Michael Haneke's 'Funny Games'

[KGB]

This discussion is either for the 1997 or the 2008 film. It's a shot-for-shot remake.

Shit, this film had left me thinking. I wonder if, after seeing it, it didn't leave you devastated as well.
My mini-review didn't satisfy me, but I could't put my feeling in other words, honestly. I can barely think right now about anything except that film.
At first, I'd like to thank, as always, Criticker. Over the internet and over real life I have heard endless criticism on Haneke and specifically 'Funny Games', and only thanks to the very open-minded Criticker users I was convinced to see it. So, here goes what I couldn't say in my mini-review.
Most of all, I am dissapointed that there is so much criticism about this film. People simply can't understand it, or even worse, understand it and simply can't fathom it. I can't find another explanation. Forget about slasher films, Tom & Jerry and all those examples of gratitious violence in the media; what I honestly don't understand how people find films like 'A Clockwork Orange' and such masterpieces, and then dare to take 'Funny Games' as a vile, crude and pointless experiment.
There is no graphic violence in 'Funny Games'. It is all mental. Except for one scene that isn't even that violent, there is not one drop of blood shed in front of the camera during the film. Maybe a wink or two were lost during the transition to the remake? Because when I watched the austrian version, I was paralyzed each time that Paulie turned back to chat with me. Seeing how Paulie controls the plot device so strongly (and is not afraid to break the fourth wall to prove so) is simply blood-chilling.
No, it's not a pointless experiment. [spoiler]Paulie doesn't want to kill Georgie so that he can keep the audience thrilled; he and Peter suddenly dissapear so that the protagonists can get a chance to escape; he winks to the camera, he tells the viewer not to worry, that the desired plot development will be given to him. The remote control scene was somewhat cheesy but served perfectly for it's porpuse.[/spoiler] I was disgusted, just as the film intended. After the last dialogue between Paulie and Peter (or Tom & Jerry? Beavis & Butthead?) I need to re-evaluate the way I watch films. This, my friends, is a big accomplishment.
Honestly the only answer I find for the hatred for this film is that people don't want to be part of an experiment, and they certainly don't want to find out about the dark side of their consumerism habits. They simply don't want to know. I honestly can't find another explanation. For them, gratitious violence is simply gratitious violence.
Sure, 'Kill Bill' was awesome. 'Pulp Fiction' was a masterpiece. But I won't come near 'Funny Games', Haneke is a sadistic motherfucker.

And for those of you who are enlighted, which thankfully is the majority of Criticker or at least my nearest PSIs, you can move one step forward and watch Haneke's 'Benny's Video', prior to 'Funny Games'. It's a pretty tedious film, that could have been cut generously without losing it's point, and even though it isn't half as effective as 'Funny Games', it takes even more seriously the issue of the impact of violence in the media on modern society.
I have no doubt that, even though they can be a bit tedious and they leave a bad taste in your mouth after watching, I need to see the rest of Haneke's films now. It's not an easy task, but there is so much to learn from them.

[Quicky]

I'm afraid I'll have to admit that I didn't really get the movie. In my mini-review I began with "Not really sure what to think of this one." which pretty much says exactly what I felt after watching it.

Thanks for this write-up, KGB. Though I still don't know what to think of the movie, it's interesting to be shown a different perspective.

[NoSex]

Most interpretations of the film (also as evidenced by Haneke himself, in multiple interviews) more or less reduces the film to a sort of scolding of its audience; as if by watching the horror committed to these families, we are, as an audience, becoming accomplices to their murder (by means of the breaking of the fourth wall and other techniques). Largely, I think this is a narrow and less complete analysis of the film. Although I sympathize with this basic premise, I think the most compelling aspect of the film is actually its more paradoxical nature. Allow me to briefly explain:

Haneke has reported that he is trying to show us how complacent and desensitized to true horror, for it to be transformed into a perverse form of entertainment. He scolds the audience by telling us that if we don't turn the film off, we're celebrating, in part, in the horror. We can stop the pain of the family by turning off the film. Yet, the families pain is directed, and preordained by the true murderer, Haneke himself. When the killers look at the screen and talk to us, it's actually just a manifestation of the filmmaker. In this sense Haneke is a hypocrite. But, this is my objection; pain and misery is something we all have a vested interest in. I can't deny that horror attracts me. It is an intense, visceral, and very real aspect of human life. And, as much as a I find it all reprehensible, I also cannot help but be attracted to its power and form. I don't think this attraction is merely being scolded, I think it's being more complexly handled and commented upon. I think Haneke is saying that it's a primary part of human nature. Or, even if I'm completely off base, I think Haneke is just inconsistent and out of his mind.

Nonetheless, you have to reconcile the fact that the family, the victims are not exactly sympathetic. Their affluence is supposed to fuel a subtle contempt. There is no mistake that the family is explicitly wealthy and playing "guess the movement and composer" in the opening credits. There is no mistake that Naked City blares against their frames, completely unawares to them.

Honestly, I think it's one of the more complex commentaries ever made on filmmaking, the power of the auteur, and the human attraction to horror. Frankly, it's amazing.

I intend to see BENNY'S VIDEO. I've also seen TIME OF THE WOLF, and CACHE; both very good.

[theris]

I hated the film, as soon as I finished watching it. I was furious. I've been thinking a lot and I decided that such films should not exist.
Here are some thoughts of mine on your question - the reason why Clockwork Orange is more favored is because
1) its action is in a semi-real world (clothes, moloko bar, the language etc).
2) there is some justice in the end
While
1) FG is hyper real.
2) there is no justice in the end and immoral sadistic cunts feeling nice and fine.

So why not just film real gore and tortures? I strongly believe that art should bring good into our lives as our lives can be hard and there's lots of trauma and sadness around, filming and promoting such narratives is just cruel and well stupid?

Let's see what the author has to say:

“I don’t like violence, and I don’t like horror movies. I would never do a thriller or horror film for the sake of doing it, and I would say that Funny Games is a self-reflexive anti-horror film. It’s a criticism of violence, because that really makes me angry.”
And then he does a re-make of his own movie, not changing a thing. And how can u criticise violence with basically letting it flow throught the whole film? There is crime but there is no punishment.

“there is no other possibility. You can just talk about violence, but that’s easy. You can discuss all the bullshit in the world, but that proves nothing. I believe you have to have to shake people a little bit, to wake them up.” And he believes that Funny Games’ message is as relevant today, if not more so, as it was when he made the first version. “More than ever, it has become self-evident—it almost goes without saying nowadays—that violence is part of entertainment. It’s the part of entertainment, of the media. The film as it was has only become more topical, as a result of developments in between, so there was really no reason to change it.”

This last quote proved my earlier thinking that this movie is for those living in penthouses, far from everyday trauma and myriads of desperate horrific situtiations around us.

So yeah, in my opinion FG is a waste of time and nerves.