Carnage

Horațiu Furnică

In 2011 the movie “Carnage”, based on the play “La Dieu du Carnage” by
Yasmina Reza, was released. Directed by Roman Polanski, it stars Jodie Foster, Kate
Winslet, Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly.
The narrative of both the movie and the play focusses on a diner where two
couples discuss the matter of their children. Zachary, the son of Alan (Christoph Waltz)
and Nancy (Kate Winslet) hit Ethan, the son of Penelope (Jodie Foster) and Michael
(John C. Reilly) with a stick, breaking his two front teeth, after an argument in the park.
The meeting is scheduled to be a short one but the rising tension between the characters
makes it last for a lot longer.
Throughout the movie the characters make alliances with each other based on
their own beliefs which tend to align, depending on the subject of the discussion. There
are always two sides to every argument they have, regarding their children or not. And
two people are always on each side, making every debate feel balanced.
The movie starts with a friendly chat between the parents, then moving on to the
reason why Alan and Nancy were invited to Penelope and Michaels apartment. Both
couples take different stands regarding the matter, both feeling entitled to reparations. At
this point, the discussion is a very calm one, every character exposing their point of view,
though it does not last long. Nancy gets sick and vomits on one of Penelopes most valued
art catalogues. This triggers feelings of ill will between the characters, and it all starts to
go downhill from here.
The characters are written (and played brilliantly) so that, gradually, they turn into
the children they wanted to talk about. Nancy and Alan even have the tendency to leave,
twice, but their own pride makes them return both times, to continue to fight. The need to
win every argument is childish in nature, so we can assume that the children are
influenced by their parents, in this aspect, hence the fight that started this nonsense in the
first place.
Once you involve alcohol, any dynamic changes. At one point, Michael brings out
a bottle of whiskey, and pours two glasses of it, for him and Alan. Now the men start to
form an alliance against the two women. This moment is very important, in my opinion,
because Alan starts sympathising with Michael, after he was “on the hot seat” for
allegedly killing a hamster. The two men try to deflate the situation by having a drink and
rethinking their approach, while Penelope starts arguing with her husband. Nancy starts
to show her frustration regarding this situation and tells Penelope to stop arguing
pointlessly. Then The women start to drink too, and the alcohol changes the whole
dynamic of the movie.
The characters now appear divided, all four fighting against one another, but
nobody, literally, taking sides. Michael starts arguing with Penelope, and gives room to
him to deliver a brilliant line, “If you ask me, the couple is the most terrible ordeal God
ever inflicted on us”. This is the moment you realize that the kids are irrelevant in the
narrative. The actual engines of this movie are the failed marriages of both couples. And
the characters emphasize this in the folowing exchange:
“Nancy: We don’t care about their marriage. We’re here about a problem with the
kids. We don’t care about their marriage. / Alan: Yeah, except... [...] It is related.”
Now Michael proceeds to monologue about the idea of how marriage and children
“suck the life out of you and leave us old and empty”. Penelope starts crying and is
comforted by Nancy, while Michael refills Alans glass. After a few more arguments
about marriage, the subject of their children is brought up again. Alan tries to argue that
this whole charade is pointless because this is what kids have done and will always do.
Penelope is strongly against this and Alan proceeds to talk about the rule of nature and
violence. His next line reveals the title of the play: “Penelope, I believe in the god of
carnage. The god whose rule has been unchallenged since time immemorial” and then his
train of thought reaches the children in Africa, and how they are taught to be violent,
trained to kill, so he says that a kid getting two front teeth knocked out, doesn’t shock
him at all. Penelope then counters this argument with the idea that they live in a western,
developed society in which this behaviour is frowned upon.
After a debate about morality and community, Alans phone rings again, and while
he’s talking, Nancy takes his phone and throws it in a vase full of water. She then starts
talking about the general behaviour of men regarding their “toys”. After a few more lines,
Nancy says that both sides should share the blame, case that Penelope is strongly against.
So they start fighting, almost literally. Alan and Michael break them up, and the
discussion resumes, this time with each couple on each end of it, regarding the fact that
they actually don’t care about what happened between the children.
This is the final “confrontation” before the end of the film.
Personally, I love this movie. It’s a movie about acting, nothing else. Everything
revolves around this incident with the kids, but because of the circumstances, it
transforms into this mountain of philosophical discussions, albeit in a very hysterical
way.
Each of the characters has an opinion about himself, a position regarding a
subject, which they don’t change throughout the movie. This makes the topics change
rapidly after every character states their point of view. It makes the film extremely
dynamic without having any action, per se. Each of them is a different kind of parent.
From emotional and passionate to rational and indifferent. This range makes the
discussions so interesting to watch.
I would say that every philosophical discussion in this movie is interesting in its
own way but ultimately, the underline philosophical debate is about “rationality versus
empathy” and the film sides with both, showing characters on both ends being right in
their way of thinking, making an argument for both. And because of that I recommend
this movie from the bottom of my heart.