Based on a stage play, CARNAGE shows two sets of parents (Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz) coming together for a cordial meeting after their sons have been involved in a fight. However that atmosphere of cordiality soon dissipates, as the four of them become involved in a series of arguments, both verbal and physical. Roman Polanski's film has strong echoes of Mike Nichols' WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF; it is a four-character study of bad behavior, only this time all the protagonists give as good as they get - unlike the Nichols film, where George Segal and Sandy Dennis function as the butts for Burton and Taylor's verbal jousts. CARNAGE is both horrifying yet blackly funny, as we marvel at the depths to which four supposedly civilized middle-class people can sink to in order to retain their self- esteem. The only character who seems rather out of place is Foster's Penelope Longstreet, chiefly because the actor does not seem to understand the absurdities of her role. The film is shot almost entirely in one set, showing how the characters are enclosed in a claustrophobic world of their own making. However director Polanski has a fine understanding of his character, as his camera picks out every emotional detail in the actors' faces.
Review of Carnage
