Carnage (2011)

It’s 35 years since The Tenant, the conclusion of Polanski’s feted “apartment trilogy”: a masterpiece-standard trio of unsettling movies set largely in claustrophobic big-city apartments, centred around the inner turmoil of a tormented lead character. Carnage has four leads, rather than one; and the inner turmoil has given way to petty middle-class squabbles. But everything else is right here, including Polanski’s pitch-perfect handling of a tension tinged with black comedy.

Two children get into a fight at school: one comes away with a fat lip and a couple of missing teeth. His parents, Penelope and Michael Longstreet (Jodie Foster and John C. Reilly) invite the ostensible bully’s parents, Nancy and Alan Cowan (Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz), to come to their flat and discuss the incident.

It’s all very polite at first. High-powered investment broker Nancy feigns enthusiasm for high-minded liberal Penelope’s research project on Darfur; hotshot lawyer Alan, when he’s not barking contract details over his cellphone, takes an interest in Michael’s “decorative hardware” business. They nibble at homemade peach cobbler and exchange insincere smiles. You can tell, straight away, it’s all going to end in tears.

Filmed in real time, the situation degenerates at an alarming pace – but, crucially, seldom fails to convince. Only when the Scotch comes out, towards the end of the movie, do things – literally – get a bit wobbly, with the women in particular resorting to a level of hysteria that borders on the tedious. But the pace never slips long enough to divert the audience’s interest away. You can’t help but watch, agog, as four seemingly civilised adults transform into selfish monsters who revel in their own acts of cruelty against each other. Perhaps the whole thing is a little reminiscent of Closer: also based on a play, also centred around four people being pretty vile to each other. But whereas Closer was, er, not exactly laugh-a-minute, Carnage is practically rubbing its filmic hands together in glee at the awfulness of its characters. How can you fail to snigger at Penelope defending herself by tearfully screaming, “I know all about suffering in Africa!”? How can you hold back your shocked laughter as a queasy Nancy lets forth with a jet of vomit aimed directly at Penelope’s precious art books?

It is perhaps – as in so many of Polanski’s movies – the women who are principally driving the action, but Reilly and Waltz are putting up just as good a show as Foster and Winslet. There isn’t a single weak link amongst the four: everyone delivers an outstanding performance. Waltz, perhaps, has the edge over the other three – he conveys Alan’s maddening obstinacy with a kind of playful charm – but it’s a close-run thing.

Most important of all, though, is the fact that this really looks, and feels, like a film. Aside from the unity of time and space, there’s very little in here to remind you that Carnage began life on stage. Polanski has the perfect filmmaker’s eye: he doesn’t just transport the stage action on to a film, he actually makes it belong in front of the camera. Inventive shots, subtle gestures and startling close-ups make this seem a world away from red curtains and interval ice-creams.

It’s very tempting to cast this alongside its flat-dwelling peers into an “apartment tetralogy”. If nothing else, it shows that Polanski, now 78, hasn’t let the quality of his direction slip after five decades in the business. Perhaps, ranked alongside some of his greatest works, it may not quite cut mustard; but on its own terms, Carnage is a brilliantly acidic and grotesquely funny comedy of very, very bad manners.

Carnage hits cinemas 3rd Febuary 2012.

Director: Roman Polanski
Screenwriters: Yasmina Reza and Roman Polanski
Starring: Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, John C. Reilly
Countries: France, Germany, Poland
Runtime: 79 minutes

Film Rating:

Popularity: 1%