploration of teenage resistance to overbearing parents and the constricting influence of a too-small Austrian town. Haneke upends Arcadia (youthful innocence) by transgressing boundaries such as sex out of marriage; smoking; and adultery with an adult. His teens damage cars and otherwise passive-aggressively act against parents. Haneke then subverts the bourgeois fiction of happiness and security by suggesting that in the end our own self-absorption and lack of empathy will relegate our relationships to hostile acts. We can never know each other, and that ultimately we cannot care. As the character of Sigrid's experience suggests, forget friends and family - ultimately we are cast out alone. The film is a bare bones exploration (a la Bergman) of the themes he will explore in more understated fashion in later work and more sensationally in Funny Games and Benny's video.