Carnage (2002)

78% of critics liked it
(36 reviews)
70% of users liked it
(716 ratings)

Carnage, an example of what the French call un film chorale, tells several intertwining stories. In the central tale, a young second-generation bullfighter, Victor (Julien Lescarret), is gored, and is rushed to the hospital in critical condition. A little girl, Winnie (Raphaëlle Molinier), sits next… More Carnage, an example of what the French call un film chorale, tells several intertwining stories. In the central tale, a young second-generation bullfighter, Victor (Julien Lescarret), is gored, and is rushed to the hospital in critical condition. A little girl, Winnie (Raphaëlle Molinier), sits next to a massive Great Dane and watches the fateful bullfight on television, and becomes obsessed with the bull. A university researcher, Jacques (Jacques Gamblin of Safe Conduct), cheats on his massively pregnant wife, Betty (Lio), who hides a critical fact about her pregnancy from him. Jacques' brother, Luc (Bernard Sens), an amateur taxidermist, lives with their mother, Rosie (Esther Gorintin), who loves him, but withholds a family secret. Winnie's teacher, Jeanne (Lucia Sanchez), struggles to understand her neurotic mother, Alicia (Ángela Molina), when she visits. When her car is dented by a shopping cart, Carlotta (Chiara Mastroianni), a struggling actress, meets Alexis (Clovis Cornillac), a suicidal philosopher/skater who offers to lead her to the culprits. Carnage, the debut feature from writer/director Delphine Gleize, won the Sutherland Trophy at the 2002 London Film Festival and Best Screenplay at the 2002 Stockholm Film Festival. It was also shown at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival and at Lincoln Center in New York as part of their 2003 Rendez-Vouz with French Cinema. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Play Trailer

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 2 hr. 13 min.
Directed By: Delphine Gleize
Written By: Delphine Gleize
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: Nov 13, 2002 Limited
On DVD: Mar 1, 2004
Studio: Wellspring

Critic Reviews

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post
Carnage has some narrative messiness. But the beautiful thing here - besides Gleize's fabulous eye - is that not a single one of her solutions for the healing that takes place in her characters' lives is predictable.
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune
The sort of film whose makers would be pleased to hear it called 'unclassifiable.' A more accurate description is 'unfathomable.'
Robert K. Elder, Chicago Tribune
Confidently directed and tightly constructed, Carnage announces the presence of a fresh, powerful directorial mind with each frame.
Manohla Dargis, Los Angeles Times
With Carnage, a pungent tale of love and sacrifice, French filmmaker Delphine Gleize has fashioned a modest epic about our ridiculous human comedy.
Ty Burr, Boston Globe
Gleize has a number of award-winning short films under her belt, and she directs this magical-realist fable with originality and disarming confidence.
Jonathan Curiel, San Francisco Chronicle
Funny, ironic (in the best sense of the word), dramatic, sweet and metaphorical, Carnage never lets go of its witty mix.
MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher
Delphine Gleize achieves a mastery of the visual, the metaphoric, and the dramatic that few other veteran filmmakers could pull off.
Kent Turner, Film-Forward.com
[Director] Gleize has nevertheless written an imaginative and loopy script where the twisting storylines, each with its own distinct tone, eventually connect.
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com
there are far better movies that don't try your patience like Carnage does
Michele Kenner, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Patience will reward those who don't mind non-linear storytelling, but some of the stories aren't worth the wait.
Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall
Feels indulgent, far too long and, yes, very French ... but while it lasts you can't take your eyes off the screen!
Marta Barber, Miami Herald
Despite its fleshy title, Gleize's film is a feast for the mind.
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul), St. Paul Pioneer Press
Gleize is a smart director with a fresh eye, and she finds inventive ways to underscore her theme, which is that good things and bad things happen to most of us in roughly equal measure but that, somehow, we keep plugging away.
Jeff Vice, Deseret News, Salt Lake City
For those who are patient, there are quite a few things to admire, including the performances and the film's ambitious, audacious storytelling conceits.
Sean Means, Salt Lake Tribune
Whimsical irony is matched with arresting visuals throughout Carnage, and those moments carry the day even if you don't buy Gleize's everything-is-connected bull.
Bob Strauss, Los Angeles Daily News
The film eventually becomes tedious, but there are enough flashes of moral intelligence and cinematic inspiration here to make one eagerly anticipate Gleize's sophomore effort.
Tim Cogshell, Boxoffice Magazine
It's very European, and extremely intriguing.
, E! Online
Whereas most movies about serendipity and degrees of human separation usually fail by trying to pick profundity from, well, dry bones, here, director Gleize knows that to dig too deeply only distracts one's attention from the strange comedy of life.