The God of Carnage (film)

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Movie
German title The god of slaughter
Original title Carnage
Country of production France , Germany , Poland , Spain
original language English
Publishing year 2011
length 80 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
JMK 10
Rod
Director Roman Polanski
script Roman Polański,
Yasmina Reza
production Saïd Ben Saïd ,
Oliver Berben ,
Martin Moszkowicz
music Alexandre Desplat
camera Paweł Edelman
cut Hervé de Luze
occupation
synchronization

The god of carnage (original title: Carnage , English for "carnage") is a black comedy by Roman Polański from 2011 . The film is based on the award-winning play The God of Carnage by French playwright Yasmina Reza . Jodie Foster , Kate Winslet , Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly play the parents, whose pronunciation turns into the opposite.

action

In the manner of a chamber play , the film follows two parents, the Cowans and the Longstreets, who have come together for a conversation in order to peacefully settle a physical abuse between their children. Most of the action takes place in the living room on Longstreets, with short trips to the hall, kitchen and bathroom. Several times the Cowans decide to leave, but the group keeps moving back to the Longstreet apartment.

Prologue: The first shot shows a group of children in Brooklyn Bridge Park . An argument ensues in which a boy is isolated and then hits another child in the face with a branch. This entire scene is shown in a single static camera position without editing and without live sound, only instrumental music by Alexandre Desplat can be heard, the intensity of which gradually increases.

Cut: Penelope Longstreet, Ethan's mother, whose two incisors were broken off by Zachary Cowan, records the incident in writing on the computer. Her husband Michael and the opposing parents Nancy and Alan Cowan look over her shoulder. They met to settle the matter, but soon a dispute begins about individual words, about the exact course of events and about the meaning of Zachary's attack on Ethan. As a gesture that their children's conflict should not also shape their parents' relationship, the Longstreets offer the Cowans coffee and homemade apple-pear cobbler and ask them to stay, to get to know each other and to come to terms with what has happened. However, the completely different characters of the four people and their individual perspectives on the event in question soon lead to tangible arguments.

Nancy Cowan is an investment advisor and comes across as professional-friendly even when completely disgusted. Her husband Alan is a lawyer and is currently trying to smooth the waves over the known side effects of a successful drug for a pharmaceutical company, which worries him far more than the occasion of the meeting. Although he seems the most sensible character at times, he usually treats the other three with sarcastic condescension. Penelope Longstreet works in the book trade, is interested in art and is the co-author of a book on Africa, her husband Michael sells household goods at the doorstep. Conflicts between the two married couples soon break out and aversions towards the other couple, but also towards each other, become apparent, so that changing alliances are formed over and over again in the course of the conversation. The two men spontaneously sympathize with each other when they discover that they both fought as boys and had Ivanhoe as a role model. Penelope is appalled to learn that her son is the leader of a gang that Zachary has refused to join. Again and again the conversation is interrupted by Alan's cell phone ringing; Michael Longstreet is also called several times by his mother, who is in a hospital, where he learns that she is taking exactly the drug that Alan's attempts to appease him are about.

In the course of the dispute it turns out that Penelope is convinced that a civilization can only function if everyone adheres to a canon of strict rules. The fact that Zachary broke these rules makes him a criminal in their eyes who should be severely punished. At first Michael seems to be friendly and striving for reconciliation, but finally turns out to be nihilistic disgust - the day before, out of sheer dislike, he helplessly abandoned his nine-year-old daughter's hamster in the park and does not regret it in the least, everything in his life seems to be indifferent to him his family is just a burden to him. In this he resembles Alan, to whom his job is more important than family, so that Nancy is practically raising her son on her own.

Alan's cynical remarks hit Nancy so upset that she vomits violently in the living room, contaminating Penelope's irreplaceable art catalogs and Alan's pants lying on the living room table. Together with Michael, Penelope tries to dry some of the illustrated books with a hand hairdryer and at the same time to cover up the smell of the vomit with a perfume. After this incident, Michael offers expensive whiskey .

Uninhibited from alcohol, which women use more abundantly than men, accusations and exaggerated outbursts of anger are becoming increasingly violent. Penelope reveals her own beliefs and physically assaults Michael, so does exactly what she says Zachary is doing. Nancy, at the end of her nerves, sinks her husband's cell phone in a flower vase, later Penelope throws Nancy's handbag through the living room, and to Penelope's horror, Nancy smashes the tulips she bought herself. Then there is a moment of silence until Alan's cell phone starts ringing again. With that the film ends.

In the epilogue you first see the abandoned hamster of Longstreets on the lawn in Brooklyn Bridge Park, which apparently feels comfortable. Then the camera pans up and you see the two boys from the opening scene playing peacefully together.

background

Although the film is set in Brooklyn , it was shot in Paris as there was an arrest warrant against director Polański in the United States. The film ran in competition at the 68th Venice Film Festival . In addition to the four main actors, Roman Polanski's son Elvis Polanski as Zachary Cowan and Eliot Berger as Ethan Longstreet can be seen. However, you can only see them from afar - once in the opening and once in the final scene.

synchronization

The German dubbed version was created for a dialogue book and the dialogue director Christoph Cierpka.

role actor Voice actor
Penelope Longstreet Jodie Foster Hansi Jochmann
Nancy Cowan Kate Winslet Ulrike Stürzbecher
Alan Cowan Christoph Waltz Christoph Waltz
Michael Longstreet John C. Reilly Jacques Breuer

criticism

“'God of Carnage' offers a firework of dialogues full of satirical punchlines and humorous highlights that hardly leave any pauses to breathe. Polanski retains this narrative density in his 79-minute long film. What begins as a sensible conversation between parents turns into a quarrel full of reproaches, know-it-alls and, ultimately, insults. The four very different protagonists - from the do-gooder who believes she has to educate everyone else to the cynical lawyer - gradually drop their masks and inhibitions in order to distribute like children without being able to pocket. The social satire may not be exactly subtle, but it is precisely the escalation that makes it a delicious pleasure: behind the facade of the civilized bourgeoisie there are only vain, immature people who would attack each other with sticks if rules and norms did not prevent them from doing so. "

- Björn Becher : film starts

“The ground beneath the figures opens up several times, hatred threatens to devour them, then they jump back and cover the abyss with a makeshift ground: Small talk, flattery, let's be sensible! However, just a few minutes later the abyss opens up again, an indoor volcano of suppressed anger reveals itself, it is the god of slaughter, the hatred between us all. It's pure mechanics and there is nothing you can do about it, it's stronger than you. The compulsive, it sits in the creases of the eyes of Jodie Foster, in the cozy face fat of John C. Reilly, in the grin of Christoph Waltz, in the bottomless nervousness of Kate Winslet. When you talk about a tournament among grandmasters, you have to say who wins it. It is the European Christoph Waltz, whose devoted politeness grin is the achievement of an apparently declining civilization: an elastic, overstretched peace signal that goes to the limits of what is possible, under which the corners of the mouth and the whole Waltz face threaten to tear apart, a smile that goes to an overstretched arc reminds: the greatest anger, turned into a habitus - turned inward, concave hatred, so to speak. "

- Peter Kümmel : From bad parents. In: The time

Awards

Golden Globe Award

Satellite Award

  • Best Supporting Actress - Kate Winslet (Nominee)
  • Best Supporting Actor - Christoph Waltz (nominated)

European film award

Goya

  • Best European Film - Roman Polanski (nominated)

César

  • Best Adapted Screenplay - Roman Polanski and Yasmina Reza (nominated)

Cinema Writers of Spain

  • Best Adapted Screenplay - Roman Polanski, Yasmina Reza (nominated)

Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Acting Company

  • Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster, Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly

San Diego Film Critics Society Awards

  • Best Ensemble Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster, Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly (nominated)

Venice Film Festival

  • Nominated - Golden Lion
  • Won - Little Golden Lion

Círculo de Escritores Cinematográficos

  • Best script - Roman Polanski

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Certificate of Release for The God of Carnage . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , November 2011 (PDF; test number: 129 869 K).
  2. ↑ Age designation for The God of Carnage . Youth Media Commission .
  3. ↑ Hopewell J. & Keslassy E .: Polanski's 'Carnage' rolls out sales . In: Variety , November 1, 2010. Retrieved April 16, 2011. 
  4. ↑ World problem blood revenge cinema . In: FAZ . (Quote: "The child of Waltz and Winslet beat up the child of Reilly and Foster. The parents of the beaten invite those of the thug to join them").
  5. ↑ Proof on IMDB
  6. ↑ a b The God of Slaughter. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing index , accessed on August 9, 2019 .
  7. ^ Review on Filmstarts.de
  8. ↑ Peter Kümmel: From bad parents . In: The time . November 24, 2011. Film review.