Yorgos Lanthimos and Colin Farrell have teamed up again for the follow-up to 2015's The Lobster...
Weird. Uncomfortable. A masterpiece. The Killing of a Sacred Deer isn’t one to watch if you’re after a laugh. It’s dark, it keeps you on the edge of your seat, it’s intense. But it’s brilliant.
Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman play Steven and Anna Murphy, a married couple. They’re both successful in their careers and have two children and a dog. Steven is a surgeon, they have a very large and expensive-looking house, simply put, they’re a generically perfect and respected family. But, something about the Murphy’s just doesn’t feel right. It all seems a little fake.
We find out that Steven doesn’t drink any more, and that’s because he used to have a problem with alcohol. In fact, he’d often drink before surgery, and that caused one patient in particular to die during the operation. Steven feels guilty for the patient dying under his care, particularly because he has a son, Martin (played by Barry Keoghan). So he regularly meets up with Martin, buys him gifts and spends time with him. However, when Steven’s son, Bob suddenly becomes paralysed, Martin tells him that because he killed his father, he must now kill one of his own family members. If he doesn’t decide quickly enough which one to kill, they will all die.
The film is a horror, but not because it makes you jump, or because it’s full of blood. It’s a psychological horror. It makes you feel uneasy, uncomfortable and puts you in a position of wondering how on Earth you’d deal with the situation if you were put in it. The intensity of the movie is next to none. It’s quiet, often the only sound being heard is talking between characters. The odd moments of almost-silence are met with disgusting noises such as twirling spaghetti around on a plate, or eating. This has you not only feeling on edge, but uncontrollably grossed out.
Don’t expect a dark comedy, don’t expect a slasher movie, don’t expect to feel happy. But expect to be wowed.
The acting is awkward on purpose. Farrell, Kidman and Keoghan effectively make the audience feel completely distanced from their characters. In fact, the only character we meet that we perhaps see more of a personality in, and can relate to, is the youngest Murphy family member, Bob (played by Sunny Suljic). His sister, Kim (played by Raffey Cassidy), at times shows some normality, but often she’s as awkward as her parents. There’s no CGI, there are no big-budget effects, bleeding from the eyes is about as gory as it gets. It’s a simplistic film that relies wholly upon the effectiveness of awkwardness and psychological mind-games.
The rare musical sections add to this. An unsightly beeping, buzzing, squeeling noise is heard to add to the anticipation throughout. In fact, there’s simply nothing in this film that feels happy, or nice, or easy. Even the moments of attempted romance between Steven and Anna are odd, and the complete opposite of romantic. Both characters seem cold, and where you’d expect them to show warmth with each other, it doesn’t exist.
It could be classed as artsy and independent, but the story makes sense in a bizarre kind of way. There is a moralistic backbone to the film if you strip it down to its’ core. You take a life from someone, you get a life taken from you. It’s karma in its simplest form. Don’t expect a dark comedy, don’t expect a slasher movie, don’t expect to feel happy. But expect to be wowed. Expect to watch a film that will stick in your mind for weeks. Expect a masterpiece that makes you feel as uncomfortable as you possibly can in a cinema, but in the most spectacular way. If you can walk in expecting that, you’ll leave feeling truly in awe.
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