Time of the Wolf

Anne Laurent and her husband Paul arrive with their children at a remote holiday home only to find it already occupied by unfamiliar tenants. The initial clash over doors, schedules, and ownership spirals into a slow, unsettling test of the family's resilience and their capacity to keep calm under pressure. As the strangers stay, the atmosphere grows heavier and the characters reveal fault lines long kept hidden, from stubborn pride to fear of losing control. Food, shelter, and routine become battlegrounds, and ordinary acts take on a measuring weight. In Haneke's unflinching lens, the quiet becomes a kind of threat rather than a flood of action. The film avoids neat twists, instead reframing danger as a moral confrontation that unsettles trust, civility, and enduring family loyalty.

Directed by Michael Haneke, Time of the Wolf is a stark drama built from an original screenplay rather than adapting a novel. It pairs Isabelle Huppert with Patrice Chereau in a tense, intimate study of fear and resilience in an unsettled world. Its coldly precise visual style and long takes have drawn comparisons to his earlier works.

Box office figures show a modest footprint for a film directed by Haneke. The film grossed about 499,149 worldwide against a budget of 9,966,600, reflecting its status as a prestige project rather than a broad audience hit.

Though not a wide audience phenomenon, Time of the Wolf remains a clear marker of Haneke's preoccupation with social fragility. Huppert's restrained, almost ritualistic performance and the film's spare, clinical approach to fear have influenced later dramas about domestic insecurity and moral pressure.

Critics emphasize the austere pace and moral questions rather than plot shocks, and the emotional toll on the family is kept in view through quiet, precise performances. The film invites patient viewing and repeated reflection over multiple viewings.