The violence of silence: Vocal provocation in the cinema of Michael Haneke

Abstract

ABSTRACTFocusing on violence in its various psychological, fantasmatic and physical forms, Michael Haneke's films interrogate the failures of communication and intersubjectivity through fractured and ambiguous narratives of suspicion, malaise and alienation. Taking its cue from a comment by Haneke regarding the terrorism of non-communication, this article considers the connection of these thematic and ethical tropes in Haneke's films to the manipulation of the voice/image relation in his films. The speaking face is frequently obfuscated or rendered obscure in Haneke's films as we get close-ups on body parts rather than faces, extreme long shots or darkened shots of speaking figures, voiceless characters and other audiovisual disturbances. Drawing on the work of Michel Chion on the acousmetre and mutism, and paying particular attention to Der siebente Kontinent, Code Inconnu and Das weisse Band, I argue that Haneke stresses a tension between voice and image that offers insight into the themes of non-communication and subjectivity in his films.