[CRITICAL] killing OF the SACRED DEER

Yorgos Lanthimos returns with killing OF the SACRED DEER, a tragedy of ancient accents hitchcockiens, which takes the form of a farce.

Director formalist and fond of aesthetic touches, the Greek Yorgos Lanthimos has reached a new level in terms of reputation with The Lobster, a love story in a near future where single people are doomed to transform into animals if they don’t find their soul mate in a time frame. In DEATH OF the SACRED DEER, it follows Steven (Colin Farrell), a surgeon. Then he takes under his wing a young man, visibly disturbed, his family begins to suffer from disorders that can be explained through science.

The first plan is front-end. In travelling back, the viewer is invited to contemplate a beating heart on an operating table. Lanthimos does not lose time, from the first shot, he imposes his style emphatic, worn by a music ample. It is rushed and it’s just the beginning. This is a false promise : DEATH OF the SACRED DEER has nothing to do with a diving flood in the depths of the human soul. It is not a post-mortem examination, for the simple reason that the film displays a coldness constant. Has the image of the heart in the light frontally, the feelings expressed by the characters are struggling to we jump to the face. The use of the dolly back is, in spite of everything (is it a coincidence or a real desire ?), a sense, taking us away from that which defines humanity : our heart. We close the door on the nose, a distance moved. We recall that in The Lobster, despite the speech that one is entitled to find ue, the outbreak of issues deeply human came to exist with the characters beyond the simple concept of dystopia.Here everything is opaque, offbeat, disconnected from our world. The film multiplies endlessly the small side, often by keys to be humorous, to keep us away. And the scene amplifies this approach. The camera floats behind the character, keeping it at a distance, the plans are sometimes slightly décadrés or leave too much of the air of reason above the heads. By the simple feeling, one understands that something is wrong in this storyline. And it is in this mystery, this incomprehension, and finally the film gets to draw its pin from the play. Keeping the viewer a good time in the dark as to the true bottom of the plot, you can easily navigate from scene to scene by cashing outs of tones, gags, unusual, curious clues. Then when all is clear, killing OF the SACRED DEER goes up a notch in terms of cruelty to compensate for loss of mystery. The tragedy unfolds, the dice are thrown, the clock is ticking. This turn, negotiated awkwardly, give the film, making the plot overall conventional (it is simply a pictures of the law of the Talion). During a dialog between Steven and his protégé, the latter launches into an explanation that he describes himself as a “metaphor” in order to understand why things go in this direction. It is a fault of the movie look suddenly to make everything intelligible. Especially on points that are assimilated easily.

“Death of the sacred deer may not leave you indifferent. “

Besides that, not of the kind to be satisfied with the minimum service, Lanthimos keeps piling up the effects styles. As this tribute recurring Shining where the camera would be a kind of subjective point of view of an Evil that we cannot define. Fortunately, the humor, as cruel as it is, just a little to soften the seriousness of a Lantimos who wants to certainly appear, and be regarded, as an author, a virtuoso – it will take a little more for trôner to the sides of a Kubrick. Has the image of the end, the film takes the form of a joke and makes the whole thing much less apathetic, and bring the project to ambitions beyond its scope. But at least, if there’s one thing we can’t blame the stage director of the Greek is, ” to impose a formal style. DEATH OF the SACRED DEER was certainly a identity, which provides a real atmosphere rance under a varnish shiny. Like it or not, but we can definitely not remain indifferent in front of such a proposal.

Review published may 23, 2017 at the screening at the Cannes film Festival

Maxime Bedini

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