**Spoilers**
This film had many experiments starting from the beginning. The long take outside of the Laurent home...I didn't get it at first and then realized that my eyes were acting as surveillance. I began watching the screen eager to see what was happening next. After a while I saw a rewind effect and noticed that I was watching something that was pre-recorded. Hanecke continues his experiments by showing the tapes to the viewer in different ways. Through a television while the husband and wife watch their lives on tape (this becomes a ritual), through a typical shot that could appear to be a scene within the narrative structure (but is actually another tape). Hanecke questions the idea of surveillance by mashing together everyday life with the tapes/pictures that the family is receiving. I also see Georges profession as a television personality to be an example of surveillance in turn capturing his activity/life.
The tapes, pictures, and public persona begin to create tension for Georges and his family. The tapes remind him of lost memories...they become apart of his dreams....he begins to question his identity and his past relationships with his adopted brother....The title of the film begins to make more sense. Caché. Hidden beyond the tapes....unearthing hidden parts of the family....hidden parts of Georges. The idea of quiet (no score) within the film adds to the layers. Surveillance, human activity, tracking, race relations, memory, prejudice, and representation.
The idea of what lies "off camera" is extremely important because at the end it was unclear who sent the tapes. The last scene ends in the same style as the first scene. A long take outside of the school that Pierrot attends Things become full circle. My eyes begin to survey but this time i'm aware of it. What is left out of the story? What is edited out of the frame and why? These ideas reflect back on the title of the film and the brilliant decisions that Hanecke made in order to convey what is often edited or left out of the everyday frame. Despite the loaded themes within the film I still found it to have a meditative quality. It also helped in hashing out some of the lecture on Nov. 20th.
