'The Killing of a Sacred Deer': A Movie Review

The Killing of a Sacred Deer is a movie about a respected and exceptional man who plays God for a living and who is incapable of facing his own flaws and has to meet uncontrollable consequences due to a wrong past choice. It is a thriller about karma, failures, consequences and the darkest aspects of man's soul.

The unique direction of Yorgos Lanthimos can be noticed right at the very beginning of the film. When Dr. Steven Murphy (Colin Farrell) is walking down the hospital aisle talking about a wrist watch with his surgeon colleague. You can, right out of the bat, notice that this is a film with deep metaphors and analogies. Just like in The Lobster (2015), The Killing of a Sacred Deer uses an absurd situation, playing with human fears.

The movie is set in a vaguely bizarre world, full of angst and apprehension, lacking delight, joy or cheer. The main character is a successful man with a brilliant career and a perfect suburban family. However, his perfection is only an illusion which tries to hide his flaws, constantly bringing his nightmare to life. The whole movie feels like a silent scream.

Collin Farrell plays Dr. Steven Murphy who has a 16 year old friend named Martin (Barry Keoghan). At first, one could be led to think they are having a sexual relationship of some sort, even with blackmailing being involved between the two, since Dr. Steven hides his relationship with Martin for the first part of the movie, meeting him in remote places by the river far away from crowds, buying him expensive gifts. Later, Dr. Steven invites the young man to have dinner and meet his family. That is when Martin meets the ophthalmologist wife Anna (Nicole Kidman), the 15 year old daughter Kim (Raffey Cassidy) and the younger son Bob (Sunny Suljic). Soon after, you are led to realize how strangely awkward Steven's family is, including his private relationship with his wife when Dr. Steven likes to have his wife pretending she is under anesthesia when having sex with her.

Steven is far from afraid. He has everything under control, just as he has his life. Although omitting a very important detail of how they came to meet each other, Steven even tells Anna how he met Martin. He is a man of logical confidence. A man based on the principles of science. So omnipotent and self centered. Then Bob loses the movement of his legs. The boy simply can't walk anymore. Kim later on suffers from the same condition. Steven, a man of science, takes them to the hospital which is unable to help after weeks of testing.

The director plays with the logical and the supernatural, showing how fragile Steven is when faced with a situation out of his control. Steven, who was once a God on the operating table, now faces his failure in a way he can't control the consequences, for these consequences are called karma. Lanthimos also juggles the darkest idiosyncrasies of the soul when Anna needs to give Steven's colleague and best friend a blow job in a car out in a random parking lot, just to find out what happened with Martin's dad and when she encounters Martin in his house, asking him to stop doing what she thinks he is doing to her family as he grossly eats a plate of spaghetti.

At this point we find out what Steven did to Martin's dad. He accidentally killed him on the operating table when intoxicated or, using a better term, drunk. Steven tries to ignore his tragic failure during the whole first part of the film. However, everything is already lost after Martin's visit. One could believe Martin is the cause of their children's slow death. However, Martin's part is clear when even under torture there is nothing he could do to stop "the curse". Steven will just have to accept it and deal with the consequences. Something that the godly good doctor doesn't know how to do.

From there Steven is forced to make a choice and at this very moment we understand the title of the picture. Kim wrote an A+ essay on Iphigenia, a Greek myth that tells the story of the killing of a sacred deer. Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, offended by Agamemnon who killed a sacred deer, commands him to kill his daughter Iphigenia as the only way to set himself free from a curse imposed by her. Going to war against Troy and pressured by his commanders, king Agamemnon agrees and kills his daughter. Is Steven a king who was put under a dark karmic curse and is now forced to face his flaws, sacrificing a sacred deer? Is this all his own nightmare coming to life, reflecting his flaws and weaknesses?

The Killing of a Sacred Deer is a must see movie. A movie so dark, so awkward, so uneasy, so strange that will make you feel the angst offered from the cinematography from start to finish. No doubt a rare and powerful movie in character and personality. One of the best of 2017. Go watch it!