Inspired by a true story, The Seventh Continent is about an Austrian upper-middle class family that experiences the everyday motion of life without joy, finding increasing uneasiness with the tedious routines that never end. Finally fed up with lifes depressing repetition, the family stages a detailed collective suicide that involves carefully destroying each and every possession until ultimately killing themselves as a group. Though focused on the familys suicide, the film follows the monotonous routine that precedes it in order to stress the passive and collective desperation that runs inadvertently not only in the family members but also in those who are close to them. Directed by Michael Haneke, the filmmaker does not mystify or exploit his characters feelings, nor does he ask for empathy or grief. His story is told with the clinical banality of a police report and it becomes an ordeal beyond the consumable that points the finger where it hurts the most. A true challenge.
Jesse Gumbarge is editor and chief blogger at JarvisCity.com - He loves old-school horror films and starting pointless debates. You can reach out at: JesseGumbarge@JarvisCity.com
