Seventh Continent (Criterion) Blu-ray (Rental)

One of contemporary cinema’s most original, provocative, and uncompromising filmmakers, Austrian auteur Michael Haneke dares viewers to stare into the void of modern existence. With his first three theatrical features, The Seventh Continent, Benny’s Video, and 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance—a trilogy depicting a coldly bureaucratic society in which genuine human relationships have been supplanted by a deep-seated collective malaise—Haneke established the rigorous visual style and unsettling themes that would recur throughout his work. Exploring the relationships among consumerism, violence, mass media, and contemporary alienation, these brilliant, relentlessly probing films open up profound questions about the world in which we live while refusing the false comfort of easy answers. DIRECTOR-APPROVED THREE-BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES High-definition digital masters, supervised by director Michael Haneke, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks New interview with actor Arno Frisch New interview with film historian Alexander Horwath Interviews from 2005 with Haneke Documentary about Haneke’s career featuring interviews with the director and actors Juliette Binoche, Isabelle Huppert, and Jean-Louis Trintignant Deleted scenes from Benny’s Video Trailers New English subtitle translations PLUS: An essay by novelist John Wray THE SEVENTH CONTINENT The day-to-day routines of a seemingly ordinary Austrian family (Birgit Doll, Dieter Berner, and Leni Tanzer) begin to take on