Haneke and his actors, playing the bittersweet music of Haneke's crafted - down - to - the - essential script, show us fully and roundly what's at stake even as they
depict its cruel, slow, biologically - mandated slipping away, and there's simply never been anything, no depiction of romantic / eternal love, more affecting put
on celluloid: The fruits of Haneke's unwavering banishment of any easy sentiment or banal platitudes or reassurances about the human spirit is a pure, clear, penetrating, and overwhelming emotion.
His work is also strongly influenced by the Hollywood film industry: the mountain in his Mountain Series is a play
on the Paramount Pictures logo; Large Trademark with Eight Spotlights (1962)
depicts the 20th Century Fox logo, while the dimensions of this work are reminiscent of a movie screen; in his painting The End (1991) these two words, which comprised the final shot in all black - and - white films, are surrounded by scratches and streaks reminiscent of damaged
celluloid.