Hidden is the operative word for this one, also frustrating would be a substitute. But undoubtedly it is well acted by the excellent Daniel Auteil and beautiful Juliette Binoche though looking less glam than usual, in her housewife part.

Plus there is a deviously clever plot, which breaks new ground in many ways, and some real instant shock scenes. But the sudden and obscure ending left me still wondering who sent the damned videotapes anyhow, and who could have filmed them in that way? For me the answer remained quite hidden.

But full marks for trying, it is typically good French Cinema, and certainly for most of the length keeps you held to the seat. Just don't get too comfortable because you might be annoyed watching that long scene under the end credits which is supposed to explain all. And indeed is this last scene yet another videotape?

I had high expectations of this movie due to my fondness and admiration of French cinema. Added to that my appreciation of the acting abilities of Daniel Autiel and the very many accolades that this movie has received set me up for unrealistic expectations.

It didn't turn out to be anything close to what I had imagined. From the first frame I knew that I was going to be let down. It was almost as if I had expected to be watching a thriller or a drama centered around some mysterious events unfolding around a commonplace dwelling in Paris.

Instead, the movie told the story of a childhood mendacity and malice that led to reprecussions decades later. No explanation of what triggered the denouement all those years later and no understanding of why childhood malice should trigger such a violent unfolding when the memory had almost become irrelevant.

That is not to say that this applies in every case. It is a well-documented fact that childhood pedophilia will trigger violent memories sometimes decades later. But this was not the case or the expected reaction.

All in all I felt that this was an irrelevant movie rendered even more irrelevant by the story it told. Which goes to show you yet once again that awards and critics praise = nothing. Ultimatley it is your taste and affinity to the subject matter that counts.

If I may, if you are going to see one movie this year, just the on go see Separate Lies. A movie like that comes along once in a decade and I haven't seen one this good since, well I can't remember.

This is a challenging and disturbing movie.

Superbly acted and directed, the film is shot and edited with deliberate, almost childish simplicity. No balanced lighting, fast cuts, CGI or chase scenes here. Just a gradual build to a horrific scene that left the lady in the row behind hysterical. There are so many layers here, all relevant to today, to us all. I had to remind myself that "It's only a movie. It's not real."

Or is it?

Be sure not to miss the last scene. Look where you normally wouldn't (not at the female in the foreground like I did). There is something hidden there.

A possibility perhaps?

This is one of the best films I've seen in years. Shocking and brilliant, it plays both as an intriguing, psychological thriller and as a metaphorical critique of middle class guilt. The trick is not to put to much stock in the surface answers of the thriller. The answers it provides in its underlying structure are far more interesting.

The whole film deals with an underlying class guilt pervading the lives of the middle class characters, which manifests into a sustained deflection of the traumatic kernal of their reality. Think about how many times characters say "Nothing" to enquiries about what's wrong (beginning with the first two lines of the film) or when Georges almost runs into the African biker (their subsequent argument is resolved with a willful acceptance of blindness: "We weren't looking and you weren't looking").

Haneke shoots the film in a flat, observational style which means that you constantly have to be looking for the meaning in the frame yourself (especially that killer last shot...look closer) but also makes sudden narrative events, such as the twist towards the end, absolutely traumatising - I can't remember being so shocked and psychologically ripped apart in a scene.

This is a deeply unsettling and complex film that will have you talking about it for days afterwards.

Frankly the performances are top-notch. Yet another example of how the French can actually make good movies. But somehow after a while the build-up to the end slows down. It perhaps shows the fact that maybe the screenwriter ran out of ideas on how to smoothly execute the plot. The plot in itself is nothing new, just a new take on the whole stalker genre really. Just another one of those examples that moviemakers are running out of ideas again, but all in all a good effort in delivering a solid, well made movie.