Annual Top Films Lists

Through the Looking-Glass…Top 200 Most Anticipated Films of 2017: #1. Michael Haneke’s Happy End

Published on January 15, 2016

Happy End

Director: Michael Haneke
Writer: Michael Haneke

In mid-2015, Michael Haneke officially confirmed he would be abandoning a project known as Flashmob and focusing on different film to be set in France. As usual, the auteur was rather terse as concerns details on either endeavor. In October, while being honored at the International Film Festival of Morelia, Isabelle Huppert (who has starred in three Haneke productions, The Piano Teacher, Time of the Wolf and Amour) announced she’d be re-teaming with Haneke for a fourth time. Finally, major news broke on the project the last week of December with the news of Amour star Jean-Louis Trintignant joining Huppert in Haneke’s Happy End. Plot details are still unconfirmed, but the focus of the film will be the notion of family while migrants will serve as a subtext.

Cast: Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Louis Trintignant

Production Co./Producer(s): Pictanovo

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available. TBD (domestic/international).

Release Date: With location scouting currently under way and set to shoot this spring in Calais, we expect to see the two time Palme d’Or winner (2009, 2012) return to Cannes in 2017.

Nicholas Bell

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.