Code Unknown

Code Unknown (French: Code inconnu : Récit incomplet de divers voyages) is a 2000 film directed by Michael Haneke. Most of the story occurs in Paris, France, where the fates of several characters intersect and connect.

Code Unknown
Code inconnu
Directed byMichael Haneke
Produced byMarin Karmitz
Written byMichael Haneke
Starring
Music byGiba Gonçalves
CinematographyJürgen Jürges
Edited byKarin Martusch
Nadine Muse
Andreas Prochaska
Distributed byMK2 Editions
Artificial Eye
Leisure Time Features
Release date
  • 19 May 2000 (2000-05-19) (Cannes)
  • 15 November 2000 (2000-11-15) (France)
Running time
117 minutes
CountryFrance
Germany
Romania
LanguageFrench
Maninka
Romanian
German
English
Arabic
French Sign Language
Budget$7.3 million
Box office$310.000[1]

Code Unknown is composed of unedited long takes filmed in real time, cut only when the perspective within a scene changes from one character's to another's in the middle of the action. A special edition of the film was released on Blu-ray in 2015 by The Criterion Collection. The film is inspired by the life of the French novelist and war reporter Olivier Weber.

Code Unknown is a co-production among France, Germany and Romania.

Plot

The film features several different storylines, all of which intersect periodically throughout the film.

The film begins with a brief prologue. We see a young girl in a white room standing near a wall. She crouches near the wall, then stands. Then we see individual children each making a gesture in sign language for a single word. These alternate with the first girl shaking her head. The words include, for instance, Alone, Hiding place, Bad Conscience, Sad, Imprisoned. {All of these words might be understood as reflecting ideas that form part of the following film.} After the title is shown, the film's opening scene features a brief encounter with four of the main characters: Anne Laurent (Juliette Binoche) is an actress working in Paris, and she walks briefly with her boyfriend's younger brother Jean. After they part, Jean throws a piece of garbage at Maria, a homeless woman sitting on the side of the road. Amadou, the child of Malian immigrants, witnesses this and confronts Jean. The two fight, and eventually Amadou and Maria are both taken to a police station for questioning. Amadou is released presumably shortly after, though we learn that he was held, beaten and shamed, but Maria is deported to her native Romania and she reconnects with her family there.

Cast

Reception

Code Unknown holds a 74/100 on Metacritic, based on 13 critics.[2] Rotten Tomatoes reports 74% approval among 50 critics, with an average score of 7.01/10. The site's consensus reads: "Though challengingly cryptic at times, Code Unknown still manages to resonate."[3]

Accolades

Code Unknown screened in competition at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.[4] Cinematographer Jürges was nominated for the "Golden Frog" at the Camerimage awards.

The film received votes from two critics and four directors, including Ruben Östlund, in the 2012 Sight & Sound polls of the world's greatest films.[5]

See also

References
  1. "Code inconnu (Code Unknown) (2000)". JPBox-Office. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  2. "Code Unknown: Incomplete Tales of Several Journeys". Metacritic. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
  3. "Code Unknown (Code inconnu: Récit incomplet de divers voyages) (2000)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  4. "Festival de Cannes: Code Unknown". Festival de Cannes. Archived from the original on 6 October 2016. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  5. "Votes for CODE INCONNU RÉCIT INCOMPLET DE DIVERS VOYAGES (2000)". British Film Institute. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
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