Some comparisons

Rating: 9/10 (1 November 2009)

These are some thoughts that come to my mind:
Mode of narration is similar to "Dogville" by Lars Von Trier. The setting and story - repressive feudal early 20th century society is remotely similar.
The "alternative Heimatfilm" genre (a Heimatfilm is a usually sentimental film with a regional background, although this film is certainly not sentimental) - is similar to Edgar Reitz' Heimat TV Series from the 1980s (Pre-World-War 2 stories in rural village near french border)
The menacing atmosphere combined with visual beauty, created by the camera-work, reminded me of Ingmar Bergman/Sven Nykvist movies from the 1950s.
The ending is open, and the message of the story is incomprehensible after all.

This is unfortunately, also a hallmark of *any* bad movie that starts with high artistic ambitions but falls short of them.

There is a hard-to-grasp touch of nihilism and moralism. This might be typical for Haneke. Both of these traits may be disliked by many viewers (or reviewers)

All in all, this film is a piece of art that should be very sale-able on the International Film Market, and I guess making a profit was also one of the main objectives in making this movie. Nothing wrong with that.