Michael Haneke's most notorious provocation spares no detail in its depiction of the agony of a bourgeois family held captive at their vacation home by a pair of young men. In a series of escalating 'games,' the sadistic duo subject their victims to unspeakable physical and psychological torture.

K. arrives at an isolated village to take up his position as a land surveyor for officials at the Castle. No one will confirm or deny his appointment, and his attempts to approach and appeal to Castle officials are met with indifference, obstinacy, and bureaucratic red tape. K. has status but no position, two dolts for assistants, the forlorn barmaid Frieda as a fiancée, and arguments with everyone. An icy blizzard blows unendingly, immeasurable...