Code Unknown: Incomplete Tales of Several Journeys (2000) Code inconnu: Récit incomplet de divers voyages (original title)

Director:

Michael Haneke

Writer:

Michael Haneke

Release Date:

15 November 2000 (France)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | War

Tagline:

Love has a language all its own

Plot:

Jean, a farm lad, wants to escape his silent father; he runs to Paris to his older brother, Georges...

Plot Keywords:

Pastry | Beggar | Children | Farm | Play

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Juliette Binoche	...	Anne Laurent
Thierry Neuvic	...	Georges
Josef Bierbichler	...	The Farmer (as Sepp Bierbichler)
Alexandre Hamidi	...	Jean
Maimouna Hélène Diarra	...	Aminate
Ona Lu Yenke	...	Amadou
Djibril Kouyaté	...	The Father
Luminita Gheorghiu	...	Maria
Crenguta Hariton	...	Irina (as Crenguta Hariton Stoica)
Bob Nicolescu	...	Dragos
Bruno Todeschini	...	Pierre
Paulus Manker	...	Perrin
Didier Flamand	...	The Director
Walid Afkir	...	The Young Arab (as Walide Afkir)
Maurice Bénichou	...	The Old Arab
Carlo Brandt	...	Henri
Philippe Demarle	...	Paul
Marc Duret	...	The Policeman
Arsinée Khanjian	...	Francine
Florence Loiret Caille	...	Amadou's Friend (as Florence Loiret)
Nathalie Richard	...	Mathilde
Andrée Tainsy	...	Mrs. Becker
Elisabeth Marceul	...	Child
Melissande Zeddam	...	Child
Brandon Croteau	...	Child
Sonia Chauvelin	...	Child
Baptiste Gintzburger-Batle	...	Child
Sarah Agogue Tasse	...	Child
Alexandra Croteau	...	Child
Jerome Ferreira	...	Child
Melanie Lhote	...	Child
José Marques	...	Child
Guessi Diakite-Goumdo	...	Salimata
Jean-Yves Chatelais	...	Shop Owner
Laurent Suire	...	Policeman
Féodor Atkine	...	Man in Taxi (voice)
Malick Bowens	...	Witch Doctor
Ioan Marian Boris	...	Nicu
Monica Popa	...	Nuta
Ada Navrot	...	Florica
Giba Gonçalves	...	Percussion Teacher
Dominique Douret	...	David
Tsuyu Shimizu	...	David's Friend (as Tsuyu Bridwell)
Antoine Mathieu	...	Restaurant Waiter
Constantin Barbulescu	...	Mihai Popa
Domeke Meite	...	Demba
Marany Fofana	...	Youssouf's Sister
Aïssa Maïga	...	Black Girl with Blonde Hair
Costel Cascaval	...	Man in the Garden
Sandu Mihai Gruia	...	Group Leader
Daniel Dublet	...	Uncle
Boris Napes	...	Father in Cemetery
Isabelle Pietra	...	Mother in Cemetery
Cristina Ioanidis	...	Tatiana
Ion Haiduc	...	Man in Squat
Guillaume Morvilliers	...	Pierrot
Pascal Loison	...	Jolly Man
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jeff Cullen	...	Character portrayal
Irina Lubtchansky	...	Camera Assistant
Michael Haneke	...	Voice of Unseen Director of Anne's Film (voice) (uncredited)

Directed by
Michael Haneke

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Michael Haneke

Produced by
Yvon Crenn	....	executive producer
Christoph Holch	....	co-producer: ZDF
Marin Karmitz	....	producer
Thilo Kleine	....	co-producer: Bavaria Film
Titi Popescu	....	co-producer: Filmex
Alain Sarde	....	producer
Michael Weber	....	co-producer: Bavaria Film

Original Music by
Giba Gonçalves

Cinematography by
Jürgen Jürges

Film Editing by
Karin Hartusch
Nadine Muse
Andreas Prochaska

Casting by
Kris Portier de Bellair

Production Design by
Emmanuel de Chauvigny

Set Decoration by
Laurence Vendroux

Costume Design by
Françoise Clavel
Gloria Papura

Makeup Department
Isabelle Luzet	....	key hair stylist
Thi-Loan Nguyen	....	key makeup artist
Ion Toma	....	key makeup artist

Production Management
Bruno Bernard	....	unit production manager
David Crenn	....	assistant unit manager
Diona Dragnea	....	production manager: Romania (as Doina Dragnea)
Manuel Recolin	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Melia Cerchez Anghel	....	assistant director: Romania
Denis Imbert	....	assistant director
Arnaud Mathey-Dreyfus	....	assistant director
Virgil Nicolaescu	....	second assistant director
Alain Olivieri	....	first assistant director
Joseph Rapp	....	assistant director
Dorel Torcatoru	....	assistant director: Romania
Gaëlle Tronquit	....	trainee assistant director

Art Department
Véronique Barnéoud	....	first assistant art director
Gabriel Bucur	....	assistant decorator: Romania
Bernard Chenevier	....	construction manager
Yann Dury	....	carpenter
Corinne Martin	....	painter
Calin Papura	....	set decorator: Romania
Thomas Pitre	....	property master
Olivier Prost	....	assistant decorator
Jean-Luc Schwarz	....	key painter
Vlad Teodor	....	assistant decorator: Romania
Annie Tourriol	....	assistant decorator
Ion Vasilescu	....	assistant decorator: Romania
Laurence Vendroux	....	construction manager
Wouter Zoon	....	property master

Sound Department
Edouard d'Heucqueville	....	sound mix technician
Dominique Eyraud	....	boom operator
Eric Ferret	....	sound mixer
Judith Guittier	....	assistant foley artist
Jean-Pierre Laforce	....	sound mixer
Lionel Lebras	....	boom operator: post-synchronisation
Laurent Lévy	....	sound effects editor
Nadine Muse	....	sound editor
Guillaume Sciama	....	sound engineer

Special Effects by
Séverine De Wever	....	production coordinator
Pierre Foury	....	special effects
Daniel Lenoir	....	special effects
Benoît Squizzato	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Olivier Poujaud	....	digital compositor
Antoine Simkine	....	visual effects executive producer: Duboi
Daniel Trujillo	....	digital artist

Camera and Electrical Department
André Atellian	....	key grip (as Andre Attelian)
Sandel Bacalu	....	gaffer: Romania
Frédéric Batier	....	second assistant camera
Benoît Bayle	....	grip
Marion Befve	....	second assistant camera
Guy Bordet	....	electrician
Carlos Cabeceran	....	Steadicam operator
Olivier Cazzitti	....	gaffer
Marian Ene	....	grip: Romania
Nicolae Geoana	....	electrician: Romania
Jim Howe	....	gaffer
Jean-Bernard Josko	....	grip
Irina Lubtchansky	....	first assistant camera
Jérémie Nassif	....	still photographer
Florin Nicolae	....	electrician: Romania
George Nicolae	....	electrician: Romania
Gérard Rival	....	grip
Marian Sandor	....	second assistant camera: Romania
Joel Spinola	....	electrician (as Joël Spinola)

Casting Department
Carmen Brezeanu	....	extras casting: Romania
Melia Cerchez	....	casting: Romania
Claire-Marie Cuvilly-Givert	....	extras casting
Evy Figliolini	....	extras casting
Valérie Flan	....	extras casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Adina Bucur	....	costume assistant: Romania
Germaine Ribel	....	costumer

Editorial Department
Yannick Coutheron	....	assistant editor
Pierre Réali	....	color timer

Other crew
Razvan Constantinescu	....	general administrator: Romania
Aline Corneille	....	production secretary
Mariana Costea	....	production assistant: Romania
Eric Dupressoir	....	groupman
Greg Engler	....	location consultant: pre-production
Mathilde Incerti	....	press attache
Nathalie Kreuther	....	production assistant
Lina Martins	....	assistant: Juliette Binoche
Chloé Perlemuter	....	script supervisor
Gisèle Vuillaume	....	production administrator

Production Companies

• Bavaria Film
• Canal+
• Filmex
• France 2 Cinéma
• Les Films Alain Sarde
• MK2 Productions
• Romanian Culture Ministry
• Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF)
• arte France Cinéma

Distributors

• Atalanta Filmes (2001) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Leisure Time Features (2001) (USA) (theatrical)
• MK2 Éditions (2001) (France) (DVD)
• Kino International (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Kino Video (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• BIM Distribuzione (2001) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Cinemien (2001) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• MK2 Diffusion (2000) (France) (theatrical)
• Prokino Filmverleih (2001) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Vértigo Films (2001) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Artificial Eye (2001) (UK) (all media)
• Homescreen (2001) (Netherlands) (video)
• Homescreen (2009) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Mongrel Media (Canada)

Also Known As:

"Code inconnu: Récit incomplet de divers voyages" - France (original title)
"Code Unknown" - Canada (English title)

Runtime:

France:118 min | Netherlands:117 min

Country:

France | Germany | Romania

Language:

Malinka | Romanian | French | German | English | Arabic | French Sign Language

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Singapore:NC-16 (DVD rating) | Australia:M | France:U | Germany:12 (w) | Italy:T | Norway:11 | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Mali

Company:

Bavaria Film

Trivia:

All the long take sequences were filmed in real-time without using edits.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in 24 Realities per Second (2005)

Probably one of the more accessible of Haneke's dour, psychological studies

Code Unknown; Incomplete Tales of Several Journeys (2000) is another of director Michael Haneke's deeply austere and emotionally rigid intellectual probes into the human condition; and the various psychological elements that cause problems, not only in our personal lives and relationships, but in a broader, sociological sense as well. At this point it is perhaps worth noting that the film's essay-like subtitle alludes to the style of the film, which involves a number of long, unbroken shot compositions (some longer than ten minutes) that often end abruptly, with no real sense of resolution.

Presented as a series of loosely connected vignettes that focus on the idea of character interaction as opposed to narrative direction, Code Unknown is a difficult film to appreciate, at least at the level that many of us would probably approach it. One of the main focus points here is the idea of perception; how both we as an audience and the characters in the film perceive the action unfolding from the limited point of view that we've been given. Some good examples of this would include the lengthy and suitably tense scene early on in the story; in which a number of unconnected characters all come together through a seemingly mundane event that ends with a scuffle erupting between a white teenager and a young black man, resulting in both men - and the various onlookers - being arrested. Later, midway through a particularly disconcerting scene, a toddler playing on the balcony of a high-rise apartment slips, all the while watched with horror by his terrified parents who are powerless to do anything. Then finally, towards the end of the film, we watch in eager suspense as a young Arab boy harasses Juliette Binoche's character on a Parisian metro. Throughout the film and these sequences in particular we expect something spectacular and thrilling to happen but it never seems to arrive, until, of course, we realise that 'something' is happening.

As with his most recent film, the highly acclaimed Hidden (2005), there are a number of interesting sequences in Code Unknown, which, on basis of description alone, could easily lead one to believe that they are about to watch a tense, Hollywood thriller. The film obviously couldn't be further removed from this ideal, however, with Haneke once again offering us a dour, colourless psychological study, in which characters crash into one another almost at random and cause a ripple effect that disrupts the order of everything that came before. Clearly, Code Unknown is unconcerned with thrilling the audience, at least, not in the typical sense; with the film never allowing the dramatic tension to build to anything beyond the confines of these various character vignettes that are strung together one by one in order to build up the story. This is a film that wants to enlighten with a raw depiction of everyday life; taking the viewer from moments of deadpan humour (albeit, incredibly low-key humour) to scenes that evoke a feeling of almost crippling desperation. Once again, these techniques are used to mislead the audience into thinking that the film is heading in a different, very "non-Haneke-like" direction, before switching track and confounding us all over again. If you give it some time to really get going, then the results can be oddly thrilling, and - in my opinion - probably more enjoyable and satisfying overall than anything else Haneke has directed.

Still, the film does have that sense of screaming polemic that much of the director's previous work has occasionally descended into; with the loose ends and the experiments in cinematic formalism creating a cold and intellectual exercise that will naturally turn many potential viewers away. A real shame too, because regardless of these distancing intellectual experiments, the direction, photography and acting are superb throughout, and - like The 7th Continent (1994) and Funny Games (1997) - help to weave together a beguilingly tense tapestry of guilt, anger, misery and social despair.