3 stars (out of four)
In Carnage, a new
film directed by Roman Polanski and based on a play by Yasmina Reza, two
couples meet in an apartment to discuss an incident involving their sons,
Zachary and Ethan. Zachary hit Ethan with a stick in the playground and now
Ethan needs surgery to replace two missing teeth. But there is no need for
these four adults to get embroiled in their sons’ feud, they say. They’re
bigger than that. Ethan’s parents (played by Jodie Foster and John C. Reilly)
invite Zachary’s (Christoph Waltz and Kate Winslet) over their apartment to
have a civilized conversation about how to proceed. The central irony of Carnage is that the parents are no better than their
children. Indeed, they may be much, much worse.
Over the course of their conversation, tensions escalate and
their talk moves away from cordialities and into a heated debate that touches
on their marriages, parenting styles and the specific handling of a situation
involving a hamster. Mostly though, the couples verbally tear each other apart
until everyone is thoroughly miserable.
This potentially tedious premise is actually a lot of fun
thanks largely to the actors, who dig into the material with great zeal. The
script, written by Mr. Polanski and Ms. Reza, sometimes labors too hard to keep
its characters in one room long after any sane individual would have left. The
couples’ discourse has an undeniably stagy quality but the skilled cast is able
make the whole affair seem perfectly natural.
Penelope (Foster) and Michael (Reilly), the host couple, are
middle class New Yorkers pushing toward the upper middle. Michael has a small
business selling furniture supplies and Penelope is an intellectual currently
working on a book about “the Darfur tragedy.” John C. Reilly is an absolute joy
to watch in the role. He is the perfect picture of geniality and good humor in
the face of social discomfort, dispensing pleasantries and lame jokes that
mostly fall on deaf ears. As the afternoon wears on, Michael sheds his role as
peacekeeper and we see him for the short-tempered, stubborn man he is. Penelope
is a little less multidimensional and gets a tad shrill by the end but is
convincingly portrayed by Ms. Foster.
Kate Winslet gets the more fun role as Nancy, a stuffy,
uptight lawyer who shows her true colors after a few drinks. Her husband, Alan
(Waltz), is also a lawyer. He works for a pharmaceutical company that is
currently in the midst of media fallout surrounding a drug’s side effects. Alan
was able to spare enough time in his schedule to meet with Penelope and Michael
but is constantly on his phone conducting business calls. Ms. Winslet plays
nicely off Christoph Waltz. Every time the incessant ringing of Alan’s phone
interrupts the couples’ conversation, Nancy shoots daggers at him while her
lips contradict her with a polite smile. Mr. Waltz is great fun too; Alan is the voice of
reason in the group, though his wisdom often comes in the form of
condescending, cynical remarks.
Throughout the film, allegiances shift from couple against
couple, to a battle of the sexes, and back again. Michael and Alan find common
ground in their stubbornly chauvinistic ideas of masculinity and marriage. That
is, until Alan makes fun of Michael’s humble business and the war returns to one of social class.
Carnage is a brief
film without much of a resolution. Once the two couples have sufficiently
ripped each other to shreds, it ends. Roman Polanski and Yasmina Reza manage to
keep things light by not making the audience complicit in the vengeful feud
onscreen. We are afforded a comfortable seat from which we can laugh at the
characters’ indecencies without worrying whether we would fare any better in
their places. Before you know it, the movie is over and we have emerged
unscathed and entertained from the preceding whirlwind of negativity and anger.
Mr. Polanski and Ms. Reza’s approach ensures that Carnage is not a terribly illuminating film but it is an
enjoyable one.
- Steve Avigliano, 1/22/12
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