10 Ridiculous F**k Yous In Famous Films

7. Funny Games Mocks You For Being A Sick B*stard

Michael Haneke is many things €“ controversial, strange, talented €“ but one thing he isn't is stupid, and he showed this to a tee on Funny Games. Concerning two gents (Peter and Paul) who hold a family hostage with sadistic games, the family must survive until 9 o'clock the next morning. The film is notorious for its premise, but I couldn't honestly write a list without including it. Here goes €“ Peter and Paul are very aware of standard film tropes, and Paul even breaks the fourth wall and calls out the audience on their expectations with a big smirk on his face. All the way through you feel insulted and frankly, a little bit dirty. Of course, that's the point €“ Haneke wanted to send up the bad-things-happening-to-people-we-don't-know mentality which powered the slasher genre. He did this in the most blatant way possible, telegraphing all the plot points you might anticipate in a film of this genre, including a clichéd characters-left-alive ending which the killers promptly wind back and remedy. Seriously, that actually happens. For my money, it's one of the most genius plots I've seen on-screen, delivering a middle finger to the viewers who absolve enjoying the characters' pain because it's all rosy at the end. Seeing Anna get chucked out of the boat second time round robbed us of this 'catharsis,' and exposed us as the horrible voyeurs we can occasionally be. As a cinematic telling off €“ Haneke has admitted the film, with all its violence, is utterly pointless and a satire of audience expectation €“ it's extremely hard to beat.