Happy End

"Austrian auteur Michael Haneke (Hidden, Amour) hasn’t made a Twin Peaks-style TV series, but if he did, it might look something like this spiteful but slightly drawn-out drama."

"Haneke's integration of the ways we communicate and conduct our lives via phone and laptop feels uniquely effective."

"It's as if the director has tied up loose ends from his earlier films, while forcing us to re-examine issues that have only grown more dire since he first brought them to our attention."

"The unflinching filmmaker behind Funny Games, Hidden and Amour returns to his decidedly uncuddly pet themes."

"Happy End is a satirical nightmare of haute-bourgeois European prosperity: as stark, brilliant and unforgiving as a halogen light."

"Happy End feels like an assemblage of Haneke's favourite themes, a spread of nibbles that ... never amounts to a full meal."

"There seems to be something missing here."

"Unfortunately for Haneke, even though he has tried something a little different, this feels like an old dog doing the same tricks just with new toys."

"It is perhaps not top-notch Haneke but Happy End is an intermittently gripping film about loveless people in a joyless world."