Written by: Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Filippou
Directed by: Yorgos Lanthimos
Starring: Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Barry Keoghan, Alicia Silverstone
Rated: R
Watch the trailer
Plot
After a cardiac surgeon's family mysteriously begin to fall ill, a teenage boy he has secretly befriended with a connection to the surgeon's past informs him there's only one way to heal them.
Verdict
This is incredibly well made, providing an example of fantastic directing. Every scene is steeped in tension. While the story is strange, it's an exploration of consequences and grief. There's a supernatural element to this, employed to create emotional turmoil. Characters are nuanced and the story unfolds through action, not exposition. It's well written, and the directing really is a marvel.
Watch it.
Review
This is Lanthimos's follow up to The Lobster (read my review), also starring Colin Farrell. His style and direction continues. The Lobster was bonkers in concept and execution, and I can say much the same about The Killing of a Sacred Deer. It's a spectacle of directing that focuses on human emotions.
This is based on an ancient Greek play where a Greek military leader decides to sacrifice his daughter for safe passage for his troops across the sea. The play is the inspiration for the title.
Colin Farrell plays a doctor, Steven. Early in the movie he meets with teenager Martin at a diner as we wonder who this kids is and what their connection is. Their interactions are very awkward. This is not Steven's kid, as we later see the family eating dinner. When Martin visits Steven at the hospital and Steven is annoyed, I began to wonder if Martin was related to a patient.
These awkward moments are incredibly intriguing as we try to puzzle through what it means. Who is this kid? We learn Martin's father was Steven's patient. The movie never takes the easy way out, using exposition to relay the backstory. We piece the story together through interactions and what we see. Steven feels indebted to Martin and agrees to go to the boy's house for dinner despite visibly being uncomfortable. Steven seems to do whatever Martin wants, and it begins to seem like that might be an extension of guilt.
Martin begins to show up everywhere in Steven's life. This is crazy as it unfolds. I wondered if it was going to go supernatural or horror. Martin is after revenge and he does have a supernatural means to obtain revenge, but how he does it isn't the point. It's used as a tool to push Steven to make a choice, to atone for his transgressions. You think at first what Martin tells Steven can't be true, but one by one Steven's family is affected. Martin is able to debilitate the children somehow. Steven's wife Anna buys the story, and at first I was skeptical. It's a crazy story that Martin has this kind of power, but she's seen some crazy things and I'm sure she is willing to believe anything at this point.
Anna tries to determine what happened to Martin's father as Steven won't tell her. Steven tells her that surgeons can never be blamed. Surgeons can't kill patients, only anesthesiologists. When she speaks to the anesthesiologist, she's told it's surgeons that are to blame. That's part of the underlying theme, people unwilling to accept any blame. Steven's overtures towards Martin are a coverup, he's trying to wallpaper over what happened without ever directly addressing it or apologizing.
Steven's a murky character. He was a bad doctor, but he's no longer an alcoholic. That doesn't let him off the hook. As he comes to terms with what Martin has asked him to do, he goes to the principal at his children's' school, looking for the principal to help him make a choice. It's so depressing that he knows so little of his children. He hopes to rely on a stranger's word, that or this is Steven again trying to avoid making a choice, to have someone else make the choice for him.
Steven does ultimately make a choice. It's a crazy scene. The movie is so subtle and creepy. It's amazing how Lanthimos gets these kinds of feelings out of every scene. This movie is truly a marvel of directing. The story is solid, but what he gets out of it is astounding.
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