Funny Games is a 1997 home invasion thriller film directed by the Austrian Michael Haneke. The plot of the film involves two killers who hold a family hostage and torture them with sadistic games.
Plot summary
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
The film begins with a well-to-do German family — Georg (Ulrich Mühe), his wife Anna (Susanne Lothar), his son Schorschi (Stefan Clapczynski) and their dog — arriving at their lake house. There, their neighbour introduces them to two young men who are apparently staying with him. Not long after that, one of the young men, Peter (Arno Frisch) asks Anna for eggs. Anna repeatedly gives Peter eggs but he drops them on the floor every time as if it was an accident. Peter also 'accidentally' drops the family's only phone into the sink runing it. Paul also enters the house, asking to try Georg's golf clubs. He leaves the house with one of the golf clubs briefly before returning, the constant barking of the family dog suddenly coming to a halt. Anna realizes that Peter is dropping the eggs on purpose, and the two strangers claim they will not leave until they are given eggs. Anna asks Georg to force them out, but Paul breaks Georg's leg with the club and proceeds to hold the family hostage in the house. The games Peter and Paul make the family play form the bulk of the movie, including a game of 'Hot and Cold' that Paul plays with Anna until she discovers the corpse of the family dog. When Schorschi attempts to escape to a neighbour's house, he finds the neighbour's body on the floor, most likely murdered at the hands of Peter and Paul. He finds a gun and attempts to shoot Paul, who had chased him to the house, but fails and is brought back. Shortly thereafter, Peter kills Schorschi with the same gun Schorschi had tried to shoot Paul with. Peter and Paul mysteriously leave after the death of the boy, and Anna eventually escapes, but the men re-capture her and execute Georg. The next morning, Peter and Paul drown Anna and sail to another neighbor's house, again asking for eggs.
The final scene implies that the horror of the previous day will repeat with this next house. Also, the viewer can assume that the neighbour who originally introduced Peter and Paul as houseguests lost his life — and his family's — to the same fate as Georg, Anna and Schorschi.
Analysis
While the Funny Games may seem quite simple at a superficial level, some critics have taken the film to be a commentary on media violence. For example, one can argue that either the film's killers or the victims represent the viewer. Peter and Paul eagerly watch the captive family suffer, as people watching television or film watch characters endure physical and emotional trauma for their entertainment. Conversely, one could also posit that the family represents the viewer because they have no choice of whether to leave, similar to how one must endure adject violence in such a movie in order to view the conclusion.
Also, the Paul character addresses the camera — and also the viewer, ostensibly — at several moments throughout the film. Prior to Anna finding the body of the slain family dog, for example, Paul winks at the camera. Most notably, Paul actually rewinds the film at one point. When Anna seizes the rifle and shoots Peter, Paul frantically searches for the VCR remote control and then rewinds the scene back to the point before Anna made her move. In the second play through, Paul does not let Anna touch the gun.
In addition, Peter and Paul repeatedly refer to each other with the names of famous television pairs, like Tom and Jerry or Beavis and Butt-head.
Shortly after Schorschi is murdered and the two killers leave, there is a 10-minute-long, uninterrupted static take of Georg and Anna recovering from their loss, of which almost 5 minutes of it is of the two parents not moving. Also, a cutaway earlier in the film of a knife being dropped into the family boat, implies that later on it will become much more significant. When Peter and Paul take Anna boating at the end of the film, she indeed discovers the knife and uses it in an attempt to unbond herself. However, the killers quickly become aware of this, snatching the knife from her and throwing it into the water, much to the frustration of the audience who perhaps had expected Peter and Paul to eventually get their commuppance. The knife, which would be a possibility of escape and revenge in an action-movie, consequently proves itself to be worthless.
Violence
The version of Funny Games most widely available on DVD in the United States is not rated by the MPAA. Despite being unrated, the film does not feature graphic violence. Rather, much of the death and mutilation occurs off-screen.
| Movies by Michael Haneke |
| Der 7. Kontinent • Benny's Video • 71 Fragmente einer Chronologie des Zufalls • Der Kopf des Mohren • Funny Games • Das Schloß • Code Inconnu: Recit Incomplet De Divers Voyages • La Pianiste • The Time of the Wolf • Caché |
