The last time Michael Haneke, that reliable merchant of Austrian severity, showed up at Cannes, he left with the Palme d'Or: "The White Ribbon," which also landed the director his first Oscar nomination, isn't his best film, but it seems somehow quintessential in its technical precision and chilly moral acuity. He could hardly get icier, it seems, and the title alone of his latest promises a little more give: a love story between two octogenarian music teachers, one of whom suffers a paralysing stroke, its formidable cast includes arthouse queen (and Haneke acolyte) Isabelle Huppert, French master Jean-Louis Trintignant and opera singer turned actor William Shimell ("Certified Copy").

-Guy Lodge