Code Unknown (Code inconnu: Récit incomplet de divers voyages) (2000)
82%RT Audience Score: 79%
Awards & Nominations: 2 wins & 4 nominations
Though challengingly cryptic at times, Code Unknown still manages to resonate
Code Unknown is a film that will leave you feeling like you just finished a 10,000-piece puzzle. It’s a thrilling narrative experiment that takes you on a journey through the streets of Paris, exploring racial tension and the fractured quality of modern city life. While the film’s themes never coalesce into anything beyond basic existential angst, it’s still a great entry point to Michael Haneke’s filmography. Plus, with virtually no music and very little expository dialogue, you’ll feel like a genius for figuring things out for yourself. Just don’t expect to leave the theater feeling uplifted.
Production Company(ies)
Macrocosm Entertainment, Citizen Skull Productions, Bond It Media Capital
Distributor
Miramax Films
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
Mali
MPAA / Certificate
Not Rated
Year of Release
2001
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:1h 58m
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Language(s):French, Romanian, Malinka, French, Sign, Language, English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Nov 30, 2001 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 1, 2007
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Juliette Binoche, Thierry Neuvic, Luminita Gheorghiu, Ona Lu Yenke, directed by Michael Haneke, written by Michael Haneke, drama, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Anthony Lane, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Scott Tobias, Peter Bradshaw, David Rooney, Nick Schager, Nicholas Bell, Valeriy Kolyadych, Daniel Etherington, David Parkinson, David Sterritt, Ken Fox, MPAA rating, Miramax Films, Marin Karmitz, Alain Sarde, Paris, racial tensions, legal issues, Romanian immigrant, actress, photographer, teacher, marginalized people, existential angst, post-structuralist narrative, single-take fragments, jarring jump cuts, discontinuity, window dressing, incomplete tales, several journeys
Worldwide gross: $95,242
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $160,510
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,967
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 17,504
US/Canada gross: NA
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Thierry Neuvic – Georges
Luminita Gheorghiu – Maria
Ona Lu Yenke – Amadou
Helene Diarra – Aminate
Sepp Bierbechler – The Farmer
Director(s)
Michael Haneke
Writer(s)
Michael Haneke
Producer(s)
Marin Karmitz, Alain Sarde
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
2 wins & 4 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (51) | Top Critics (21) | Fresh (38) | Rotten (13)
The violence, in short, remains unseen, but that makes it no easier to bear; what lurks and wails behind a wall is, for Haneke, the most reliable wellspring of dread.
August 27, 2014
Anthony Lane
New Yorker
TOP CRITIC
A procession of long virtuoso takes that typically begin and end in the middle of actions or sentences, constituting not only an interactive jigsaw puzzle but a thrilling narrative experiment.
August 27, 2014
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
TOP CRITIC
A searing, structurally ingenious look at racial tension on the streets of Paris.
August 27, 2014
Scott Tobias
AV Club
TOP CRITIC
This film, from Austrian director Michael Haneke, is one of the most uncompromisingly difficult and challenging of the year.
August 27, 2014
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian
TOP CRITIC
All this unrelenting bleakness would be fine if it went someplace interesting, but the film’s themes never coalesce into anything beyond basic existential angst.
October 18, 2008
David Rooney
Variety
TOP CRITIC
[Haneke’s] socio-political condemnations assume an aggressively hectoring tone.
September 7, 2006 | Rating: C+
Nick Schager
Lessons of Darkness
TOP CRITIC
While its reputation has been overshadowed by later works from the filmmaker, it remains a provocative deconstruction of modern anhedonia.
October 20, 2020 | Rating: 4/5
Nicholas Bell
IONCINEMA.com
It’s a great entry point to his filmography, serving as a good example of Haneke’s visual and thematic style.
April 22, 2016 | Rating: 8/10
Valeriy Kolyadych
PopMatters
Code Unknown is an unusual example of a movie that is socially aware, but that is thankfully equally aware of how tiresome moralising and preaching can be.
August 27, 2014
Daniel Etherington
Film4
If some of the political theorising is somewhat naive and the direction is occasionally manipulative, the acting, particularly from Juliette Binoche, is superb.
August 27, 2014 | Rating: 4/5
David Parkinson
Radio Times
Haneke brings his usual dark sensibility to bear on the multifaceted story, expressing the fractured quality of modern city life through scenes that wander through a labyrinth of missing links and lost connections.
August 27, 2014 | Rating: 3/4
David Sterritt
Christian Science Monitor
With virtually no music and very little expository dialogue, this is one of the rare films with enough faith in moviegoers to let them figure things out for themselves.
August 27, 2014 | Rating: 3.5/4
Ken Fox
TV Guide…
Plot
Jean, a farm lad, wants to escape his silent father; he runs to Paris to his older brother, Georges, who’s away covering the war in Kosovo. Angry, he throws a bag of half-eaten pastry into a beggar’s lap. Amadou, a young Franco-African, berates him. The police arrive, arrest Amadou and deport the beggar. Georges’s girlfriend Anne is upset; it colors her relationship with Georges when he returns from the war. Separate lives intersect for the one moment, around the pastry bag, and all are altered. We follow each as repercussions of the incident play out. Deaf children bookend the film pantomiming words, feelings, and situations: what they are expressing?
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Juliette Binoche’s performance in Code Unknown is described as “superb” by one critic.
Michael-Haneke.jpg
