Stars: Christos Stergioglou, Michele Valley, Aggeliki Papoulia, Hristos Passalis, Mary Tsoni, Anna Kalaitzidou
Director: Giorgos Lanthimos
Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Foreign Language Film-Greece)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars
When Greece received its first Oscar nomination in 33 years in 2010, it was considered something of a shock in the awards community. I remember distinctly thinking that Of Gods and Men, a well-received Grand Prix winner from Oscar's favorite foreign film country, France, would not only land a nomination, but may well have been headed for the trophy. Additionally, there were many who were absolutely floored that a film as provocative as Dogtooth would be able to win such a high profile nomination from the usually more traditional Academy. Now that I've seen the movie, I can definitely back-up the idea that there are few, if any, films quite like Dogtooth that the Academy has embraced in the past or since.(Spoilers Throughout) The movie prominently focuses on three adult children, all of whom live within the confines of their parents' house, never actually leaving the premises. The children have limited interaction with anyone from the outside world, with the sole exception of a woman named Christina, who is essentially a prostitute who relieves the son's sexual urges, and later, starts to seduce the elder daughter into performing oral sex on her, though the daughter doesn't understand that what she is doing is sexual.
If that paragraph sounded weird, A) you're right and B) that's just the tip of the iceberg in this deeply atypical film. The entire realm of this large, expansive suburban home, which functions as a prison, is home to many alien concepts. The children learn the incorrect meanings to words that cannot be explained from the outside world, like "zombie" or "the sea" or "keyboard." None of them are given names, and refer to each other by names like "eldest." They reward their children with stickers given for completing arbitrary tasks. They play Sinatra records and tell the children he's their grandfather and fake the death of the children's imaginary brother. The parents have tricked the children into thinking that they cannot leave the premises until their dogteeth fall out, which of course won't happen as they are adults.
The film is hard to read-is it a comedy (the allusions to Rocky IV, Jaws, and Flashdance are hilarious)? Is it supposed to be funny that these people are essentially human experiments, and if so, what is the end game? Is it an allegory of how parents stifle their children by being far too overprotective? Is it simply a horror film, about a tyrant and how we too easily believe someone in authority without questioning it?
These are great questions, and signs that Lanthimos is a director to watch, but in this reviewer's opinion, there are far too many questions without enough answers. I can buy that he didn't want to spell out what would happen to the children, but at least comment on what drove the father to doing this, and why the mother would go along with such a decision, particularly since she is clearly in on the charade. Are they really just insane? Or do they hate their children? As the film goes to dark, troubling places with the children (so warping the children that they stab and beat each other over toys, that they eventually start getting all Flowers in the Attic with each other), as an audience member I feel I deserve some sort of explanation of what is driving the parents to do such heinous things. With no context, the film descends into a clever idea and some disturbing, impressive cinematography that ultimately goes nowhere. At the end, the escaped eldest daughter in the trunk (after she knocks out her dogtooth with a hammer and hides in the car) will be discovered or dead before she can realize the foolhardiness of her life, and we are left with a lot of questions, and no excuse for a lack of answers.
What about you? What'd you think of Dogtooth, a relatively popular choice for 2010's Best Foreign Language film with most, even if I don't agree? And what country do you think is due for a return to the Oscars next year?
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