MovieChat Forums > Benny's Video (1993) Discussion > Haneke's strange practices

Haneke's strange practices

posted 18 years ago by opitz-carlos
21 replies | jump to latest

hands down I'd say this mention goes to Michael Haneke's use of young actors in his film Benny's Video. If anyone else thinks a filmmaker has gone too far and there's no visible chance that the young actor (actress) hasn't been exposed to some objectable material for minors to make a movie, I believe no one gets closer to this practice than the Austrian auteur Michael Haneke and to great effect for the audience (but what kind of therapy does the kid need after filming???)

If you havent seen some of Michael Haneke's movies yet involving children and if you're touchy about the subject then you better avoid: Funny Games, The Seventh Continent, Time of The Wolf or Caché. There are no cuts within the most uneasy scenes, so there's not a chance that the kid wasnt involved during the filming. I wonder how relaxed are the laws in Austria, or how relaxed are these child actors' parents. But well, his movies are quite good and respectable among the European audience so I guess he's not really crossing any legal line. I think so :S ...

Benny's Video was truly one horrible experience for me to watch and I've had nightmares since I saw it. Trule uneasy sleep state. I wonder how can this movie could be made. Dont get me wrong I think the movie is powerful (a little bit simplistic though). But my real trouble while watching the movie was the fact that the actor playing Benny was completely inmersed in the actions and the depection of his character, and that if you have seen the movie know that it implies simulating that he's shooting a little girl, like a pig, and then getting undressed and eating youghurt while watching her body. then dragging the bloody corpse and cleaning it while being naked. I dunno about you but it really disturbed me, and the fact no sex impulses were directed towards the dead girl I believe that somehow made the scene even less human and more evil and horrific (he covers the dead girls legs with her skirt in some sort of spooky posthomous respect). Benny's more turned on by his image on the video or the mirror than he's by a vulnerable body.

What is going behind the scenes of ths movie? How can he got it made? If anyone can teach me about this curiousity it'd be really helpful since Im trying to write about Haneke's genious, but little to none info is available about him, other than un-important reflections made by people at internet movie magazines.

Anyone knows what are the working conditions for child actors in Europe different than in the States? And how does Haneke really manages to get away with a movie like Benny's Video ?(I mean its not like he did in the 70's ala Pasolini's Salò when I know things were less monitorized by Civil Groups or NGOs)

thanks in adavance.

[–] fritztc 17 years ago

Oh, please.

IMDB doesn't list the birthdate for the actor but he's clearly in his mid to late teens...definately old enough to differenciate between acting and reality. You make it sound like he's a four year old.

If this supposed exploitation of a minor is really so deeply disturbing to you that you can't sleep thinking about it, maybe you should stick to Disney films. Stay away from "Bambi" though, the poor baby deer's parents die...he'll have to spend years in therapy to get over it I'm sure.

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] nekke_13 17 years ago

the most youngsters in kids aren't actors, but real street kids that are on dope en *beep*

[–] fmaudio 17 years ago

If opitz-carlos post was a petition I'd sign it right away. Although I've become more sensitive to violence on film since I got children of my own I still, usually, can watch movies from an "academic" point of view. Also, I much admire several Haneke films, such as The Seventh Continent and The Piano Teacher. Benny's video certainly did to me what it did to optiz-. Benny's video is (among other things) a warning to parents, to all people, that children are at peril growing up in isolation even from their "present" parents and in a destructive media climate.

fritztc's reply that opitz- (and I'd include myself to his list) should stay to Disney movies is insulting, or better, reveals that it is probably fritzic that should return to Disney movies instead of watching Haneke films, because anyone not reacting like optiz-carlos is probably beyond help, or at least very difficult to reach regarding societal issues.

Benny's video is a very "good" film, an exceptionally powerful statement and exploration into a society falling apart, not in terms of economic activities or any other form of infra-structural constructions, but where it comes to human relations, but it is still better to avoid it because the discussions on human affairs can and should, to my mind, be raised and treated in a different fashion.

[–] stevenvanneste 17 years ago

Haneke wants you to feel uncomfortable, he even likes to make his images extra-sharp so that people feel even more uncomfortable. If you have never seen an interview with him, see if you can find one, he really is an interesting guy.
Anywayway, to be honest I doubt it was that disturbing for the actor, plus making a movie is quite different from watching it; so we see him dragging a corpse, but he is dragging an actress in reality.
And a final point, to quote fmaudio: "that children are at peril growing up in isolation even from their "present" parents and in a destructive media climate."
this is exactly one of the points the movie is meant to make, but hif Haneke did not make you feel nauseaous first this point would have never come across.
The first scene you see, with the pig ... even that is already a provocation towards uneasiness, Benny however does not feel in the least bit uncomfortable and that is where it all starts, killing that girl is like the pig being killed, in his mind (at least at that moment) there was no difference.

Steven

http://stevenvanneste.tripod.com
http://obscurist.tripod.com

[–] tompot 17 years ago

Haneke is also asking the question, "How far will you go to protect your children?". Be it in a censory position or in a manner to prevent situtations like this.
This does hark back to the Jamie Bulger case in the UK. Prevention is better than cure is the main point he is making I think.

[–] E_D_N 17 years ago

I agree with opitz-carlos and fmaudio... although I think he's a superb director and I admire many of his films... I couldn't help but be especially disturbed by Benny's video. Like Benny's character, I have seen a lot throughout my young life - on TV or otherwise - to the point where I've been desensitized to most things. Yet, the murder scene and the way it was filmed unnerved me. Though I've seen stuff like Larry Clark's KIDS and other movies involving teens "going wild", I just found myself questioning what the young actors in the movie might have been going through while filming this and how their parents could consent to them playing those parts knowing what that entailed.

The Museum of Modern Art in NY is currently having a full retro, and Haneke himself will be on hand to answer questions.

I can't wait 'cause there's a few things I'd like to ask...

THE FREDRIC MARCH ARCHIVE
http://www.geocities.com/fredric_march/march01.html

[–] homesickalien81 15 years ago

like the posts above, the experience of the actor and the viewer are two very distinct, separate things. since the murder scene is mostly off screen, it relies on sound. more than likely what we heard, the actors did not. all that was entered during post.

if you've ever had the opportunity to be on a film set, this would be more clear.

excellent movie with a chilling message.

[–] sharkpatrol2002 16 years ago

If the child/actor/teen or whoever you prefer is exposed to such violence in the world than you my friend havent laid eyes on Todays news. What goes on in the world is far worse and an everyday viewing for most kids, whther its terrorism/murder/rape/etc whatever the case. the child was exposed to horros but under supervision.

[–] paulpenet 16 years ago

Leaving apart the fact that it is arguable if REALITY should be concealed from anybody (because death DOES HAPPEN, you know... in real life, unlike the kind of cleaned, safe, stupid life some would like us to have), your post shows very little understanding of the basic facts about filming.

The scenes that (rightfully) disturbed you, were very differently seen by the actors. I wonder, would you be so disturbed, if a girl would talk to you while being prepared by the make-up artist (fake blood and all), then lie down for you to drag her while the director tells you how to do it, the cameraman is close to you, with other maybe 10 people on the set doing their stuff?

C'mon people, there are a lot of REAL reasons for kids to be traumatized, FICTION is not one of them!

[–] tlyoung88 16 years ago

Children who work in film are ACTORS and actors are usually taught what is real and not real. Acting is a craft and the child actor can understand human psychology better than we think.

Isn't better for a child actor to learn the horror and the consequences of violence in a realistic fashion than say, playing cops and robbers, pretending to be Rambo, shooting up an entire village with no consequences whatsoever?

If you compare the numbers of real life child crimes here in the states to Europe, I'm sure ours is higher. And why do you suppose that is?

tony

[–] paulpenet 16 years ago

Well said!

The danger is not in traumatizing children with films that honestly try to explore the human behaviour, including crime. The danger is in making children think that shooting people is sort of a sport - you wack some 20 bad guys and at the end of the action you take the blonde chick home.

[–] morojoni 15 years ago

they have added arno frischs' age, he was seventeen years old when the movie was shot.

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[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] my_boomstick 15 years ago

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[–] PizoDeMadera 14 years ago

I totally agree with Memories of murder (great film btw)
OP go and watch some movies recommended by Oprah or try Blockbuster. This is real film, the one that makes you think and analize different aspects of society, family, violence, etc. These kind of pussies posters really annoy me. No brain, no intelligence, no nothing.