I'll say it comes closer! If this were any other Haneke film, the above review would be guilty of a spoiler (or at least a near spoiler) – but the truth is that in this film it is rather obvious from very early on what underlies the mysterious goings-on in the town (thanks to hints, even assertions, from the narrator as to who, broadly, is responible), so there is nothing really to be spoilt. The mystery here is entirely constructed by the villagers themselves in their refusal to confront (and conversely their readiness to deny) what is going on in their midst – and it is in that sense that the guilt is shown to spread beyond the actual perpetrators of the crime.

I liked The White Ribbon. I admired the rigour and stark beauty of its aesthetic (all those distancing black-and-white long shots), I thought the performances were excellent, and yet – there is little in it that has not been seen before, whether in previous Haneke films (where young people often take a terrible revenge upon the adult world that has engendered them, revisiting it with its own repressed sins), or in any period film dealing with the malice, repression and hypocrisy of the past (and there are many of these). While several Haneke films masterfully induce in the viewer a sense of nervous claustrophobia, to me The White Ribbon goes beyond being merely stifling to something more like stuffiness, even dullness. I've now seen it twice, and I think that is quite enough for a lifetime – whereas Hidden I'd happily watch any number of times without feeling, well, just a little bored. Or am I just being as small-minded as Haneke's provincial characters?