The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)
There’s a Susan Sontag quote taped on Riggan’s dressing room mirror in Birdman that reads: A thing is a thing, not what is said of that thing. Ay, yes. There’s the rub. Reviewing films is often an attempt at marrying concise description to subtle (sometimes rambling) provocation, but the tension between the thing that is The Movie and what is said about the thing is tricky terrain. And with certain filmmakers, the only reasonable conclusion before the writing process even begins is concessional surrender; a pre-climax hail mary to just let the thing be a thing.
… except then, there’s no review, and that’s what I’m here for.
//
These were the thoughts swirling around in my head as The Killing of a Sacred Deer slowly, maddeningly unfolded with the kind of clinical detachment demonstrated in the removal of a tooth or dissection of a frog. To try to make sense with a tidy explanation is an exercise in futility, not only because writer/director Yorgos Lanthimos isn’t going to give you one, but because he doesn’t need to. In light of Lanthimos’ previous film The Lobster, David Ehrlich writes in his review that “It doesn’t matter why, the only thing that matters is the choice it provokes.” So it is also for Sacred Deer. The end-of-the-line, do-or-die choice of the finale is the blueprint for inexorable (justice?) fate characterized by deadpan, emotionless speech patterns and tones; the way the camera steadily moves with an ominous sense of mounting peril; and the near sociopathic lack of empathy juxtaposed against scenes of uncontrollable weeping and baffled stares.
But did you like it? My immediate reflex answer: No. The mechanical dialogue, distracting score / random unsettling sounds, and the deeply disturbing third act all merged in a visual blender to concoct an offering with a sour taste. No, it isn’t an enjoyable experience. No, you will not leave the theater with clarity. Just overwhelming, uncomfortable, outright confusion and maybe a friend in the group who beyond-logic instinctively loved it. However. Like the raw genius of Lars von Trier, Darren Aronofsky, and Paul Thomas Anderson, the chief concern is not okay, darling, how was it for you? The sole question worth asking is whether or not it moved you, for better or worse. And unfortunately for my emotional equilibrium and sanity, The Killing of a Sacred Deer did move me. And hopefully I will never, ever have to see it again.
