Perspectives: Post-modernism in Funny Games U.S (2007)

Figure 1 - Funny Games (2007) - Film Poster

Funny games used diegetic sound to bring the notion of a blur between reality and fantasy to the forefront of the audience, the song 'bonehead' is played over the opening scenes during the period of time the main characters, (the wife - Naomi Watts, the husband - Tim Roth, and their son Devon Gearhart) are listening to classical music, they cannot hear it and are enjoying their own music, the audience, on the other hand, is barraged by an extremely violent tune, an ill omen for what is about to unfold, the same song is later played by the murderers to the family meaning something that happened in the interior of the film also happened in the post-production editing in the exterior of the film.    

Repetition is used as a recurrent theme during the film, during the opening we see the main family talking to a couple who are due to play golf with them later that day. The reply of the couple is unnerved and distant as if something is distracting them, we can see two figures standing with them, we later find out these two are the murderers; the murderers visit the main family and proceed to torture them eventually killing them, before moving on again to the next family on the next plot at the lake. Conversations repeat themselves and phrases are highly repetitive for example the constant back and forth between the two murderers, the dominant Paul (Michael Pitt) constantly remarking on the weight of the sidekick Peter (Bradly Corbet). 

The director (Michael Haneke) used a technique which completely breaks the barrier between reality and fantasy during the moment when the wife picks up the shotgun and kills Peter and Paul remarks that it wasn't supposed to happen like that so finds a remote under a pillow and rewinds a portion of the film, in the film to a point before the shooting, this time around he grabs the shotgun before she can kill Peter and proceeds to shoot the husband on the ground, its at this moment you really begin to realize there isn't a hope for the family to survive, especially since the murderers have supernatural abilities to change the film mid-flow. 

Figure 2 - Funny Games (2007) - Film Still - Peter looks into camera

 There are moments throughout the film where Peter talks directly to the camera, speaking directly to the audience, involving them in the film to again use the theme of blurring the walls between reality and fantasy. Finally, at the end of the film in the boat before the sequence repeats, Peter and Paul strike up a conversation about a character stuck between reality and fiction, the conversation reiterates the events and themes around breaking the forth-wall to the audience, it is a conversation which forces the audience to re-evaluate what they are watching. 

Figure 3 - Funny Games (2007) - Film Still - blood splattered television set

Finally, the directors' script appears much more geared to dealing with more mundane events in life, instead of murder, violence and chase scenes even though the film is entirely about the torture and murder of an innocent family. For example, Haneke chooses to focus on Peter making himself a sandwich instead of the obscenely brutal murder of Georgie in front of his parents, even when he returns Haneke is more geared towards showing a blood-splattered television set instead of a body.

Illustrations:

Figure 1: Funny Games (2007) [Film Poster] - Michael Haneke: Celluloid Dreams, Halycon Pictures, Tartan Films.

Figure 2: Funny Games (2007) [Film Still] - Michael Haneke: Celluloid Dreams, Halycon Pictures, Tartan Films.

Figure 3: Funny Games (2007) [Film Still] - Michael Haneke: Celluloid Dreams, Halycon Pictures, Tartan Films.