Is this the year’s scariest thriller?
The Killing Of A Sacred Deer (R16, 121 mins) Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos ★★★★★
From the opening scenes of operatic-scored heart surgery to its heart-wrenching denouement, Yorgos Lanthimos’ (The Lobster) latest tale must be one of the most unnerving slices of cinema in years.
And yet, bizarrely, it also possesses a thick streak of black comedy coursing through its dramatic veins. Perfectly paced, the Greek director’s screenplay slowly unveils its mysteries before daring to make the audience almost complicit in the terrible conundrum facing cardiac surgeon Dr Steven Murphy (Colin Farrell).
He’s something of an enigma – a meticulous worker who also unashamedly blurts out intimate family details in polite conversation and likes wife Anna (Nicole Kidman) to pretend to be anaesthetised in the bedroom.
His relationship with the teenage Martin (Barry Keoghan) also raises questions. Murphy seems reluctant to reveal their connection, and more than happy to make as much time for him as possible. Eventually, visits to each others’ homes are organised but when an invitation to watch Groundhog Day turns into an attempted seduction by Martin’s mother (Alicia Silverstone), Murphy baulks and breaks contact. This sends Martin into a frenzy.
To say any more would spoil the ‘‘delights’’ of Lanthimos’ deliciously unique, slow-burning psychological thriller. This movie will have you chuckling at the seemingly stilted dialogue, marvelling at some of the visual choices and bravura camera angles (one hospital-set scene is truly breathtaking) and either howling at or hiding from the more visceral moments.
That this balancing of the macabre and the mirthful works is also thanks to a terrific cast that not only includes Farrell, Kidman, Silverstone and Dunkirk‘s Keoghan but also The Night Of‘s Bill Camp and Tomorrowland‘s Raffey Cassidy.
Almost surgically precise and gleefully messy, The Killing Of A Sacred Deer is certainly not a film you can easily forget – and nor should you wish to. – James Croot