Think the instant Ice Age in "The Day After Tomorrow" is chilly? "The Time of the Wolf," by writer-director Michael Haneke ("The Piano Teacher"), opts for an apocalyptic vision that's emotionally frigid. This is more problematic than the way he evokes a world gone horribly awry without divulging what's making the rivers toxic, the farm animals die or the populace desperate for food and shelter.

Squatters invade the rural getaway home of an upscale Parisian family. When the interlopers kill her husband, Anne (Isabelle Huppert) flees with the children, adolescent Eva (Anais Demoustier) and 10-year-old Ben (Lucas Biscombe). They arrive at a railway station where refugees from all over Europe wait for a train to presumed safety that may never come. Olivier Gourmet plays the self-appointed leader of the hungry pack. Although Haneke's cinematic cataclysm remains appropriately bleak, his lack of warmth is alienating. As disaster movies go, this one needs soul. Starring Isabelle Huppert, Anais Demoustier, Lucas Biscombe, Olivier Gourmet, Beatrice Dalle, Patrice Chereau and Brigitte Rouan. Directed and written by Michael Haneke. Produced by Margaret Menegoz and Veit Heiduschka. A Palm release. Drama. French-language; subtitled. Rated R for some violence, language and sexuality/nudity. Running time: 112 min