Would you react if a video, left on your doorstep, showed three hours of your front door? Probably not, not at first, and nor does Georges (Auteuil). So begins Haneke’s masterful suspense thriller that is as shocking as it is challenging. When another tape arrives, shot at night with no more interesting goings on than the first, the uncertainty of the videomaker’s motives begins worrying the edges of Georges’ marriage to Anne (Binoche). She fears, possibly with cause, for their teenage son. Georges, a minor TV celebrity, is not so sure and begins to investigate, though not as convincingly as Anne would like. The worrying accelerates as the anxiety mounts, on both sides of the screen.

A number of scenarios are established – infidelity, professional jealousy, insanity – yet none are given any credibility. At least, not at first. Haneke layers the suspense as he deftly cuts between both realities (live and video). It’s an unsettling technique that builds a creepy tone in a first half during which very little seems to happen. Uncertain of what we’re watching or from whose perspective, Hidden keeps its agenda options open, and closed. As family secrets are revealed and tension escalates, the film turns into the kind of psychological thriller psychologists talk about. Accelerated by one explosive turn after another, Hidden is driven home by incendiary performances from Auteuil and Binoche – a finer coupling is unimaginable. Haneke delivers a masterpiece of domestic fear that finally dissolves into a stunning ending that does exactly that. At least, at first.

// COLIN FRASER