Funny Games is not an enjoyable film by any means. It’s a film that makes you look at yourself and examine exactly what you’re doing and why while also presenting itself in the absolutely brutal manner that it inherently stands against you enjoying. I do love this movie though so I am going to talk about it.
Just for clarification, I'll be referring to the 1997 Austrian version of the film and not the 2007 shot-for-shot American remake.
If you have not seen Funny Games and plan on seeing it, I’d go ahead and stop reading because I am going to talk about a lot of things that happen in this film, including the ending.
Haneke has a way with characters who calmly waltz through the world well-spoken and well-contained but full of deep violent and sexual desires. We also see this in The Piano Teacher with Erika Kohut’s straight-faced downward spiral as played by Isabelle Huppert. In Funny Games, Peter and Paul commit excruciating acts of violence with no remorse with the same amount of emotion someone might show waiting on a bus or going to the grocery store.
One of my favorite things about Funny Games is there’s no point in anything done in the movie. Paul and Peter continually lie and come up with fake reasoning behind their actions and approach the brutal with such a nonchalant authority.
Another thing I love about it is the way that it dances around the violence. Most of the most violent moments that take place in this film do not take place on camera but rather slightly off-screen and heard. One of the most prominent examples of this is when Georg Jr. is murdered off-camera as Paul makes a sandwich, not even looking up. And a combination of the camera avoiding violence with the nonchalance of Paul and Peter is of course the death of Anna. In one of the final scenes of the film, they are in the boat with her and Paul says “Ciao Bella” before pushing her into the water to drown. As dark as it is, this is probably one of my favorite moments in the film.
Although all the performances in Funny Games are great, it is Susanne Lothar’s that drives the knife right into your stomach. Her performance is bolstered by her ability to capture true fear so well. As the movie goes on, Anna talks less and less and shows more and more fear and realization of what is happening cannot be stopped.
Something that always stands out to me in this movie is its use of music and its lack of it. Every use of a song is diegetic except for the opening and closing use of Naked City’s “Bonehead”, a quick and furious grindcore track that centers around a grating saxophone and high pitched screeches.
The opening crash of this song from the remains of various opera pieces that the family attempts to guess the name of. It’s an incredible contrast that sets up the film better than any words could.
The titles definitely seem to have had their influence on some of my other favorite opening title sequences such as the one from Gaspar Noé’s 2018 film, Climax. The opening credits start at around the 8:30 mark.
Lots of things make me think about Yorgos Lanthimos’ 2009 film, Dogtooth. One of those things is Funny Games. You probably know Lanthimos’ filmmaking style for the way his characters talk and act in an incredibly unusual and quirky manner and combined with the offputting scenario presented in Dogtooth, it’s a recipe for an incredibly uncomfortable and immensely entertaining hour and a half. Like Funny Games, it’s like watching something terrible and no matter how much you want to look away you cannot.
Both films have a limited cast of characters engaging in terrible familial activities in a confined space. I think they would make a great double feature if you want to feel incredibly disdain for the world the entire world and everyone in it.
Look! They even sit on the couch in this movie, too!
I could very easily pair this with a grindcore album to match up with the Naked City tracks used in the movie but I’m not gonna let myself off the hook that easy. Instead of matching this up with a single album, I’m going to give you two songs to listen to back to back.
First up, a track off of Björk’s 1997 album, Homogenic.
Second up, a minute-long song off of Wormrot’s 2016 album, Voices. This song also has the best song title I’ve ever seen.
I watched this on the new Criterion Collection Blu-ray but I also believe it’s available for viewing on both the Criterion Channel and HBO Max. Also, yes I thought about writing about the metaphor of the entire movie and Haneke’s message on desensitization and self-realization of viewing violence along with the fourth wall breaks that push this but I wanted to mix it up.