Carnage

Roman Polanski would seem like a perfect choice to direct a movie version of Yasmina Reza’s scathingly funny French play God of Carnage, but the film, co-written by Polanski and Reza,doesn’t come close to achieving the immediacy, credibility or dark fun of the play.  The four leads are all fine and well cast in their roles, but this type of material just doesn’t work as well on film as it does on stage.  As in Polanski’s other adaptation of an apartment-set stage piece (1994’s Death and the Maiden) we watch the characters from an all too safe distance, rather than feeling trapped in the rooms with them, as we do in any of his original “apartment” films, like Repulsion, Rosemary’s Baby and The Tenant. Perhaps this is because stage plays are inherently more verbal and less visual than screenplays.  Even in the hands of an artist like Polanski and a great cast, this film never takes on a credible level of authenticity that even halfway decent actors can create on stage.  It’s an odd conundrum, but plays often feel more “stagey” on film than on stage because they lack the accompanying artifice that is the theater proscenium. 

Still, many great plays have become great films--Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe? comes to mind, as it is also about two couples, but Carnage is in no where near that league.  The biggest issue I have with the film is that, rather than opening the play up a tiny bit or adding some dimension not possible on the stage, Polanski and Reza have speeded up the story, especially at the conclusion.  This short-changes the final act and makes the film end quite unsatisfactorily.  The play’s final 20 minutes are not only its best part, but also what ultimately makes it credible.  I can’t imagine what motivated Polanski and Reza to make the approximately 90 minute play into to a barely 80 minute movie, but it was a very poor choice.