Wednesday, December 25, 2024
Carnage, a 2011 Roman Polanski film, starring Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, John C. Reilly, and Christoph Waltz. Directed by Roman Polanski, written by Polanski and Yasmina Reza, and produced by Said Ben Said, this movie is based on a 2006 play, Le Dieu du carnage, by Yasmina Reza.
A Roman Polanski Film
The movie starts out with one young boy hitting another boy at the park with a stick in NYC. Zachary breaks two of Ethan’s teeth. The rest of the movies takes place in Ethan’s home, where the parents of both boys discuss what they should do to resolve the issue. They introduce themselves. Alan is a lawyer and his wife Nancy is an Investment Broker, while Michael is a salesman of toilet parts and his wife Penelope is a writer. They seem civil, but they cannot seem to agree on an appropriate resolution and action. The topic quickly changes to their own issues. The whole movie takes place in Michael and Penelope’s apartment between these four people.
They argue back and forth until Nancy throws up and makes a mess all over Penelope’s art journals as well as Alan’s pants. As they clean the vomit off, Nancy is given a bucket for further vomiting. Alan keeps getting interrupted by his client on his cell phone, and they each end up talking about their own issues, family issues, and marriage issues that they forget about the real reason for this discussion. Michael mentions his daughter is mad at him because he dumped her hamster outside; it was annoying him. This irked Nancy, who calls him a murderer for throwing out a poor hamster in the street to defend itself. Zachary’s parents eat cobbler, and they all drink scotch. The women become drunk and they all fight more, mostly petty disagreements.
Michael, Penelope’s husband, seems calm, agreeable, and laidback. The men end up chatting about the scotch and cigars that they forget about their current situation. Michael’s mother keeps calling him about her health issues. Nancy gets tired of Alan chatting on his cell phone with his clients that she dumps the cell phone into a flower vase with water. Michael quickly takes it out, and the men try to dry it with a hairdryer. All four people get involved in each other issues that they forget about the boys. Suddenly, Alan’s cellphone rings but he doesn’t pick it up. All four people just stare at the ringing cellphone. The movie ends at the park, with a closeup on the healthy hamster sniffing around in the grass, while the two boys are hanging out together in the background with their friends.
The movie seemed to be a comedy between four adults arguing, acting childish, and having an occasional light banter that nothing gets resolved. They each reveal too much about themselves, their families, and their issues that they try to help each other out, but they ignore their kids.
