Directed by:
Yorgos LanthimosCinematography:
Thimios BakatakisCast:
Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Barry Keoghan, Raffey Cassidy, Sunny Suljic, Alicia Silverstone, Bill Camp, Anita Farmer Bergman, Denise Dal VeraVOD (5)
Plots(1)
Steven Murphy (Colin Farrell) is a successful cardiac surgeon who lives a happy life with his ophthalmologist wife Anna (Nicole Kidman) and their two children Kim (Raffey Cassidy) and Bob (Sunny Suljic). However, his perfect life starts coming apart at the seams after he befriends 16-year-old Martin (Barry Keoghan). Steven spends much of his time hanging out alone with the teenager and also invites him round to his upper-class home to socialise with his kids. However, when Steven visits Martin and his mother (Alicia Silverstone) for dinner, the teenager's motives for their unusual friendship become clear and it transpires he's willing to go to great lengths to get what he wants, to the detriment of Steven and his family. (Curzon Artificial Eye)
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Reviews (10)
A wonderfully and amusingly strange film that will be appreciated especially by lovers of plenty of black humor and unusual films with crazy plots. For anyone who has already had the honor of watching Lanthimos’s films, this is simply another of his original and imaginative satirical images of human society, governed by absurd rules and funny-freezing cultural habits, and their creator does not need to explain in any way. Bizarre art. The best in Lanthimos's filmography so far (for me).
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The Killing of a Sacred Deer has a very strong denouement that is simply great. It's disgusting, it's ugly, some people won't even want to watch it, but the script has put the characters in that state really well. This is not violence for violence's sake, but it's important in terms of the story. So even though Lanthimos' visuals are a bit repetitive, he still manages to wow the viewer.
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Saw for intellectuals. The Killing of a Sacred Deer is a cruel, disturbing and, in filmmaking terms, precise morality tale and perhaps even class satire (rich people destroy the lives of the poor and refuse to accept responsibility for it), but I found its second half to be monotonous in terms of both the characters’ suffering and style (slow dolly shots, overhead shots, close-ups of faces, unpleasant atonal music, over and over again). I understand that the mechanical nature of the structure and the acting is part of the director’s malevolent concept (forget about gradation or catharsis), but it deprives the film of dramatic tension and gives the impression that it doesn’t develop along with the characters, while also weakening the message. I didn’t get the impression that the film had anything else to say after the central dilemma had been revealed (which was possibly why Mirka Spáčilová providentially left the press screening after the scene in which Farrell forces a donut on his son). Instead, it distances itself from reality and thus diminishes the power of its message. The similarity to Kubrick or Haneke is mainly external, not in the effect that the film has on the viewer. 70%
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I first came across Yorgos Lanthimos's work through The Favourite, and since I was intrigued by his distinctive (and somewhat twisted) directorial style, I decided to watch one of his earlier pieces. In terms of building up an uncomfortable atmosphere and the truly unnatural direction of the actors and odd camera amgñes, The Killing of a Sacred Deer highlights the director's unique aesthetic. However, while I didn't mind this style with The Favourite, and in fact found it suited to the historically distant time period, I wasn't as hooked in the case of Deer. The film builds on a very bizarre plot, which on the one hand feels offbeat and creepy, but on the other is just too weird for my taste. Nicole Kidman and Colin Farrell give convincing and strong performances, but in the case of the child actors I have to be critical, especially because of the robotic (which may have been the point) acting of Raffey Cassidy. Barry Keoghan is a chapter unto himself. I first saw him in Dunkirk and found him incredibly unlikeable, and I was seriously indifferent to his fate. I also found him unlikeable here, but in this case it added to a deeper appreciation of his character. The final ten minutes were very powerful and uncomfortable to watch, no question about it. The film is somewhere between two and three stars for me. I'll give it a thumbs up for now, but it's quite possible that I'll reconsider my opinion in time.
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What drew me to watch the film was the cast. The bearded Colin Farrell was almost unrecognizable, only his eyes gave him away, and Nicole Kidman appeared slightly older, although her youthful charm couldn't be denied. It is the story of a cardiac surgeon who made a mistake during an operation in the past, which led to the death of a patient, whose son is now seeking revenge. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. However, you have the option to choose: sacrifice one of your children or your wife for the death of my father. Although it was somewhat cold and emotionally devoid in terms of acting, it was brilliantly filmed. I was fascinated by the eerily disturbing music that crept through the plot and greatly enhanced the depressing mood of the film. Barry Keoghan, playing the vengeful teenage son, portrayed his role so repulsively that I swallowed it hook, line, and sinker. (75%)
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