71 Fragments Of A Chronology Of Chance (Directors Suite)

A meticulous depiction of the numbing and normalizing effects of television, Michael Haneke's 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance "is the most intelligent and powerful study by cinema" of the 20th century's quintessential medium.

A "cool, cerebral and painstaking" (Time Out) examination of several characters including an Austrian university student who goes on a shooting spree, the third installment of Haneke's 'glaciation' trilogy is a mosaic of 71 film tableaux-beautifully shot by Christian Berger who also worked with Haneke on Hidden and The Piano Teacher.

In 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance, clips of TV news segments on warfare in the former Yugoslavia alternate between stories of urban disconnection. And while continuing to approach filmmaking form an anti-psychological perspective, German-born Haneke assembles a unified work frmo snippets of narrative, such as Inge and Paul Brunner struggling with a newly adopted daughter, and a homeless Romanian boy wandering the streets of Vienna. Moreover, and as expected from Haneke, 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance closes with an unforgettable cinematic punch, which also stands as a presage of his "later masterpieces by virtue of both its style and thematic core" (Adam Bingham, www.sensesofcinema.com)