FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Yorgos Lanthimos - The Killing Of A Sacred Deer 

Yesterday my Cinegeek partner called me just to let me know that the new Lanthimos movie is not as good as the previous ones. The time has come: Yorgos Lanthimos, the most original auteur of recent years, is now being sawed! Wrongly, of course. My Cinegeek partner should polish his glasses and look at The Killing Of A Sacred Deer again. It's about a man who plays God and a boy who decides to give the devil. Everything is metaphorical here. Lanthimos creates an impossible situation to make human fears perceptible, even clear. The result is a hypnotic horror film that asks questions we simply can't think of any good answers. Is something like a happy ending possible in this bizarre situation? Lanthimos unites really great actors in front of the camera and proves once again his love for detail. Not as good as his previous movies? Nonsense, the best movie of the year! Colin Farrell, a little gray, plays Dr. Steven Murphy, a respectable surgeon. Murphy's side, his gorgeous wife Anna (Nicole Kidman). He has two children too. Murphy is friends with Martin (Barry Keoghan), a 16-year-old boy whose father died years ago on Murphy's operating table. Now Murphy feels like the boy's fatherly friend. Their relationship becomes clear right at the beginning. Both seem strangely distant, then Murphy gives the boy an expensive watch. We don't know anything about either of them at this point, we think it might be about sexual services. But it's even worse... We don't know exactly how Martin's father died. Lanthimos also leaves open how Murphy and Martin got "closer". Murphy introduces the boy as his daughter's friend, but he's not. It is true that Martin makes friends with Murphy's children and probably also has feelings for his daughter. But here too we feel a dark undertone. Something in Dr. Murphy's household just doesn't seem right. One morning Murphy's son tries to get up, but his legs don't work anymore. He refuses to eat. Martin enlightens the doctor: Justice prevails. Murphy took his father, now a member of the doctor's family has to die in return. The doctor may choose: Either he kills one member of his family or a curse hits the rest. They will refuse food and even bleed from their eyes. It almost seems as if a balance is being created here between science and the supernatural. Murphy plays God. He creates and he takes life. His world is black and white. Martin destroys this controlled world and demands something that is rarely demanded of gods: A personal sacrifice. The Killing of a Sacred Deer plays in a world of clear lines and white spaces. In a hospital world. Later, the title of the film is also revealed when one of the protagonists writes an essay on Iphigenia. Who else knows it from school? Well, we are almost a Greek bar, so many Greek colleagues work for us. All keen on Greek mythology and ready to help out briefly: It was Artemis, the god of hunting, who imposed Agamemnon to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia. It is said to be Agamemnon's "Sacred Deer". Agamemnon was the ruler of Mycenae and leader of the Greeks against Troy. In fact, he enjoyed a similar status to Murphy within his family. Does that make Martin Artemis? But even here clear lines are missing. Lanthimos plays with the Greek myth and uses his black humor for his psycho-horror. What remains in the end? I think if you choose to play God, you have to be willing to take the consequences.