Polanski turns his attention to the satirical skewering of the hypocrisies of the middle classes with this crisp adaptation of playwright Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage. Following a fight between their children, two New York couples come together to discuss the unfortunate event. Zachary, the son of Nancy and Alan (Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz) has bashed his schoolmate Ethan with a stick, breaking a couple of his teeth. Ethan's parents Penelope and Michael (Jodie Foster and John C Reilly) have called the tête-à-tête at their home, but what starts out as a civilised attempt at resolution turns uglier by degrees. As coffee and cobbler give way to hard liquor, surface niceties start to slip, the couples get to sniping then to arguing and worse, and soon the fractures in their own relationships are showing. Watching the foursome descend into behaviour far worse than that of their children is horrible and funny, often both at the same time. Tightly scripted and confidently directed, with resonances that go beyond its Brooklyn walls, Carnage is also a terrific showcase for the remarkable performances of its heavyweight ensemble cast.

Sandra Hebron