Michael Haneke is known for his unconventional movies, but his work Funny Games will always remain unique. Starring Naomi Watts, Tim Roth, and many other skilled actors in the lead roles, this 111-minute-long film takes us through one of the most uncomfortable sequences of events ever seen in a horror film.
Funny Games revolves around George, his wife Ann, and their child Georgie. The Farber family decides to spend a cozy holiday at their lake house with family dog Lucky, not knowing what kind of tragedy awaited them.
Everything goes well until their neighbor, Fred, brings in two strange men who eventually turn out to be psychopaths with a thirst for torture.
While Funny Games could be called a horror movie, Haneke revealed that he wanted it to be more of a reflection of how media usually portrays violence. Besides Naomi Watts in the role of Ann Farner and Tim Roth as George, the cast of Funny Games consists of Devon Gearhart as George, Michael Pitt in the role of Paul, Brady Corbet plays Peter, and Boyd Gaines plays the role of Fred.
What Happens In The Film?
With the weather all sunny and warm, the Farbers decide it’s the best time to spend their holidays at their lake house. With dog Lucky with them, Ann, George, and Georgie arrive at the location and meet their neighbor Fred on the way. Fred behaves strangely, but the Farbers just ignore it.
While Ann cooks up a meal in the kitchen, George calls Fred to help him out with the boat. Fred comes with two other guys, who introduce themselves as Paul and Peter.
Peter later shows up in the kitchen, asking Ann if it was okay if he took a few eggs. Peter then ends up breaking them on purpose, and this frustrates Ann.
George notices that Fred keeps acting weirdly, but just dismisses the thought and brings Paul in when he asks if he can test out the golf clubs.
The duo starts talking in a strange way, and George tries to make them leave, but they don’t listen. Ultimately, George slaps Paul, after which Peter takes the golf club and breaks one of George’s legs.
This is where Ann and George realize that this Paul-Peter duo is up to no good. They take the family hostage and start torturing Ann & George in all kinds of ways. Paul and Peter also kill Lucky, the family dog, and later shoot Georgie when he tries to run away.
The sadistic games continue, with them going as far as asking Ann to strip in front of the family. Paul and Peter head out for some time, and this finally gives the couple some hope.
Ann runs out into the night and sees a car approaching. She tries to ask for help but Paul and Peter bring her back into the lake house.
Another sick game they play is when they ask Ann if she’d like to give her husband a slow death with a knife or a fast death with a shotgun. Ann manages to free herself and shoot Peter with the same gun, but when Paul comes back, he just takes a remote and rewinds to the time when Ann didn’t kill Peter.
Ending Explained
Now knowing what was about to happen, Peter and Paul take Ann to the lake and push her off of the boat.
Sometime later, the duo visits another family, The Thompsons, and asks them for some eggs. Paul breaks the 4th wall multiple times and at the end of the film, he just smirks at the camera.
Throughout the film, we keep hoping that the Farbers somehow make it out of the mess, but nothing like that ever happens. For instance, Ann frees herself and runs out of the house, hoping to find someone who could help them.
Instead, she’s brought back into the house and forced to be a part of another sadistic game. Ann then somehow manages to shoot Peter, only for Paul to randomly take out a remote and go back in time.
It doesn’t make sense but that’s how Haneke wanted the film to be. Senseless but always keeping our hopes high with its twists.
Paul keeps breaking the 4th wall, while Peter talks about the way every horror or psychological thriller is supposed to go. Haneke wanted to show what media usually shows violence is like, and then use all the overused plot styles to create something realistic yet unnerving.
It’s ironic how Funny Games doesn’t have any violent scenes, yet manages to create a claustrophobic and uncomfortable atmosphere right from the beginning.
At the end of Funny Games, Ann and George sadly don’t make it out alive. Paul and Peter then go to their next victims who are completely unaware of how nonchalantly evil they are.
