Although I enjoyed the film while I was watching it, if you think about it for more than a moment, it will all crumble. The opening is intriguing. We start with a sustained long shot of a building in Paris; the films lead credits appear over this. We soon come to realize we are actually watching a videotape of the home of Georges (Daniel Auteuil) a TV personality with a book chat show on French Television and his wife Anne (Juliette Binoche) and their 12-year-old son Pierrot (Lester Makedonsky).
Now, who sent this tape to Georges, and why, is not known at this point. But the suspense soon ratchets up a bit further as other tapes arrive, sometimes wrapped in child like drawings of a stick figure head spitting up blood. Neither Georges nor Anne has any idea who is doing this yet. It is only when Georges receives a tape showing a car driving up a road toward his childhood home that he begins to suspect who might be sending him these tapes.
This is where Cache begins to fall apart. The culprit of this video prank seems to be Majid (Maurice Benichou), a man of Algerian descent who was the son of people who once worked for Georges family when he was a boy. When Majid's parents are seemingly killed by French police during some riots about the French Occupation of Algeria, Majid was adopted by Georges mother and father and this made Georges jealous. So with childish spite, the six year old Georges made up a story about Majid that got him sent away from the home.
Now this is as best as I can come up with for an explanation for the videotapes. It seems that Majid's son (Walid Afkir) is the man making the tapes, but why he is doing this is very obscure. Why does Majid slit his own throat in Georges presence and why doesn't Georges say something to the police about this? A line of throwaway dialog later indicates that Georges did go to the police about this suicide, but we never see it happen. Also, why now, some 35 or 40 years later is Majid attempting revenge?
Are we supposed to infer something greater about this story? Is this some kind of allegory to the French debacle in Algeria? Would this film make more sense to me if I were more aware of the French colonial history in Algeria? What am I to make of the finale with Georges taking two sleeping pills and then going to bed? What does Majid's son say to Georges son Pierre in the final shot of the movie or is this just another videotape?
On the whole Cache moved along well and was frightening at times, but there is no dénouement or satisfying conclusion to the questions raised. I don't except this plot confusion as intentional like Syriana, nor does it seem like the world weariness experienced at the end of Chinatown with the line; "Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown", where the implication is that some things are completely unknowable.
Majid and his son constantly deny that they are making the videotapes, but they seem to know about them and how is it possible for a tape to have been made inside Majid's apartment of a conversation between Majid and Georges without Majid knowing about it? It's possible that Georges did not see the hidden camera, but Majid had to know. Also, since Georges came to the run down apartment complex on a whim, how did Majid know to have a camera ready?
I'm not wishing I had a complete explanation for everything, but you shouldn't tease us with a story that seems to lead to a shattering conclusion and then simply end it without any kind of resolution. Am I supposed to infer from the final shot that the harassment of Georges and his family will continue? I can deal with ambiguity if it is intended, but in this case I just think the filmmakers ran out of ideas. Simply stopping the film is not the same thing as ending the film.
Now, who sent this tape to Georges, and why, is not known at this point. But the suspense soon ratchets up a bit further as other tapes arrive, sometimes wrapped in child like drawings of a stick figure head spitting up blood. Neither Georges nor Anne has any idea who is doing this yet. It is only when Georges receives a tape showing a car driving up a road toward his childhood home that he begins to suspect who might be sending him these tapes.
This is where Cache begins to fall apart. The culprit of this video prank seems to be Majid (Maurice Benichou), a man of Algerian descent who was the son of people who once worked for Georges family when he was a boy. When Majid's parents are seemingly killed by French police during some riots about the French Occupation of Algeria, Majid was adopted by Georges mother and father and this made Georges jealous. So with childish spite, the six year old Georges made up a story about Majid that got him sent away from the home.
Now this is as best as I can come up with for an explanation for the videotapes. It seems that Majid's son (Walid Afkir) is the man making the tapes, but why he is doing this is very obscure. Why does Majid slit his own throat in Georges presence and why doesn't Georges say something to the police about this? A line of throwaway dialog later indicates that Georges did go to the police about this suicide, but we never see it happen. Also, why now, some 35 or 40 years later is Majid attempting revenge?
Are we supposed to infer something greater about this story? Is this some kind of allegory to the French debacle in Algeria? Would this film make more sense to me if I were more aware of the French colonial history in Algeria? What am I to make of the finale with Georges taking two sleeping pills and then going to bed? What does Majid's son say to Georges son Pierre in the final shot of the movie or is this just another videotape?
On the whole Cache moved along well and was frightening at times, but there is no dénouement or satisfying conclusion to the questions raised. I don't except this plot confusion as intentional like Syriana, nor does it seem like the world weariness experienced at the end of Chinatown with the line; "Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown", where the implication is that some things are completely unknowable.
Majid and his son constantly deny that they are making the videotapes, but they seem to know about them and how is it possible for a tape to have been made inside Majid's apartment of a conversation between Majid and Georges without Majid knowing about it? It's possible that Georges did not see the hidden camera, but Majid had to know. Also, since Georges came to the run down apartment complex on a whim, how did Majid know to have a camera ready?
I'm not wishing I had a complete explanation for everything, but you shouldn't tease us with a story that seems to lead to a shattering conclusion and then simply end it without any kind of resolution. Am I supposed to infer from the final shot that the harassment of Georges and his family will continue? I can deal with ambiguity if it is intended, but in this case I just think the filmmakers ran out of ideas. Simply stopping the film is not the same thing as ending the film.