Carnage (2013)

Based on the play God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza, Roman Polanski’s latest movie is about two couples who get together in an attempt to resolve a fight between their sons, but succeed only in bickering amongst themselves to a point where it all gets quite ugly. It’s a story that parents can relate to; nobody likes to be criticised on their parenting skills, and they each think that their approach is better than anybody else’s. They start out being fairly civil but as tempers fray, the couples begin to turn on their respective partners, and it soon becomes clear that however much we try to act like we’re in control of our lives, we’re really all just making it up as we go along.  The end.

The film features an excllent cast of Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly, Christoph Waltz and Kate Winslet. Waltz is pitch perfect as the supercilious unlikable one whose words end up being the light that shines at the end of the movie.  Walz and Winslet act like the power couple, but Reilly must be hauling in some serious cash because their apartment, where all the action takes place, is very high end.  So there is irony to go with the fighting and the ugliness.

The film has an extremely claustrophobic feel, as a result of it being set exclusively within the apartment of one of the couples. The audience is given no relief from the situation or the characters – all of whom are portrayed as ridiculously annoying in their own way. The film is also repetitive; the audience comes to know what to expect, which creates a further source of humor when expectations are continually met. Any attempts to leave the apartment are always somehow thwarted, and in the end it turns out to have been better solved by their two children, who share the blame for the incident.