For North Texans, the Ethan Couch “affluenza” case still lingers in the public conscience enough to lend a stinging relevance to The Dinner, a five-course drama in which food is the least important item on the menu.
As two couples gather for dinner at a posh restaurant, their lives of wealth and privilege are jeopardized by an impending stain on their reputation — namely, a violent crime by a teenage son that raises a series of moral dilemmas about accountability and consequences.
Their conversation boils down to this: To what extent would you use your influence to safeguard your child?
“You cannot help but internalize that question and judge it from your own perspective,” said the film’s director, Oren Moverman. “It’s an awful situation to deal with, and it brings up so many issues. What do we do? How did we get here? Who’s to blame here and why did we arrive at this place where we have to ask these questions? It becomes very personal, very quickly. People have very strong opinions about what they would do. There are no easy answers.”
Those at the table include Stan (Richard Gere) is a congressman running for governor, a move that his younger wife (Rebecca Hall) views as an opportunity to climb the social ladder. Things aren’t going as smoothly for Stan’s estranged brother, Paul (Steve Coogan), who isn’t getting much support from his wife (Laura Linney) in his misguided efforts to connect with their rebellious teenage son, Michael (Charlie Plummer).
A scandal threatens the campaign when video surfaces online of Michael committing a senseless act of violence, causing the family to contemplate a cover-up strategy under the rationale of protecting the youngster from the legal system.
Along the way, the dinner prompts discussions of issues ranging from parental responsibility, to socioeconomic class, to sibling rivalry, to mental illness, to race relations.
Moverman hadn’t read the book by Dutch novelist Herman Koch prior to being hired by a producer to adapt it, originally for Oscar-winning actor Cate Blanchett to make her directorial debut. After he finished the screenplay, Blanchett’s schedule didn’t allow her to participate, so Moverman stepped behind the camera.
“What attracted me to it was the universality of the big question hovering over the whole thing, which is how far we should go to protect our kids when they’ve done something really wrong and gotten away with it,” Moverman said by phone from Los Angeles. “That’s an impossible question to answer, but impossible questions are interesting. I also felt it was an opportunity to take a lot of themes that are very current and throw them into this pot and make a meal out of it.”
The filmmaker intersperses the dinner scenes with flashbacks both to the incident involving the teen, but also to key points in the relationships of both couples that add layers of moral complexity.
“These family dynamics don’t come out of nowhere,” Moverman said. “Because these actors are so watchable, it would be interesting to just watch them for two hours going at each other, but I thought we needed a bigger perspective on what this family is about and the history of the characters, and intercut it to create a certain kind of tension as the night builds.”
Moverman is no stranger to issue-oriented films, having previously tackled the Iraq War (The Messenger), police brutality (Rampart), and homelessness (Time Out of Mind). He hopes The Dinner will be equally provocative.
“The movie is an invitation to a conversation. I really hope people see the movie, feel provoked, go out and have a meal together, and really talk about things,” he said. “As much as I want to say I make movies just for entertainment and escapism, that’s not what I make.”
