Funny Games (1997)

Two psychotic young men take a mother, father, and son hostage in their vacation cabin and force them to play sadistic "games" with one another for their own amusement.

Director:

Michael Haneke

Writer:

Michael Haneke

Stars:

Susanne Lothar, Ulrich Mühe, Arno Frisch

4 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Susanne Lothar	...	Anna
Ulrich Mühe	...	Georg
Arno Frisch	...	Paul
Frank Giering	...	Peter
Stefan Clapczynski	...	Schorschi
Doris Kunstmann	...	Gerda
Christoph Bantzer	...	Fred
Wolfgang Glück	...	Robert
Susanne Meneghel	...	Gerdas Schwester
Monika Zallinger	...	Eva

Storyline

Two seemingly well-educated young men, who call each other Paul and Peter among other names, approach a family on vacation. They are, apparently, friends of the neighbors, and, at the beginning, their true intentions are not known. But soon, the family is imprisoned and tortured in its own house violently, which the viewers are forced mostly to imagine and to share a certain complicity with the criminals. It might be some kind of game with the lives of husband, wife, son, and dog, but why are they doing it?

---

Plot Keywords:

game | vacation | violence | serial killer | egg | 

---

Taglines:

Ein Alptraum.

---

Genres:

Crime | Drama | Horror | Thriller

---

Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

Austria

Language:

German French Italian

Release Date:

11 March 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Brincadeiras Perigosas

Filming Locations:

Atelier Rosenhügel, Vienna, Austria

Company Credits

Production Co:

Filmfonds Wien, Wega Film, Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director Michael Haneke has said that he never intended 'Funny Games' to be a horror film. Instead his idea was to make a film with a moralistic comment about the influence of media violence on society. It's a subject that Haneke is quite passionate about.

---

Goofs

When Anna and Georg are driving in their car, a reflection of a microphone between the front seats can be seen on the window.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
[subtitled version]
Anna: Björling... Suliotis?
Georg: Almost. Björling is easy.

---

Connections

References Rosemary's Baby (1968)

---

Soundtracks

"Water"
Performed by Frank Jonko Band

User Reviews

Strangely captivating...

First things first, Michael Haneke HATES Quentin Tarantino's films. He hates the way violence and death are shown as being 'cool' - Cool gangsters executing their enemies whilst saying cool lines (And you will know, that my name is the Lord! etc,etc)with a cool song playing in the background. This is not how violence is in the real world, violence is a horrible fact of life, not a glamourous thing for youths to copy, and I think Haneke intended Funny Games to show it how it really is. I watched Funny Games without the slightest clue what the film was about, so I just had to sit back and take it as it comes. At first, I wasn't too impressed. I thought the scenes were too long and dragged out, yet at the same time, I felt a strange feeling of suspense. The incredibly long camera shots leave you that bored, that you think "Something bad is going to happen soon, I can tell...". The suspense also lasts right through the film 'til the very end. You don't want to watch it, but at the same time, you feel hypnotised by it.

I will not detail any events of the film, to save spoiling the atmosphere, but I will note one thing that people tend to be confused about:- "Why did the family let them into the house in the first place?" The two characters of Peter and Paul are let to walk all over the family because of one flaw in the bourgios psyche - 'The more polite a person is, the better a person they are.' This absurd way of thinking is played on by Peter and Paul and they obviously score, plus 'getting into the house without breaking in' is also one of their 'games'.For those who haven't seen the film, I definitely wouldn't recommend this for a night in with the parents/girlfriend, but I definitely would for people who want to see the difference between death and Tarantino-glam. Prepare for a highly suspenseful yet sickeningly violent, non-Hollywood, edge-of-the-seat piece of art. 8/10