Michael Haneke's Funny Games (2007) is a remake of his German version from 1997, and it is a psychological thriller that creates an effect on the audience like no other film. It tells the story of a family on vacation who soon become prisoners to who they initially thought were their new neighbors. Haneke made this film with the intent of it to be postmodern, which does exactly that.
To start on why this film is postmodern is with its sound. When the film begins, the family are driving on the roads peacefully while accompanied by relaxing music, supposedly easing into the story. There is then a sudden shift in music without any subtlety in transitioning whatsoever. The music jumps from quiet and peaceful music to extremely loud and heavy rock music, suggesting nothing but aggression and danger. Traditionally this is odd, but for how the story plays out, it is very suitable as it symbolizes what is going to happen to the characters and how it is going to destroy audience expectations.
Moving on, apart from the short appearance of music at the beginning, (and right at the very end) the film goes on to include no music; only everyday sounds. In most scenes, this creates a silence that drives the dreadful atmosphere and eliminates any other moods emerging into the viewer's head. With no music, it is more difficult to have a feeling of what is going to occur next. Not only this, but it forces the audience to have more of an engagement with what they're seeing and experiencing on screen, which moves onto the next point.
The shots in this film are sometimes stretched out for remarkably long times in comparison to many other movies. For instance, when George (Devon Gearhart) is shot and killed in front of both of his parents, the camera remains consistent as it lingers in the room. It does this for a long time, while the camera shows his blood all over the television and walls, while showing his mother (Naomi Watts) struggle to get up and cut herself free. The shot forces the audience to look on in the overpowering presence of silence, while the devastated mother keeps failing to rise to her feet, while half naked and taped up in front of her emotionally broken husband. The audience must watch until she eventually gets up, we then see her trying to calm down her husband as they both suffer from the tragedy that has just occurred. Haneke has done this, not to show the audience what is happening in the story, but to make them feel hopeless, and imagine the overwhelming dread that the parents must come to the realization of. With the innocence boy suddenly dying out of nowhere, it gives the audience time to accept this and lower their optimism for the remainder of the film.
The villains outfits in no way whatsoever, represent their evil traits visually. They wear bright and clean white golfing attire, while their appearance doesn't lean towards the idea that they're bad people any more than any other characters' outfits do. Their calmness and internal stability stands strong, while it is contradicted by their true colours. With this choice of colour for their outfits, it immediately indicates that Haneke is stepping away from the norm and challenging expectations.
Most of all, this film is postmodern and easily noticeable as postmodern because it is doing everything it can in order to be so. The majority of films will follow a hero who inevitably overcomes all challenges and enemies by the end of the film, normally concluding with at very least, some sort of positive note. Although many films have tragedy and brutally sad deaths, they are typically redeemed by heroes and their actions, who stand up and defy the odds. Funny Games uses some of the techniques other films use, to create hope throughout the audience that later on, the hero will gain the upper hand and avenge previous deaths. Instead, all of the good characters die horribly and the two villains manage to move on unharmed, ready to murder the next innocent family. The film forges an intense amount of frustration and dread that only grows stronger as the film goes on, this is because the villains strip away every bit of hope and chance that the family have to survive. Instead of killing them all straight away, the audience is meant to feel the small amount of hope and anger towards the story, then eventually have every remaining bit of hope left, destroyed. A scene where Ann grabs the shotgun and shoots one of the enemies is finally a turning point in the story that the audience have been waiting for, although the other enemy grabs the TV remote and literally rewinds the film that we're watching. This breaks the reality and truly is the point where all hope becomes useless. After he rewinds, the evil characters are both alive again, and they execute her husband. When on the boat and tied up, Ann finds the knife that was evidently left on there earlier to create hope for the audience at this point. As she goes to cut the rope off, one of the antagonists pushes her off of the boat, leaving her to drown. It is done without any dramatic music or camera shots, making her death seem unimportant and unnecessary to the story. This goes against every expectation that the audience will subconsciously have prior and throughout the film, leaving them feeling a way they probably have never done before during and after a film.
Although this film might not stand out as enjoyable or positive, Haneke's intention is very powerful and really does work. He created a postmodern piece for viewers to experience, and not to satisfy their film expectations.
To start on why this film is postmodern is with its sound. When the film begins, the family are driving on the roads peacefully while accompanied by relaxing music, supposedly easing into the story. There is then a sudden shift in music without any subtlety in transitioning whatsoever. The music jumps from quiet and peaceful music to extremely loud and heavy rock music, suggesting nothing but aggression and danger. Traditionally this is odd, but for how the story plays out, it is very suitable as it symbolizes what is going to happen to the characters and how it is going to destroy audience expectations.
Moving on, apart from the short appearance of music at the beginning, (and right at the very end) the film goes on to include no music; only everyday sounds. In most scenes, this creates a silence that drives the dreadful atmosphere and eliminates any other moods emerging into the viewer's head. With no music, it is more difficult to have a feeling of what is going to occur next. Not only this, but it forces the audience to have more of an engagement with what they're seeing and experiencing on screen, which moves onto the next point.
The shots in this film are sometimes stretched out for remarkably long times in comparison to many other movies. For instance, when George (Devon Gearhart) is shot and killed in front of both of his parents, the camera remains consistent as it lingers in the room. It does this for a long time, while the camera shows his blood all over the television and walls, while showing his mother (Naomi Watts) struggle to get up and cut herself free. The shot forces the audience to look on in the overpowering presence of silence, while the devastated mother keeps failing to rise to her feet, while half naked and taped up in front of her emotionally broken husband. The audience must watch until she eventually gets up, we then see her trying to calm down her husband as they both suffer from the tragedy that has just occurred. Haneke has done this, not to show the audience what is happening in the story, but to make them feel hopeless, and imagine the overwhelming dread that the parents must come to the realization of. With the innocence boy suddenly dying out of nowhere, it gives the audience time to accept this and lower their optimism for the remainder of the film.
The villains outfits in no way whatsoever, represent their evil traits visually. They wear bright and clean white golfing attire, while their appearance doesn't lean towards the idea that they're bad people any more than any other characters' outfits do. Their calmness and internal stability stands strong, while it is contradicted by their true colours. With this choice of colour for their outfits, it immediately indicates that Haneke is stepping away from the norm and challenging expectations.
Most of all, this film is postmodern and easily noticeable as postmodern because it is doing everything it can in order to be so. The majority of films will follow a hero who inevitably overcomes all challenges and enemies by the end of the film, normally concluding with at very least, some sort of positive note. Although many films have tragedy and brutally sad deaths, they are typically redeemed by heroes and their actions, who stand up and defy the odds. Funny Games uses some of the techniques other films use, to create hope throughout the audience that later on, the hero will gain the upper hand and avenge previous deaths. Instead, all of the good characters die horribly and the two villains manage to move on unharmed, ready to murder the next innocent family. The film forges an intense amount of frustration and dread that only grows stronger as the film goes on, this is because the villains strip away every bit of hope and chance that the family have to survive. Instead of killing them all straight away, the audience is meant to feel the small amount of hope and anger towards the story, then eventually have every remaining bit of hope left, destroyed. A scene where Ann grabs the shotgun and shoots one of the enemies is finally a turning point in the story that the audience have been waiting for, although the other enemy grabs the TV remote and literally rewinds the film that we're watching. This breaks the reality and truly is the point where all hope becomes useless. After he rewinds, the evil characters are both alive again, and they execute her husband. When on the boat and tied up, Ann finds the knife that was evidently left on there earlier to create hope for the audience at this point. As she goes to cut the rope off, one of the antagonists pushes her off of the boat, leaving her to drown. It is done without any dramatic music or camera shots, making her death seem unimportant and unnecessary to the story. This goes against every expectation that the audience will subconsciously have prior and throughout the film, leaving them feeling a way they probably have never done before during and after a film.
Although this film might not stand out as enjoyable or positive, Haneke's intention is very powerful and really does work. He created a postmodern piece for viewers to experience, and not to satisfy their film expectations.
Sounds like you 'enjoyed' this film... or rather, it impacted on you interestingly!
ReplyDeleteYes, I think it could be an interesting one to consider writing about!
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