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| “ | You bet that you'll be alive tomorrow at 9:00, and we bet that you'll be dead. Okay? | „ |
| ~ Paul to the Farber family at the start of their "game". |
Peter and Paul are the main antagonists of the 1997 Austrian film Funny Games and its 2007 American remake.
They are two psychopathic serial killers who use their charm and seemingly friendly demeanor to mislead their victims into letting them into their homes before taking them hostage and subjecting them to intense physical and psychological torture and finally killing them.
In the original 1997 film, they were portrayed by Arno Frisch (who also played Benny in Benny's Video) and the late Frank Giering. In the 2007 remake, they were portrayed by Michael Pitt (who also portrayed Justin Pendleton in Murder by Numbers, Jimmy Darmody in Boardwalk Empire, and Mason Verger in the TV series Hannibal) and Brady Corbet.
Personality[]
Peter and Paul seem to be charming and friendly, if quite demanding to those they interact with, however it does not take too long for them to show their true heinous colors.
Peter and Paul are a duo of sadistic and heartless psychopaths who enjoy torturing their victims before killing them. They are very cruel and take pleasure in tormenting and toying with their victims, especially with twisted games that are meant to inflict violence on their victims. These games are said to be "fair" to the victims but they are actually twisted to be physically and psychologically torturous just so they could further break their victims and make them feel powerless, showing the depths of their cruelty.
Paul is the leader of the two and is the more calculating of the duo. He comes up with a plan for how they could hurt their victims and is responsible for creating twisted games on the spot for their victims to participate them. He is shown to really enjoy toying with his victims as shown by his games as well as giving a light chase after Georgie to put him more on edge and taunting him about the unloaded gun the latter tried to shoot him with. He is also shown to be overconfident in his abilities and always thinks he has an advantage over his victims. Paul is also shown to be somewhat of a pervert since he requests Anna to strip down completely to see if she is fat or not and he is also shown getting pleasure from witnessing her strip, showing sexual deviance as well. He also shows awareness that he is in a film and interacts with the audience at certain points in the movie and even gets a remote control to rewind the movie after things do not go as planned. Paul is also quite rude and not only does he bully Peter, but he also constantly mocks his victims for thinking they have a chance of surviving.
Peter is the right hand to Paul and is shown to be more aggressive between the duo. Peter has shown no hesitation in assaulting people in any way he can such as when he became the first to attack the family, specifically Georg by hitting him in the leg with a golf club as well as being the one to restrain the Farbers the most throughout the movie. He also shows subordinance towards Paul and willingly performs his orders, especially when it comes to hurting the family, though Paul regards Peter as stupid and this is why Paul gives Peter orders for him, despite Peter being far from unintelligent. Peter is also very interested in eating and is seen doing so at many points in the movie, much to Paul's annoyance. Unlike Paul, Peter has not shown fourth wall awareness and despite some of his comments being meta, he does not seem to be aware that he is a character in a movie. He is also shown to be quite impulsive since not only does Paul have to reign him in at certain points in the movie so they could continue their games, but he fatally shoots Georgie when he tries to run rather than try to catch him.
As a duo, they are quite cooperative and fuel each other's sadistic desires. They both encourage each other to hurt people in any way they so desire and are completely fine with using each other to make people suffer in twisted ways. However, they could also be argumentative with each other and at times in the film, Paul provokes Peter and they both get into heated arguments, especially regarding Peter's weight. The two also seem to be uncaring towards each other since Peter let Paul chase Georgie without any regard as to whether Paul will get himself killed or arrested. Paul also seems shocked at Peter's (temporary) death after getting shot by Anna at one point, but this is not really because Paul cares for Peter, but only because he is surprised at how things did not go as planned, especially since rather than mourn Peter's death, Paul just looks for the remote so he can rewind to before Peter died and actually remembers Peter's death but does not bring it up and just seems to wish to inconsiderately move on from that point. This is also highlighted in the American remake where Paul outright laughs after Peter is fatally shot, showing that the duo do not actually seem to care for each other. Overall, Peter and Paul have a collaborative relationship, but the duo do not have any regard for each other besides a simple partnership.
Ultimately, Peter and Paul are two ruthless killers who find enjoyment in violence and have no redeeming qualities at all. They are both nothing but vicious and merciless sadists who invade homes, torture, and kill people purely out of sadistic enjoyment.
Biography[]
Peter and Paul are first seen with the Thompsons, the next door neighbors of Georg and Anna Farber and their young son Georgie and their dog Rolfi. After some quick conversation, the Farbers note that the Thompsons are acting somewhat strangely. Paul and Fred Thompson assists Georg and his son, Georgie, in launching their boat.
Fred claims that Peter and Paul are farmhands and that one of them, possibly Paul is the son of a friend of the Thompson's After Paul and Fred leave, Georgie notes that Fred was acting weird. Meanwhile, Anna is cooking in the kitchen when Peter comes knocking on the door and asks to borrow four eggs. Anna gives him the eggs, but Peter drops them, claiming that he is clumsy. He is apologetic, but Anna tells him that it is okay, and gives him some more eggs.
During this time, Peter "accidentally" knocks Anna's cell phone into a sink filled with water, ruining it.
As he attempts to leave the house, the eggs break again, this time because the Farber's dog, Rolfi (Lucky in the 2007 version) supposedly tried to jump on him and he is afraid of dogs. Paul has also entered the Farber's house, and is apologizing for not coming to get the eggs himself, when he notices Georg's golf clubs. He picks one of them up and admires it, and then asks to try it out for himself. Anna allows this, and Paul takes one of Georg's golf balls and leaves to go and hit it into the bay.
Meanwhile, Georg and Georgie are working on the boat when they hear their dog Rolfi barking off-screen. They tell Rolfi to be quiet, but the dog keeps barking. The dog then lets out a pained noise and becomes silent. Anna, meanwhile, goes outside to check on Paul, who gives her back the golf club and praises it. A frustrated Anna asks the men to leave, but they only seem to be confused as to what they have done to upset her. Despite this, they agree to leave as soon as they get the eggs. Anna refuses, and insists that they leave, but they continue to act confused and just don't leave.
Georg then comes into the house and asks Anna if they'd seen the dog, him having gone to investigate after hearing the pained bark. As Georg gives Peter and Paul a chance to explain themselves, Anna angrily goes to the kitchen and gets the remaining eggs. Georg does not give the eggs to Peter and Paul, though, as he still does not know what is going on. Paul tells him that Peter asked for eggs, they broke, and now he would like some more, and asks Georg what is so difficult to understand.
Georg tries to get the duo to leave yet they are still persistent in taking advantage of their hospitality. Georg slaps Paul in the face and again tells them both to leave before trying to push them out of the cottage. But in response Peter grabs one of Georg's golf clubs and hits him in the leg, breaking the man’s leg and incapacitating him for the rest of the film. Georgie comes in and attempts to defend his father, but Paul quickly overpowers him and restrains him to the floor. Anna comes to see what is going on, and Georgie runs to her.
Peter and Paul offer advice for assisting Georg, such as getting him a chair. Peter attempts to look at Georg's wound, but Georg hits him away. Paul urges Georg to allow Peter to look at his leg, and says that he can help him with it. He suggests that they call an ambulance or the police, saying that neither he nor Peter will try to stop them. However, they cannot, because Peter had ruined Anna's cell phone earlier, and the house does not have a land line. It soon becomes clear that the family has been taken hostage by Peter and Paul.
Paul then suggests playing a guessing game. He produces a golf ball from his pocket and invites the family to guess why he has it. Peter "guesses" that Paul has it because he did not hit it. Paul tells Peter that he is correct, and that something stopped him from hitting it, so he had to test the club in another way.
The family realizes that Paul had beaten their dog to death with the golf club, and Anna finds his body in their car after Paul guides her to it in a game of hotter and colder as this happens as Anna gets closer to the car, Paul breaks the fourth wall by turning his head to the audience, smirking and winking directly at the camera, showing the audience that he acknowledges that he knows he is a character in a movie.
Meanwhile, Peter asks Georg to go into the kitchen and get him something to eat, but tells them that if they bring back a knife or something that "[he'd] be sorry" for them. When a couple of neighbors call Anna down to the lake, she passes Paul off as a friend of the family. When asked where Georg is, Anna says that he pulled a muscle while putting up the boat and is resting, while glancing nervously at Paul.
Later as night falls and the dangerous games are about to begin, Peter and Paul sit down with the family, thinking of what to do to them. When Georg asks why they are so cruel, Paul provides the possible backstory to Peter as he says that Peter came from a poor family of 13 made up of a divorced and missing estranged father, alcoholic prostitute mother, and brothers and sisters all of whom are drug addicts. This also briefly causes Peter to briefly "weep" just to mess with the family and Paul reveals this backstory was untrue and was made up on the spot. Paul decides to make a bet where the family will not survive until 9:00 in the morning while looking at the audience, saying to the audience that they must be on the family's side and questions them if they believe the family will make it.
Then Peter and Paul get into an argument about Peter's weight and so they request Anna to strip to see if she is overweight. Georg initially protests against this but when Paul threatens to hurt Georgie, Georg reluctantly requests his wife to strip. After she reluctantly does so and Paul pervertedly says she has no fat on her, Georgie manages to escape and tries to get help, though Paul goes after him. Peter stays with the couple and restrains them while telling them that torturing them is entertaining and that "they must not forget the value of entertainment" after they question why the duo just won't kill them, all while watching a feature on their TV.
While Georgie tries hard to escape, eventually finding Sissi's corpse and revealing that Peter and Paul killed the neighbors' daughter and possibly the Farber's neighbors themselves, the house features reveal Georgie's location and Paul gives chase to the child. When Georgie hides from Paul in the closet, Paul tries to lure out Georgie with music and Georgie grabs a shotgun to defend himself and goes out to confront Paul. Paul approaches Georgie and it is only after Georgie pulls the trigger is it revealed that the gun is not loaded, mocking Georgie for this afterwards.
After bringing Georgie back to the living room and taking the shotgun and its ammunition, Paul decides to make the family play a counting-out game and goes to the kitchen to make food while Peter keeps watch. However, after Paul hears a gunshot, he goes to investigate and sees that Peter killed Georgie who panicked and tried to run away. An irritated Paul berates Peter for being so impulsive since they were supposed to torture him for longer. Then they both decide to leave for some time, leaving Anna and Georg alone. Anna and Georg both grieve the loss of their son, however they eventually decide to try to survive and get help with Anna going outside to get help and Georg trying to get the phone working to contact emergency services. However, Anna flags down the wrong car, alerting Peter and Paul to her attempted escape and bringing her back to the house, catching Georg and taking him back to the living room as well.
Paul then decides to play another game with Anna where she has to recite a prayer without any mistakes, otherwise he will hurt Georg. However, all of a sudden Anna takes the shotgun that Paul placed down and shoots Peter dead. A shocked Paul knocks Anna out and frantically searches the living room for a remote control. After finding the remote control, he rewinds the movie itself back to him requesting Anna to recite a prayer and when Peter was still alive. This time, Paul grabs the shotgun before Anna could, preventing Peter's death and Paul cruelly kills Georg just because Anna broke the rules.
During daytime, Peter and Paul take a tied up Anna out to the boat and sail into open waters, clearly intending to drown her. While Peter and Paul have a conversation about a science fiction plot, they notice Anna attempting to use a knife on the boat to cut herself free, only for Peter to take the knife and throw it into the water. Then they take Anna between them and when Paul asks Peter what time it is and when Peter says it is around 8:00, Paul pushes her into the water to drown, thus winning their bet. After continuing their conversation, they find a house and dock the boat near it, intending to play more sick games that will lead to their victim's death.
Paul knocks on the door and finds a woman named Gerda who lives in the house. When Paul comes in after requesting Gerda for certain services and Gerda walks off somewhere else in the house, Paul looks at the audience and gives a sadistic smirk, clearly eager to start the twisted games again.
Appearance[]
Peter and Paul both appear to be in their late teens to early twenties. They both wear white golf shirts. Paul's shirt is long-sleeved, while Peter's is short-sleeved. Paul wears white shorts and shoes, and Peter wears dark blue shorts and shoes. Both of them wear white gloves at all times. At one point, Paul claims that his are for eczema, though it is far more likely that both men wear them to avoid leaving fingerprints at the scenes of their crimes implying a form of theory that both of them premeditate all of their crimes by creating a plan for every single one. Paul has short, dark brown hair and brown eyes, while Peter has messy brown hair and blue eyes. In the 2007 American remake, Paul has neat blonde hair and blue eyes.
Gallery[]
