'THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER' which I saw this week, is a Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed psychological horror thriller by Yorgos Lanthimos whose last film was the highly acclaimed dystopian black comedy 'The Lobster'. This film Premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival back in May this year, for the Palme d'Or for which it was nominated, but it did win The Best Screenplay Award for Yorgos Lanthimos and his scribing collaborator Efthymis Filippou. Released in the US towards the end of October, the UK in early November and here in Australia a couple of weeks ago, the film has so far taken US$3.5M at the Box Office, and has garnered generally favourable Reviews albeit it is dark, unsettling and at times a tough watch.
The film opens up with a close up shot of a beating heart, and then the camera pans out to reveal a surgeon's hands poking and prodding at tissue, muscle and skin as he finalises his delicate operation. The surgeon then removes his face mask, his bloodied surgical gloves and his medical robe and dispenses these into a bin. Here once again, Lanthimos has cast Colin Farrell as he did in 'The Lobster' as a highly regarded cardiovascular surgeon, Steven Murphy, who likes order, discipline and cleanliness in his personal and work life. As we see him walking down a hospital corridor chatting with Matthew (Bill Camp) his anaesthesiologist, they idle their time away by discussing the merits of metal over leather wrist watch straps.
We then cut to a booth in a diner where Steven sits alone, soon though to be joined by a teenage lad named Martin (Barry Keoghan). Steven would appear to be mentor, a father figure almost to Martin but the history surrounding their relationship or how it came about is unexplained. The next time they meet Steven presents Martin with a brand new wrist watch with a metal strap, for which Martin is very grateful but he prefers a leather strap, and will change it if Steven don't mind. The next day Martin appears at the hospital to thank Steven for his wristwatch and to show off its new leather strap. Steven, suggests that it would be good idea if Martin were introduced to his family over dinner. And so Martin is welcomed to dinner at the Murphy household and meets wife and mother Anna (Nicole Kidman), elder daughter Kim (Raffey Cassidy) and younger son Bob (Sunny Suljic). Steven explains away his connection to Martin as him stretching out a hand of support as a result of Martin's loss of his father ten years previously in a car accident.
To return the favour Martin invites Steven over to his home for dinner to meet with his mother. Steven reluctantly agrees but is clearly out of his comfort zone. While watching Martin's favourite movie ('Groundhog Day'), the young lad excuses himself off to bed, too tired and suggests they watch the rest the next night. Leaving Steven and Martin's mother (Alicia Silverstone) alone, she makes a sexual advance on the surgeon, which he rebukes and hastily leaves. Over the following days Martin demands more and more time of Steven, but he does not respond sensing that the boy is getting out of control. One morning, when the family are preparing for the day, Bob is running late for school and won't get out of bed. Anna sends in Steven to stir their son, to find Bob sat on the edge of his bed. He says he cannot get up, and Steven scolds him. Eventually Bob makes his father understand that he literally cannot get up, he cannot stand, he has no feeling in his legs.
Anna and Steven rush Bob to the hospital where a full neurological and physical examination is conducted using all the cutting edge technology that the hospital has at its disposal, but, they can find nothing wrong with Bob. He recovers the use of his legs temporarily, long enough for his parents to chide him for wanting an extra day off school, but, on the way out of the hospital, Bob collapses again, unable to stand or walk. While Steve and Anna maintain a bedside vigil over Bob, Kim meets secretly with Martin, with whom she is growing increasingly infatuated.
The next day Martin visits Bob in hospital unannounced. Met by Steven and Anna, Martin demands that he speak with Steven in private. During the conversation Martin reveals his true ulterior motives to Steven, revealing the truth that his father did not die in a car accident, but died on the operating table during surgery that Steven was performing at the time. Therefore Steven failed to save the life of his father, and is therefore culpable in his death, for which Martin lays the blame squarely at the surgeon's feet . . . . or hands! Martin further states coldly that to restore the 'balance' in destroying his family, he must now kill one of the members of his own family, any member, he can make that choice, but one it must be, or they will all die.
Martin goes onto explain that they will all gradually die if Steven does not comply - by succumbing to three different stages. The first is paralysis of the lower body and loss of use of the legs, which Steven has already seen manifest itself in his son, Bob. The second is complete loss of appetite and refusal to eat anything and everything, which has also now manifested itself in Bob. The third stage is bleeding from the eyes, and shortly thereafter, death. Steven, is dismissive of these wild claims believing them to be the ramblings of an unhinged young boy, but when Kim collapses suddenly during a choir rehearsal and is unable to stand on her legs, he starts to think there is something more sinister at play here. Meanwhile, Martin goes to see Steven at his place of work complaining of chest pains, and undergoes a thorough examination by Steven and his learned colleagues who give the teenager a clean bill of health in every respect.
Anna, in the meantime, suspects there may be more to Steven's story that he is letting on. Knowing that her husband was a former alcoholic, she goes to see Matthew, to enquire if during the surgery on Martin's father, Steven could have been under the influence of alcohol. Matthew confirms in the positive. Furthermore, Ann's concerns grow more acute when at the hospital with Kim and Bob, her daughter receives a phone call from Martin. At which point she is able to get up out of bed and walk a few paces to the window and look down on the car park for Martin. He is nowhere to be seen, but they have brief conversation and she returns to her bed, and the use of her legs is lost again when the conversations ends. Anna travel to Martin's home where she confronts the boy saying why should she and her children pay for the mistakes of Steven, and asks for him to cease whatever he is doing to her family. Martin is however, unrepentant and shows no remorse for the pain and suffering he is prepared to put her family through - after all, Steven all but destroyed his family unit. 
By the next morning while Steven still sleeps, Anna releases Martin, telling her husband that it served no purpose in keeping him bound to a chair. Later in the day, Bob begins to bleed from the eyes as foretold. That night, Steven takes hold of the situation and binds Bob, Kim and Anna each to a chair and places a pillowcase over their heads. Armed with a loaded shotgun, he places a woollen cap over his head, spins uncontrollably through 360⁰ coming to a abrupt halt and letting off a round. He misses. He attempts a second time and misses once again. He reloads, spins again and lets off a third round but this time the bullet connects with its human target.Sometime later, Steven and his two remaining family members are sat in the same diner that Steven met with Martin in previously. They don't talk, looking solemn as Martin enters and siddles up to the service desk. He stares back at the table of three barley taking his gaze off them. Steven looks up but can hardly make eye contact. A few short moments pass, and the three get up to leave. Martin continues to glare at them as they approach the door, with a wry smile on his face.
Critics have raved about this film, some saying it is one of 2017's best. For me however, I can't see it! This film throws up more questions than it answers, and from that standpoint it is certainly a conversation starter. But perhaps that is Lanthimos' intention - to be controversial, to divide opinion and to stimulate argument. The film belongs to Barry Keoghan who is quite brilliant in the role of Martin - the well spoken, calculating yet quietly deranged adolescent Devil character to Colin Farrell's Steven who plays the stoic, steadfastly scientific God like character whose clean living tidy, organised picket fence nuclear family suburban home life gets shaken to the core by his Good Samaritan act. Nicole Kidman is on good form here too as the dutiful wife who has carved out her own successful career and who has the strength of character to stand on her two feet and be counted, but also can be subservient when the occasion calls of it - in the bedroom especially. At times this is tough watch despite the film being stylishly shot, featuring some witty thought provoking dialogue, great performances and certainly a unique spin on the horror thriller genre, but it sill poses lots of unanswered questions which still plague me as I finish this Review. It's worth a look for sure, but this film won't be for everyone - certainly more arthouse than mainstream, and based on an ancient Greek play that pre-dates Jesus Christ, it's easy to see where Lanthimos has the smarts to cross over chilling thrills, with dark humour and Greek mythology to good effect, but be warned!
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
