Yorgos Lanthimos’ new film opens with a disturbing image of open-heart surgery. The tone is set immediately. High pitched strings sound-off sporadically and continue to do so throughout. The Killing of a Sacred Deer is more of a drama than a horror film, but it is impossible to ignore the overwhelming sense of dread.

The past decade has been a difficult one for the debt-ridden Greece. In spite of, or maybe because of this, we have seen a strong group of Greek filmmakers emerge to tell powerful, original stories. Yorgos Lanthimos has stood out from the start. His first feature to reach international screens was 2009’s Dogtooth. His brand of bleak comedy was refreshing. Yorgos asked his actors to do shocking acts and they comply fully. He views them with a cold distance that reminded me of Roy Andersson’s Songs From the Second Floor. 

It was clear that Lanthimos was a bold new voice in cinema. The Killing of a Sacred Deer is his second English language film and Lanthimos has changed very little in terms of style. Stephen (Colin Farrell) is a heart surgeon. He speaks in straightforward, matter of fact sentences. The cadence is similar to how Farrell spoke in his previous collaboration with the director The Lobster. In a post-surgery conversation with his anesthesiologist, he asks about his co-workers watch, specifically how many meters the waterproofing will work. He rationally explains why he prefers a metal strap to a leather strap. Small talk is boiled down to something even more inane that real life.

The emotionally stifled world of Lobster seemed to influence the way everyone talks. In Sacred Deer it feels as if his way of speaking has had an influence on the people around him. His wife (Nicole Kidman) speaks in a similar tone. Rather than making rational statements, though, she asks questions. Stripping off her clothes and standing bedside she asks her husband “General anesthesia?” “General anesthesia,” he replies and she lies down on the end of the bed, splaying her arms out above her head. Stephen begins to touch her before we cut back to him walking the halls of the hospital.

Stephen meets many times with a teenage boy named Martin (Barry Keoghan) and they talk. Stephen buys him a watch. Invites him for dinner with his family. The precise reasons why Stephen invites this boy into his home and the outcome once the boy’s presence becomes intrusive are the driving plot points of the film, so I will try not to reveal too much. Stephen’s daughter, Kim, (Raffey Cassidy) develops a crush on Martin. His son, Bob (Sunny Suljic) falls ill and for some inexplicable reason loses the ability to walk. An ultimatum is given with dire consequences. We are faced with an impossible choice.

I hesitate to say too much about this film. Characters in a Lanthimos movie behave in irrational and extreme ways. What seems funny and offbeat at first becomes normalized by the end. The audience laughter through the first act of my sold out screening quieted to a hush of uncomfortable giggles by the end. The banal small talk turns into desperate conversations about life and death; the vocal patterns do not change. One character says outright after a particularly horrible moment, “It’s metaphorical,” and it’s a sadistic wink from the director as you scramble to try and figure out –  A metaphor for what!?

It’s hard to ignore the financial situation in Greece when reading a Lanthimos film. I also wonder if there are references to the bible. The unstoppable nature of the evil the family is up against and the way they seem to accept their fate, as if it was destined, cause me to think there could be supernatural elements involved. Maybe there is no metaphor. Perhaps the highly stylized dialogue is a smokescreen and this world is in fact our world and these are just normal people in a horrible situation.

Strong performances by all the central characters. An incessant feeling of dread throughout. Laugh-out-loud comedic moments and gasp-worthy shocks. The most disgusting spaghetti scene since Gummo. The Killing of a Sacred Deer has it all! This is not a film for everyone. Some people will cringe at the dialogue, fail to take the film seriously and write it off as pretentious trash. For me, I revel in the chance to see something I’ve never seen before. Lanthimos is nothing if not original and this film is a huge step in the right direction. I understand his next film is an historical drama and the first film that he will not be writing himself. I’m extremely curious to see how that will play out. This has been a difficult review to write, my brain has been spinning since I saw this film and I don’t think I’ve done it justice. A Yorgos Lanthimos movie is a beautiful, twisted puzzle and always a treat to try and unpack.