I found it difficult to read Funny Games as 'questioning the role of screen violence' as it had been billed but it worked quite well as an absurdist drama on sadism with its surreal and pointless torture reminiscent of the works of sadism's namesake De Sade, the element of complete control over the victims final moments being as important as the violence itself - on this level it is pure poetry, especially in the coda scene where the cyclical nature of duo's 'games' is shown. In relation to the lure and power of screen violence however, even for this particularly squeamish viewer, no depths are plumbed.