Which films use comedy of discomfort?

Ikiru (1952), The Trial (1962), Stolen Kisses (1968), Bed and Board (1970), The King of Comedy (1982), Dr. T & the Women (2000) and 2 more films in the CineCode library.

What kind of technique is comedy of discomfort?

It is a narrative technique. Related narrative techniques include Proleptic Opening, Symbolic Object, Wrong Man Plot.

Narrative technique · used in 8 films

Comedy of Discomfort

Wringing laughs from awkward, humiliating or obstructive situations, so the audience squirms as characters fail to read or beat the system.

Examples

8 films that use it

Ikiru
Akira Kurosawa · 1952
The opening sequences follow a community petition through the public works department. It gets bounced from section to section and nothing is resolved. The satire has a job to do here. It shows you the system Watanabe has run for 30 years, the same one he now has to beat from the inside. The comedy and the tragedy come from the same machinery.
Where to see it: The petition sequence. The camera follows the women through every department as each bureaucrat passes them to the next. The shot becomes a long look at how institutions refuse to move.
The Trial
Orson Welles · 1962
Perkins later said Welles meant the film as a black comedy. K.'s polite attempts to be reasonable make his situation funnier and worse.
Where to see it: K. and the lawyer Hastler: K. keeps trying to behave properly in a system that makes no sense, which is awkwardly funny.
Stolen Kisses
François Truffaut · 1968
Antoine is clumsy and out of his depth in almost every scene. The jokes come from his failed attempts to look professional. You squirm and laugh in the same moment.
Where to see it: The TV repair. Christine disables her TV on purpose, and Antoine spends hours trying to fix it, though it is only missing a tube.
Bed and Board
François Truffaut · 1970
Antoine gets a job demonstrating model boats in a mock-up harbor, though he speaks little English and landed the job by mistake. The jokes come from his bluffing and his failed small lies. You wince and laugh together.
Where to see it: The job interview. A company owner believes a letter praising another candidate refers to Antoine and hires him.
The King of Comedy
Martin Scorsese · 1982
Rupert turns up uninvited at Langford's country home with his date Rita. Jerry loses his temper and rejects his act, and the scene does not cut away. You feel the embarrassment long before Rupert does.
Where to see it: Langford's country house: Rupert arrives uninvited, Langford angrily dismisses his act, and Rita talks him into leaving.
Dr. T & the Women
Robert Altman · 2000
The jokes come from people who cannot read the room. Dr. T's secretary tries to seduce him while he thinks he is getting a shoulder rub, and he escapes in embarrassment. You squirm and laugh at once.
Where to see it: The secretary scene: at the end of the day, Carolyn locks the office door and massages Dr. T's shoulders while quietly undressing. He glimpses her and hurries out.
The Square
Ruben Östlund · 2017
Östlund holds awkward scenes past the point of comfort. A museum dinner turns into a test of how long polite people will sit through something terrible.
Where to see it: Ape dinner: Oleg, a performance artist, imitates an ape before wealthy museum patrons at a formal dinner.
Red Rocket
Sean Baker · 2021
Baker lets awkward moments run long, so you squirm. Mikey's friend Lonnie pretends to be an Army veteran, and everyone around him sees through it before he does. The laughter comes from watching people fail to read the room.
Where to see it: The mall fountain. Two real veterans see through Lonnie's fake Army story, humiliate him and throw him into the fountain.

Questions

Quick answers

What is comedy of discomfort in film?: Wringing laughs from awkward, humiliating or obstructive situations, so the audience squirms as characters fail to read or beat the system.
Which films use comedy of discomfort?: Ikiru (1952), The Trial (1962), Stolen Kisses (1968), Bed and Board (1970), The King of Comedy (1982), Dr. T & the Women (2000) and 2 more films in the CineCode library.
What kind of technique is comedy of discomfort?: It is a narrative technique. Related narrative techniques include Proleptic Opening, Symbolic Object, Wrong Man Plot.

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