On a Paris street, a youth scornfully tosses a crumpled paper bag into the outstretched hands of a beggar woman. This is the bond which, for an instant, links several very different people: actress Anne (Juliette Binoche); her war photographer boyfriend Georges; his farmer father and younger brother Jean, who, contrary to his father’s wishes, has no interest in inheriting the farm; Amandou, a music teacher for deaf-mute children; and his family who originate from Africa; and Romanian immigrant Maria. Haneke’s ambitious, complex and powerful film is a fascinating study of the subtle connections and barriers between people, class, race and the difficulty of communicating in the modern world.

Part of Complicit: A Michael Haneke Retrospective.