Happy End (2017)

A family headed by a matriarch (Isabelle Huppert) struggles to keep their construction business afloat while their family is beset by a series of tragic events. The movie starts out with an act of animal cruelty followed by a spoiled brat (Fantine Harduin) murdering her mother. Yes, Michael Haneke is at it again and while never say never, this may very well be my last Haneke film. I'm pretty much burnt out on his sour attitude and misanthropic eye. The man has talent, that's not to be denied and he uses excellent actors like Huppert and Jean Louis Tringtignant (repeating their roles from Haneke's AMOUR) but how much more masochistic do we have to be to voluntarily submit to Haneke's cinematic sadism? The film is unnecessarily sluggish and self indulgent. There's a scene with Trintignant rolling himself down the street in a wheelchair and I dozed off for a minute and when I woke up, he was still rolling himself down the street! Everyone is unlikable and most of them are self destructive and I suppose if I were part of that family, I'd want out to! In addition to fine work by Huppert and Trintignant, I liked Mathieu Kassovitz as Huppert's doctor brother. With Toby Jones and Laura Verlinden.