From the director of THE LOBSTER comes a surreal cinematic trip.
Writer/director Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Lobster was the breakaway indie hit of last year, with audiences falling under the film’s unorthodox spell of life and love. This year’s The Killing of a Sacred Deer proves to be the perfect follow-up effort from the director. Like The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer exists in its own realm, an intricately crafted reality bearing only a slight resemblance to the one we know, while at the same time operating on rules which are purely its own. The film opens and closes with little or no fuss or grandstanding, managing to pack so much involving intensity into the course of its two hour runtime. By the end of The Killing of a Sacred Deer, it becomes clear that Lanthimos and his script, co-written by Efthymis Filippou, have accomplished a work of art while giving new cinematic meaning to the terms haunting, hypnotic, and surreal.
In The Killing of a Sacred Deer, a well-respected surgeon named Steven (Colin Farrell) befriends Martin (Barry Keoghan), a teenaged boy whose father died on his operating table. As Steven explains his guilt to his wife Anna (Nicole Kidman), she suggests he invite the boy over to the house to meet her and their children Kim (Raffey Cassidy) and Bob (Sunny Suljic). Eventually Martin starts to become dangerously close to the family, leading to Steven instructing the young man to back off. When he does this, Martin informs him that Steven’s family is slowly dying and will all eventually perish unless he selects one of them to die instantly.
So much about the film feels as if it came straight out of classic European avant-garde cinema. The curious family dynamics, with many feelings and emotions left subdued and unspoken, call to mind figures such as Federico Fellini and Louis Malle. Whether they be loved ones or casual acquaintances, everyone within the film is polite and formal in the way they act with each other to the point of stiffness. This speaks to the film’s overall melancholic tone and feel, especially when it comes to the characters’ existence and general way of life. Everything is so calm and clear-cut in the film’s universe, with each act being accepted as normal and understood, regardless of just how outlandish it comes off. The fact that all of this seems to take place in what is decidedly American trappings, which in turn have been infused with European sensibilities, is largely responsible for the odd realm that The Killing of a Sacred Deer exists in, greatly heightening the overall experience.
In many ways, The Killing of a Sacred Deer has plenty in common with surrealist cinema of the 1960s, particularly that of Luis Bunel, while also calling to mind aspects of the Dada movement. Plot turns just seem to happen without any rhyme or reason but are wholly accepted as reality. Adding to the distorted feeling of the film’s world are the musical touches used, with jarring, loud cues featured heavily during moments of tranquility while instances of shock and awe sometimes play to mere silence. Nowhere are the film’s surrealist roots more prevalent, however, than in the fate that has befallen Steven and his family. There is never any clear explanation given as to the actual affliction Steven and Anna’s children have, nor how Martin is able to cause it. And yet, there’s never a shred of doubt on anyone’s part that Martin is indeed responsible for Bob’s paralysis and Kim’s malnutrition. It’s all simply a matter of fact and fate in the characters’ eyes, even the two children who will soon find themselves in the face of death.
Because the nature of the characters’ behavior is so specific, and in a way rather sterile, the cast’s performances naturally follow suit. Everyone is good, but somewhat non-descript in their approach to the roles, in keeping with the film’s odd tone. The lone exception is Keoghan, whose portrait of a seemingly unassuming teenager containing a silent menace fueled by revenge is truly chilling.
Will there be people who hate this movie? Naturally. The film’s violence, though small, is excruciating, while the overall premise is maddening to the core. Are there going to be those who love this movie? Maybe. Even if an audience member can find themselves completely taken and transported by the events within the film, the coldness and alien feel it carries throughout will make it incredibly difficult to embrace. Is this a movie people will remember? Absolutely. The Killing of a Sacred Deer is truly haunting and poetic in the most brutally quiet and unflinching of ways, pulling you in and making you endlessly both on edge and entranced for an experience which refuses to let go.
