Dogtooth (18.)
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos.
Starring Christos Stergioglou, Michelle Valley, Christos Pasalis, Aggeliki Papoulia, Mary Tsoni, Anna Kalaitzidou. Greek with subtitles. 96 mins
Greece has gone largely unrepresented on the high table of the European art house circuit of late. Theo Angelopoulos used to be rated as an untouchable grandmaster, up on a par with Tarkovsky, Bergman and the rest but his last film has still to be released in this country. So maybe the time is ripe for young Lanthimos, a prize winner at Cannes, to put Greece back in the game.
Dogtooth is the Nanny State gone mad: a family where the parents keep their offspring in a cosseted, extended childhood, never allowing them to leave the gated secure compound of their home. The father, an industrialist who works in the kind of orderly clean factory last seen in a 60s Antonioni film, is the only member of the family who ever leaves the house. But as the children physically if not emotionally mature the parents’ efforts to keep them contained become ever more extreme.
The film has all the accoutrements of the proper modern art film - a dab of outré violence, a bit of stark sex. Nobody has names, just titles – Mother, Eldest Daughter, etc. There is something of the Von Trier about the idea, something of the Hanecke in the execution.
It is filled with absurdist humour but without laughs. It’s very austere with no music and lots of off-with-their-heads camera angles.
The movie tramples around in various taboo areas. The Father, played by Dan Hedaya look-alike Stergioglou, is disturbing in all directions. When he is home from work and has swapped his suit for a white t-shirt, he rules his household like a Tennessee Williams version of Fred West.
Dogtooth is queasy but not stomach churning, unsettling but not sickening, which is a good combination.
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos.
Starring Christos Stergioglou, Michelle Valley, Christos Pasalis, Aggeliki Papoulia, Mary Tsoni, Anna Kalaitzidou. Greek with subtitles. 96 mins
Greece has gone largely unrepresented on the high table of the European art house circuit of late. Theo Angelopoulos used to be rated as an untouchable grandmaster, up on a par with Tarkovsky, Bergman and the rest but his last film has still to be released in this country. So maybe the time is ripe for young Lanthimos, a prize winner at Cannes, to put Greece back in the game.
Dogtooth is the Nanny State gone mad: a family where the parents keep their offspring in a cosseted, extended childhood, never allowing them to leave the gated secure compound of their home. The father, an industrialist who works in the kind of orderly clean factory last seen in a 60s Antonioni film, is the only member of the family who ever leaves the house. But as the children physically if not emotionally mature the parents’ efforts to keep them contained become ever more extreme.
The film has all the accoutrements of the proper modern art film - a dab of outré violence, a bit of stark sex. Nobody has names, just titles – Mother, Eldest Daughter, etc. There is something of the Von Trier about the idea, something of the Hanecke in the execution.
It is filled with absurdist humour but without laughs. It’s very austere with no music and lots of off-with-their-heads camera angles.
The movie tramples around in various taboo areas. The Father, played by Dan Hedaya look-alike Stergioglou, is disturbing in all directions. When he is home from work and has swapped his suit for a white t-shirt, he rules his household like a Tennessee Williams version of Fred West.
Dogtooth is queasy but not stomach churning, unsettling but not sickening, which is a good combination.
