Family Tensions Flare in Trailer for New Psychological Thriller ‘The Dinner’

Every family argues at the table. Some squabble about religion, some yell about politics, and some get into screaming matches at Thanksgiving dinner over whether or not Jimmy Fallon is funny. But while all happy families are the same, all unhappy families are miserable in their own way, and the Lohman clan has an ocean’s worth of bad blood between them. It‘ll all come to the surface when Oren Moverman’s new drama-thriller The Dinner debuts at the Berlinale Film Festival on February 10 before a full release on May 5, and today, those of us unable to jet to Europe can still check it out with the newly released trailer.

Meet the family: Paul (Steve Coogan) feels nothing but contempt for his ascendant-politician brother Stan (Richard Gere, a former collaborator with Moverman on the life-on-the-street drama Time Out of Mind). Even so, they’re meeting for dinner with their long-suffering wives (Laura Linney and Rebecca Hall) because a difficult conversation must be had. Their teenage sons have committed a crime, and they’ve got to decide how handle the situation — the boys should be held responsible for their actions, but they’re just kids making trouble, and that would attract a lot of negative attention to Dad‘s campaign. It‘s a thorny ethical discussion, and lots of long-repressed familial tensions are sure to arise while they work it out.

Based on a best-selling Dutch novel, the story wends through the past, present, and future of this dysfunctional family, with Chloe Sevigny getting caught up in the drama somehow. Allegiances will be tested, bonds will be broken, and boys will be boys.