Carnage (2002/2003) (AKA Carnages)
Note: Minor spoilers.
Writer/director Delphine Gleize
is trying to get at something here but, for the life
of me, I just can't figure out what. Like a film by
Paul Thomas Anderson or Mexican director Alejandro
Gonzalez Inarritu, "Carnage" has several storylines
sprouting from a singular incident. Here, the stories
are interconnected by a bullfight in which the matador
is gored. Riffing off this incident, the film intertwines
stories revolving around a little girl watching the
fight on television (her parents eventually buy their
dog a huge bone from the bull), the girl's teacher
(whose mother eventually eats a "toro" steak from
the bull in a restaurant), a pregnant wife and her
scientist husband (who receives the bull's eyes for
study), a taxidermist and his senile mother (who mount
the bull's horns), and the bullfighter himself, in
a coma in the hospital (who receives the bull's ears,
as is customary).
The film is about birth, life and
death and, I guess, how they are interconnected. There
are five births in the film and, by my count, four
deaths (surely I am forgetting a fifth one). But most
of all "Carnage" seems to be a character study. And
what a wealth of unique characters! Most wonderful
among them all is the little girl (Raphaelle Molinier
as Winnie) who, even with continuity errors abounding
as she messily eats some chocolate sauce, is a mesmerizing
presence in the film. This is a wonderful performance
by a young actress called upon to do as much, if not
more, than her adult counterparts.
But the uniqueness of the stories
and characters here are about all that appears to
recommend the film. The cinematography is nice but
rarely anything exceptional. Gleize doesn't film his
story in a particularly unique way or do anything
new in this arena. And with his muddled, confusing
oscillation between the storylines, going back and
forth between at least five at all times and generally
leaving one for several minutes to focus on others,
the point of the film ends up being lost. Although
I was entertained for over two hours, I walked away
with a sense of emptiness, as if I had missed some
important message because I was too scatterbrained
to keep up with whatever the meaning of the film truly
was.
"Carnage" is an appropriate title.
In addition to the realistic bullfight we witness
at the start of the film, there is much bloodshed
and many disgusting images in the film. Yep, there
is a scene in a slaughterhouse as well as five dead
puppy fetuses among the repulsive images in the film.
At times the carnage simply gets to be too much. We
must look away.
Notes:
In French, Italian and Spanish with
subtitles.
The film played Cannes in 2002 and
was nominated and won several awards at several film
festivals.
Released abroad in 2002 and in the
U.S. in 2003.
Viewed at a press sneak at the Dobie
in Austin in November 2003.
