Funny Games

Michael Haneke, Austria, 1997, 108 minutes

I bet as you read this, you are already longing for your next holiday. A cabin by a lake with your family. Ah, relaxing. So, when a couple of guys knock on your door asking for some eggs, you invite them in and fetch a box, right? After all, it is the neighbourly thing to do. Unfortunately, these guys aren’t really here for eggs; they are here to play some Funny Games...

This film is unashamedly shocking; whilst you see no overt physical violence on screen, the narrative centres around the horrific abuse visited on the family just off-camera. The two intruders call the shots, they hold all the cards. The audience is just there to watch and see how it works out.

Quite simply the greatest film produced in Europe over the last 60 years, this film is in-your-face frightening and messes your head up as you go through periods of trauma and despair. Director Michael Haneke stated before the Cannes Film Festival that he’d only consider the film a success if “the audience leaves before the film is over”. Whilst this gives a sense of the taboo topic, I would recommend keeping with it to the end. It gives not only a sense of the emotional devastation left by abuse, but it ties in very closely to the guilt felt in Austria by the events of the 1940s.

Watch this film, and consider how much you love your family. It frightened me so much that I didn’t answer the door for two weeks.

Review by Niko Ovenden
Written for EUFS Programme Spring 2004