2017 Film Review: The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

Directed by: Yorgos Lanthimos
Written by: Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Fillipou
Starring: Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Barry Keoghan
IMDb Link

A minor key to knock you off your game. Deadpan performances that never fail to make you uneasy. A conceit that demands to be taken both seriously and not. A camera that keeps you constantly shifting your eyes and your head. The Killing of a Sacred Deer is absurdism at its most uncomfortable, succeeding almost exactly as it sets out to do, and gets better the longer it is left to settle on you; it is also incredibly difficult to grapple with

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Steven Murphy (Farrell) is a surgeon, a husband and a father. When a patient dies under his knife, he attempts to comfort the son (Keoghan) in any way that he can, meeting with him and giving him presents. However, it is not enough for the boy, who only sees restitution in Steven losing something of equal value.

The film is unsettling from the beginning, and only gets more so as the film carries on. Its beginnings are that of an incredibly dark comedy, but a very specific moment changes everything and the whole tone of the film becomes that much more threatening. At the same time, a purposeful disconnect between the characters and the audience complicate the emotions of the film further, making the whole experience something you don't want to be involved in but can't look away from. It leaves you in a relatively consistent state of unease, as the film crescendos in ways that eek shaky laughs and evoke literal Old Testament imagery.

This is in large part due to the performances. Farrell, Kidman and Keoghan all offer extremely stiff, almost reptilian cold performances that restrain almost all emotion and reinforce the strange world they live in. Keoghan in particular is absolutely horrifying, so alien in his mannerisms and perspective that his every action and eventually even his presence cause you to recoil.

The direction  is undoubtedly a consideration here as well. Lanthimos evokes a similar but more sinister feel to his previous work The Lobster (2015), but even without that context it's not difficult to see that every surreal or absurd moment is meticulous and intentional in its placement, as are the moments where he employs realistic technique, which when laid alongside the film's much more consistent absurdity feels in itself absurd. His constant use of shots that never connect at eye level, gliding overhead shots, sneaky ground-level shots, tilted and unfocused shots and edits that play with time and distort reality, all work in aid of the film's absurd goals and reinforce a sense of lack of control in the film's situation, that the "God" of this movie sees fit to predestine its ending. 

My Take: The Killing of a Sacred Deer is exactly as absurd as it intends to be, every moment as confusingly unsettling as you would expect just from its name alone. It is often brilliant in craft and story, and for those that can stomach unease for two hours it's absolutely worth the watch. That said, its greatest strength  makes it difficult for me to think of a person who I'd recommend it to.

Rating: 7.5/10

Published November 21st, 2017