The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Frankly, I was relieved when this film ended, but could not commend it more for its style and delivery. (FULL of spoilers, sorry it was the only way I could fully express my views).

The trailer for TKOASD is extremely misleading. It sells itself as coming from the same director as The Lobster. The Lobster is a black comedy that uses impeccable timing and absurdist themes to make you laugh uncomfortably, relatively free from guilt. Killing of a Sacred Deer begins in a similarly dark tone, laughing at itself and its subjects. However by the end you end up questioning every time you laughed, and literally hating yourself for it. 

The Killing of a Sacred Deer follows Stephen Murphy (Colin Farrell), an esteemed surgeon who has a mysterious, fatherly relationship with a young boy, Martin (Barry Keoghan). Its obvious from the outset that Stephen is ashamed of this relationship but feels tied to it, and so it transpires that he was responsible for Martin's death while under his knife in surgery. There are several uncomfortably cliche domestic scenes between both the Murphy family and Stephen and Martin, where comic timing resulted in the same stitch worthy uncomfortable laughter you experience in The Lobster. However the film has been classed as a psychological thriller for the primary development, where Martin reveals that having lost one of his family, Stephen now must lose one of his. Stephen must choose, resulting in a gender reversed Sophie's choice kind of situation between his wife, son and daughter. 

The sheer horror of the film comes from the fact that Stephen does nothing to stop this fact. He even goes to his children's school to try and decide which one he should condemn. This awkward exchange had the audience laughing again, but is that really funny? Similarly as Stephen drags his paralysed son through the hospital insisting that this is all just a joke. Not funny. But funny. Lanthimos succeeds beautifully in turning what entertains us back round on us at this point. Forcing a reaction that we are ashamed to produce. 

The films conclusion then solidifies this film as a horror. Stephen fails to pluck up the balls to make a decision so instead bags his family's heads, blindfolds himself and spins in a circle with a shotgun until one of them is dead. This display of cowardice results in the one person who remains innocent throughout the film paying the ultimate price. Thus, a tragic paradox is created in that in order for real justice to be served, the least guilty loses. I didn't want to continue watching as all this played out, but it was fascinatingly frank and real. The soundtrack is also so well chosen. There is a weird dichotomy between the grandeur of the orchestra against the pathetic action being played out onscreen. Another way in which you are forced to think about your reactions, rather than just blindly observe.

I would not go into this film with any expectations, as if you do then it may seem slow at first. But if you surrender yourself to whatever the cinematography and witty screenplay summons then I think you might leave the film glad you watched it, but also wanting a cold shower and to cry silently for a while.