The Dinner review: Writer and director Oren Moverman follows up films like Rampart and The Messenger with this modern day drama, an adaptation of Herman Koch’s novel.
The Dinner review by Paul Heath at the Berlin Film Festival 2017.
The Dinner review
Oren Moverman re-teams with Richard Gere for The Dinner, a new drama with comedic elements, an adaptation of the novel by Dutch author Herman Koch.
The film is largely set during the events of one particular, highly-charged evening, and is structured using the various dinner courses, from the aperitif through to dessert, cheeses etc (you get the idea). We are first introduced to Steve Coogan‘s character, Paul, who is having a light, though slightly heated conversation with his wife Claire (Laura Linney) about going out for dinner as they finish off getting ready. Gere plays the role of congressman Stan Lohman, Paul’s brother, one half of the couple they are meeting for dinner, along with his partner Katelyn (Rebecca Hall). The location is a pretentious, upmarket establishment nearby, clearly a place where Paul feels completely out of his comfort zone. As both parties arrive, we soon discover that all is not quite as it seems, with a past incident involving both couples’ sons, a truly horrific crime which we are slowly fed in flashback, due to be also on the menu for the evening. Pots boil as the story progresses, and this morality tale sees struggles of power brought to the table as each person’s allegiances are slowly exposed.
The Dinner review
The first issue with The Dinner is that you can’t make out quite what type of film it is trying to be. Obviously sticking to a lot of the source material, Koch’s 2009 novel, but with themes that are very relevant in 2017’s political and social climate, the film shows early promise, but over-complicates proceedings repeatedly. The straight story strand of the dinner is mixed with way too many flashback sequences, a key one involving both sons which portrays them as two hugely unlikable little shits that, to be honest, absolutely deserve what is coming to them. Gere’s wanna-do-right political figure going against type, wanting to stick to the straight path, keen for his personal interests to come first to his professional aspirations, while his egotistical new ‘trophy’ wife wants the complete opposite. Then there’s Paul and Claire, who may have mental health issues, one of whom has been keeping secrets from the other. Of course, this all comes out during the dinner. Then there’s the history of Paul and Stan’s childhood and previous adult relationship, which is also thrown into the cooking mix for good measure. We witness key segments of that through flashback too, a pivotal scene involving a trip to the Gettysburg memorial where Paul seemingly has a breakdown due following a traumatic health experience involving his wife. Again, it’s confusing, and seemingly misplaced.
One minute The Dinner has all the trimmings of a good social drama and morality tale, but then it evolves into being the blackest of black comedies particularly during its climactic scenes, and none of it really works. The performances are fairly good, particularly Coogan, who portrays Paul as a tortured soul battling his inner demons (even the accent doesn’t distract), but the rest of the characters are all hugely unlikable in oh so many different ways.
The film left me feeling as Paul and Claire did in that very first scene – a little hungry for something that ultimately never comes, and the lack of interest in returning to spend time with any of these souls any time soon, which is a shame as I really wanted to like it.
The Dinner review by Paul Heath, February 2017.
The Dinner plays at the 2017 Berlinale. It will be released in cinemas later in 2017.
