71 FRAGMENTS OF A CHRONOLOGY OF CHANCE
A film by Michael Haneke
SCREENPLAY AND DIRECTOR Michael Haneke
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Christian Berger
PRODUCTION DESIGNER Christoph Kanter
COSTUME DESIGNER Erika Navas
SOUND ENGINEER Marc Parisotto
EDITOR Marie Homolkova
PRODUCTION SECRETARY Ulrike Lässer
PRODUCTION ACCOUNTANT Michael Katz
PRODUCTION MANAGER Hermann Wolf
PRODUCERS Veit Heiduschka, Paul Bielicki, Michael Boehme
PRODUCTION COMPANY WEGA-Filmproduktion / Camera Film (D)
WORLD SALES Les Films du Losange
TECHNICAL DATA 96 min., 35mm, Colour, Mono, © 1994
Synopsis
On Christmas Eve 1993 a 19 year old student killed several people – all of whom were complete strangers – for no apparent reason.
What brought victims and killer together?
As in the first two parts of the trilogy (THE SEVENTH CONTINENT, BENNY'S VIDEO), the focus of the plot is an act of violence which lacks a sufficiently explicable motive. The longitudinal section through the two family histories is here followed by a cross-section through the structure of society.
What has remained unchanged is the absence of psychology and other dramatic strategies of reassurance, an insistence on the spectator's ability to think and feel for himself, the belief in the moral power of art to unsettle and disconcert, as well as anger at the sleek aesthetics of acquiescence.
