Surveillance, guilt, and the collective memory of French Algeria in CACHE (2005)

Nejra Kravic

While Cache (2005) has become notorious for its ambiguous ending and inclusion of violent scenes that shocked viewers, the themes of race, surveillance, colonialism, and collective memory had yet to be explored in contemporary French and European cinema through a distinctly critical and post-colonial lens. By drawing on a number of film and media theories, including post-colonial theory and auteur theory, I hope to look at how surveillance is used both as a medium and a narrative tool in the film, as well as analyze its role in a much broader cultural context within the post 9/11 period. Haneke’s film looks at the modern implications of discrimination and racial bias, and uses media technology to ‘‘uncover’’ the histories of French Algeria. By meddling with audience expectations of spectatorship and voyeurism through the use of surveillance, and by grounding the story in interpersonal and interracial relationships, Cache subverts our understanding of colonialism and post-colonialism, and ‘’uncovers’’ the modern racial and ethnic dynamics of France.