The second and last episode of Lemminge is set twenty years after part one. The young protagonists have grown up and have children of their own. The earlier school-friends have grown apart and only bump into each other occasionally. Joy of living and perspective are however just as far away; the protagonists are plagued by unhappy marriages, depression or fatal illnesses. The answers which the people choose for their problems are sometimes just as drastic as in the first part. The meeting of several old friends during a dinner does not reawaken their old friendship, but proves a severe test to their shaky mental state. They turn out to be prisoners of what they rebelled against in their youth.Despite the accuracy, the eye for detail, with which Haneke evokes the protagonists and their surroundings, he is mostinterested in their inner intentions. He does not provide any motives for the undercooled insanity faced by his protagonists, but his penetrating gaze on their environment reveals quite a few secrets.
