Orchestrated Carnage

reviewed by James Cheetham
jamescheetham.jcc@gmail.com
written for the Kensington & Chelsea Review

While the title of Polanski’s latest cinematic endeavour may be one of chaos and impromptu madness, the kind of carnage Polanski pelts the characters of his films through is always one of precise manoeuvre and forced bravado. So comedy may seem a somewhat odd or at least unexpected change of pace for the man who is best known for his tightly handled horrors and thrillers.

His was the hand that controlled Catherine Deneuve’s psychological break down in Repulsion, the mind that visualised the creeping horrific realisations of Mia Farrow in Rosemary’s Baby. But with Carnage it comes as a surprise to see just how well he shuffles himself into the role of comedic director, while still staying true to the themes that regularly crop up in his films. An adaptation of French playwright, Yasmina Reza’s God of Carnage, which began its run in Paris, Carnage plays it small, trapping two polar opposite couples within an enclosed space and focusing upon their interactions with each other.

Because of this, Carnage allows Polanski to explore his favourite themes albeit in a less extreme and more realistic manner. You’ll find no satanic witch covens or political war criminals here, but instead the parent you may bump into in the school playground while waiting for your child to finish school. That vague face who you’ll share a moment’s brief small talk with while pretending you’re the best of friends. Cast in the roles of the carnage makers are Jodie Foster and John C Reilly as the Longstreets, with Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz as the Cowans.

The film begins on a brief moment of open expanse and shows the child of the Cowans hitting the Longstreet’s son in the face with a stick, in the exaggerated words of Penelope Longstreet (Jodie Foster) “disfiguring her child.” As mentioned early on in the film however, “we’re all decent people, all four of us”, god forbid that when these adults meet up to discuss their sons’ behaviour they would end up bickering just as ridiculously as their 11 year olds.

Except they do, these upstanding citizens of Manhattan letting their superficial maturity wane as issues of class, gender and profession crop up making it less of a civilized get together and more Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? Keeping the action within the small environment of the apartment allows for Polanski’s well known motif of claustrophobia to come into play, with cinematographer Pawl Edelman’s angles and close ups of the characters and the apartment conveying a homely environment as a cage.

It transforms it into an arena for the combatants to build up to their eventual outbursts, whether this is projectile vomiting, the throwing of bags or the decimation of tulips. So, while the comedy of Carnage may be a different approach for Polanski, similar themes keep it attached to his previous body of work. For example, Ewan McGregor’s writer stuck within the confines of the Prime Minister’s cold and uninviting safe house in The Ghost Writer, or the claustrophobic rooms and corridors of his ‘apartment’ trilogy; Repulsion, Rosemary’s Baby and The Tenant.

The character breakdowns in Carnage may not be quite as unnerving as these examples but this allows for a different element of voyeurism to take effect. We know these characters, at times we have been these characters, so unlike some of his other films, Carnage is more accessible and relatable for the audience. It instils a sense of guilt as you watch them argue and attempt to subtly put one another down, knowing on some macabre level you have probably given into your inner indecent compulsions and acted similarly.

The sense of claustrophobia and the unleashing of one’s inhibitions is something Polanski constantly returns to and could be seen as a result of his private life. With Carnage being his latest film since his house arrest in Switzerland, the ability to tap into the idea of continually being shut in yet so close to a possible escape is something he is clearly fascinated with.

This is seen with the Cowans as they edge towards the front door, eventually make it out to the elevator twice, and giving into their impulses to retaliate, find themselves back in the four walls of the apartment to argue their points further. Christoph Waltz fares the best out of all the actors as the high flyer lawyer continually breaking up the conversations by taking his business calls and infuriating his wife. He is also the one with some of the best put downs, always delivering them calmly. His performance and direction from Polanski harkens back to Chinatown and Jack Nicolson’s portrayal of J.J Gittes, the two characters both set in their unwavering view of the world and the subsequent witty uncaring dialogue that comes from this, making Waltz and Nicolson the cowboys of their Polanski films.

Despite his controversial private life, Roman Polanski will always be celebrated as one of the auteurs of modern day cinema. His scripts thrive off a collection of characters that may appear ‘decent’ at first glance but ultimately end up giving into their animalistic inclinations.

We’ve seen this with Rosemary’s husband in Rosemary’s Baby, the well to do actor who cares for his wife whose selfish motives are revealed by the end like the collective neuroses of Carnage’s cast. And while some say Carnage is a break from Polanski’s usual cinema, he has never been one to tie himself down with one particular genre despite his most recognised films being of the horror persuasion.

His adaptation of Oliver Twist and The Pianist see him harkening back to his orphan childhood, while Chinatown and his altered ending of the original source material reflected his unimaginable turmoil of the tragic loss of his wife. Carnage may be one of Polanski’s first forays into outright comedy but it still manages to link in with his previous work instead of being a break from form, and like many of his films it manages to reflect particular events of his personal life at the time. A reflective yet orchestrated kind of carnage.