Caché

The film opens with a long static shot of an upscale residential street in Paris. We learn that the static shot is actually a recording being played on a television set. An affluent Parisian family has just received this mysterious video tape left on their doorstep. The tape contains hours of footage depicting the exterior of the families home with no explanation or apparent sender. Georges Laurent (Daniel Auteuil) is a successful television presenter of a literary TV program that enjoys high viewership and avid fans. He's married to Anne (Juliette Binoche). Together they have a son, Pierrot (Lester Makedonsky). The couple are unsure of what to make of the videotape and what its purpose is. They wonder if the tape may be the work of their own son, one of his friends, or a fan of Georges. The next day a second tape arrives. The same as before, the videotape contains footage of the families home only this time recorded at night. The tape was found wrapped in plain paper, with a childlike drawing of a boy with blood streaming out of his mouth. The couple decide to go to the police, but are told that without any actual threat or physical harm there is nothing that can be done. The neighbors of the side street from where the camera must have been placed have not seen anything suspicious, in spite of the recording lasting for more than two hours. When they leave the police station frustrated by the lack of action by the police, Georges crosses the road without looking and is almost hit by a biker. The two exchange a verbal spat edging towards violence, which is only resolved when Anne apologizes. During a late night dinner friends, Georges goes to attend the door after the bell is rung. When Georges steps outside there is nobody there. He shouts to the dark empty street "Show up, you coward". When he attempts step back into the home, he notices a tape preventing him from closing the door behind him. Anne informs their guests about their current situation. Irritated by this, Georges responds by playing the new tape. The new tape shows somebody driving on a rainy road through the countryside. The car stops and the camera turns to face a countryside manor mansion. This tape is wrapped in a paper with a child-like drawing of a chicken bleeding at the neck. Georges goes to that manor house which we learn is his childhood home. His elderly mother (Annie Girardot) is ill, and needs help from her housekeeper (Marie-Christine Orry) in order to get onto her bed. Georges has a conversation with his mother about her current living situation and his reason for visiting ( which he conceals from her ) and near the end of their conversation, Georges asks his mother about a boy name Majid the family almost adopted when Georges was six. His mother cannot remember Majid. Surprised by this, Georges ask his mother how she could forget about Majid, and she states that she tries not to think about that time, as it is a bad memory. That night Georges has a nightmare in which he witnesses an older child behead a chicken outside his childhood home in the same spot where the video tape is recorded from. The other child then begins to walk towards Georges holding the axe menacingly. The next tape is again taken from inside a moving car outside of a low-income housing apartment. The footage then cuts to the inside of the apartment building. The person holding the camera walks down a hallway, stopping at the apartment room numbered 049. Anne is able to decipher that the Avenue is Lénine in Romainville. Georges tells Anne that he has a guess as to who the sender of the tapes is, but he will not share it with her. Infuriated by this, Anne and Georges get into a heated argument over the lack of trust Anne feels from Georges. Anne storms out of the living room angrily, unable to get Georges to tell her who he suspects. Georges then goes to the apartment on his own in spite of Anne's disapproval. There, he finds a surprised and sad man. Although Georges doesn't recognize him at first, the man recognizes him. It's Majid (Maurice Bénichou), the Algerian boy Georges' parents almost adopted, now a sad forty something year old man. In the following conversation, Majid denies knowing anything about the tapes, which Georges refuses to believe. He says that once, watching Georges by chance on TV, felt disgusted and about to throw-up. Georges then threatens Majid that if he continues to terrorize his family, he will regret it. Before heading home, Georges speaks to Anne on the phone. During the phone call, Georges lies to Anne that no one answered to door to the apartment. The next day it is revealed that the entire confrontation between Georges and Majid was recorded and delivered the same as the other tapes. Anne says that in the recording after the end of their confrontation, Majid sat in his chair crying for more than an hour. Upset at Georges for lying, Anne asks him to explain what occurred between Georges and Majid that brought all of this about. Georges then tells Anne about what happened to Majid when they were children. Majid's French-Algerian parents were servants at Georges' childhood home. On October 17th, 1961, Majid's parents attended a demonstration in Paris. During the demonstration French police killed between 200 to 300 demonstrators by throwing their bodies into the river Sena. Georges' parents planned on adopting Majid as they felt guilty for his parents death, but Georges did not want them to. He did not want to share his belongings with Majid and resented the fact that Majid had his own bedroom. He tells Anne that to prevent Majid from being adopted, he told lies about Majid to his parents. It was because of these lies that Majid was sent to an orphanage instead of being adopted. Georges claims that he no longer remembers what the lies were about. The tape of Georges threatening Majid was not only sent to Anne but also Georges' boss (Bernard Le Coq) as well. The tape was received alongside a postcard with a drawing in the same fashion as the rest of the paper drawings. His secretary spotted the weird message and gave it to Georges' boss. Talking about another program which is taking longer to take off as an introduction, the boss explains the situation to the surprised Georges, who admits he looks aggressive in the tape. Georges explains the situation his family is in to his boss, claiming that Majid is obsessed with him because of a false belief that Georges prevented his family from adopting him. The boss tells Georges that he destroyed the tape because it went against Georges' privacy and he doesn't want any scandals. Another event puts the Laurent family even more on edge: Pierrot has disappeared. Anne phones Pierrot's best friend, but he's unaware of Pierrots whereabouts. Anne checks if Pierrot is in his bedroom and upon not finding him, begins to cry. Anne and Georges phone the police. The police officers (Loïc Brabant) along with Georges go to Majid's home, but a younger man opens the door and lets them in. It's Majid's son (Walid Afkir). Majid and his son are taken into police custody. The police are unable to find any evidence of Majid or his son being involved in Pierrots disappearance, but tell Georges that they will keep them over night. Pierrot appears being brought home by a woman we have not seen before. She is a nurse (Caroline Baehr). She explains to Anne that since she works the night shift, she doesn't usually know what her own son -another of Pierrot's friends- is up to. Later, Anne tries to talk to Pierrot and asks him why he had given them such a scare. Pierrot doesn't want to communicate with her at all, but one of the few things he says is that he thinks that his mother and one of her friends, Pierre (Daniel Duval) are lovers. Anne rejects that notion. Georges receives a call from Majid asking him to come to his apartment so that he can explain the tapes. When Georges arrives, Majid again claims to know nothing about the tapes and commits suicide in front of Georges by slicing his own throat with a pocket knife, killing him almost instantly. Georges is shocked by what he has just seen, and returns home without informing the police of Majid's death. Upon arriving home, Georges tells Anne about Majid's suicide. Anne asks him to finally tell her what happened when Georges and Majid were children, and Georges finally relents and tells Anne what happened. Georges told his parents as a child that he had witnessed Majid coughing up blood. When the doctor did not find anything wrong with Majid, Georges came up with a new plan to prevent the adoption. Georges told Majid that Georges' Father wanted Majid to kill a rooster for dinner. Majid did as he was told by Georges. Afterwards Georges told his parents that Majid killed to rooster to scare him. Majid was then sent to an orphanage. The next day we see Georges going into work. There waiting for him is Majid's son, who wants to talk to him. Majid's son follows Georges to his office where Georges continues to refuse to speak with him. Georges agrees to talk after Majid's son threatens to create a scene. Now believing the son is responsible for everything that has happened, Georges threatens him to cease surveillance. The son replies that he was not involved with the tapes and was only there to see how Georges felt about being responsible for a death. Georges comes back home and is alone. He takes some pills and goes to sleep. In his dreams, he sees two orphanage attendants (Paule Daré and Nicky Marbot) take Majid away to the orphanage by force after Majid attempts to run from them. The last scene is a fixed shot of the stairs outside of Pierrots' high school. There Pierrot and Majid's son are seen together having a inaudible lighthearted conversation.