The Killing of a Sacred Deer

The Killing of a Sacred Deer

As a huge fan of both Dogtooth and The Lobster, I've been very much looking forward to seeing Yorgos Lanthimos' newest movie. I went in knowing it was going to be twisted based on both Lanthimos' previous work and what both critics and the stars of the film were saying (Colin Farrell admitted to feeling sick after reading the script). What I didn't expect was for this to be most outright funny of the three Lanthimos films I've seen.

The Lobster and Dogtooth are both classified as "comedies" by the filmmaker himself, and while both certainly have absurdist qualities I can't quite say I was laughing aloud at either of them. But Killing of a Sacred Deer, a film about brutal revenge and family turning on each other, actually had me laughing fairly often. The actual revenge plot of the film doesn't really get started until about halfway through the movie, with the first half being devoted entirely to setup. Not just the setup of the characters and the setting, but the incredibly specific tone that a Lanthimos movie has, which is kind of like a Kubrick film if the emotions were replaced with robotic politeness, dry self-awareness, and good old fashioned irony. An example without giving anything away is a scene where Colin Farrell screams at a door for a minute, threatening to break it down, and then ultimately just walks away. The joke isn't obvious, I wasn't told when to laugh, one could argue whether it's even a "joke" or not, but laughter just crept up on me. The humor is probably the strongest element of the film. As far as the actual plot and characters go, that's where it gets a lot more complicated.

As I said, I went in expecting to enjoy this film and am already familiar with the specific style and deliberate pacing of Lanthimos' films, but this was one where I often found myself wondering "Why are we still on this scene?" or "Why haven't we cut yet?" or "Why is this important?" At a certain point it felt like something of an endurance test, which I admittedly enjoyed, but there were a lot of places where it felt like trimming would've been fine if not better for the film as a whole. This is particularly true of the first half, which feels less like it's moving forward and more like it's soaking for an unnecessary amount of time. It's arguable that that's the entire point of the first half, to really spend time investing in these characters before the brutality kicks in, but the issue there is that these characters aren't very interesting.

Through they purposefully speak without emotion, Lanthimos' characters still have distinct personalities in Dogtooth and The Lobster. The characters in The Lobster are so clear that just opening a scene with two who hadn't met yet immediately floods the brain with implications and expectations. But in Killing of a Sacred Deer it just isn't the same, and it's in no way a fault of the actors. Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman are great, as are the young actors (Raffey Kassidy, Barry Keoghan, and Sunny Suljic) who nail the Lanthimos style shockingly well, and Alicia Silverstone is only in two scenes but is hilariously heartbreaking in both of them. No, the performances aren't the issue, it's simply that the characters weren't written with strong personalities. Kassidy, Silverstone, and Keoghan are the exceptions to this, since their characters have clear goals and traits, but the same can't really be said for the rest. Farrell's a family man who's taken to his limits, but there isn't much beyond that. There's a darker side to him that's implied when he's intimate with his wife, but that doesn't really go anywhere. Kidman is essentially the same as Farrell's character only more controlled, and Suljic is just a young boy, nothing much more. It causes a certain level of detachment, which some might be grateful for, considering the more disturbing content, but for me it just meant being less invested in the story.

I was consistently engaged throughout the movie because of the visuals, the performances, and the humor, but ultimately I don't think this is one I would watch again. However, this movie not doing it for me doesn't mean I'm not still incredibly excited for the next Lanthimos film, it just means I might be a bit more trepidatious before seeing it.