What I saw in my several
viewings was an embracing yet acerbic melange of genres polished to a single piece through a screenplay larded with wit,
superb filming, and masterful performances.
: Finding itself at the middle of the competition pack among our Cannes Critics» Panel grid (see the full grid
view), our Nicholas Bell mentioned he «most likely be eclipsed by Haneke's own formidable shadow in the eventual endless comparisons of
what has come before, this is still wickedly
superb social satire, and the little bit of sugar evident in his latest formulation only allows the lacerations to cut deeper.»