From his Glaciation Trilogy to the shock of Funny Games and subsequent Palme d’Or-winning films The White Ribbon and Amour, Michael Haneke has developed a style that articulately fuses social critique with a cinema of transcendent beauty in its precision, purpose and humanity.

Formal disruption and sly reminders of artifice do nothing to erase the heart of these frequently unnerving dramas; but there is solace to be found in confronting our fears – assurance in their universality. Predicting compassion fatigue and a numbing contemporary news cycles with eerie prescience, Haneke stares where others fear to glance. In his worlds, we are all complicit – even him, even you.

Holding us accountable, albeit with empathy and often dark humour, these films challenge us to see through societal malaise and interrogate our place in the world. If you hold their gaze long enough, you might see that place more clearly.