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Dogtooth (film)

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Dogtooth
Theatrical release poster
Directed byYorgos Lanthimos[1]
Written byYorgos Lanthimos
Efthymis Filippou
Produced byIraklis Mavroidis
Athina Rachel Tsangari
Giorgos Tsourianis
StarringAnna Kalaitzidou
CinematographyThimios Bakatatakis
Edited byYorgos Mavropsaridis
Production
company
Boo Productions
Distributed byVerve Pictures (UK)
Release dates
  • 18 May 2009 (2009-05-18) (Cannes)
  • 11 November 2009 (2009-11-11) (Greece)
Running time
94 minutes
CountryTemplate:Film Greece
LanguageGreek

Dogtooth (Greek: Κυνόδοντας, [Kynodontas] Error: {{Transliteration}}: missing language / script code (help)) is a 2009 Greek drama film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, about a husband and wife who keep their children imprisoned within their house and pretend that this is normal. Dogtooth is the second feature film of Yorgos Lanthimos.[2]

Plot

A married couple and their three adult children, a son and two daughters, live at the outskirts of a city in a large compound with a garden and a swimming pool. There is a tall fence that surrounds the property and the children have never been on the other side of it. The children are intentionally cut off from the outside world by their parents. They are tricked into believing that airplanes that fly overhead are toys that fall to the ground, and taught different meanings for everyday words belonging to the forbidden outside world. For example, they are taught that a "zombie" is "a small yellow flower," a "sea" is a chair, a "pussy" is a large lamp, and the "telephone" is the salt shaker. The parents show no sign to the children that their experiences are extraordinary and they promise that each child will be ready to venture outside the compound once she or he has lost a dogtooth. To guarantee the children's submission, the parents contrast them to a mythical brother who is said to live just outside the compound, where he has been ostracized for his disobedience.

The only non-family member to come into the house is a young woman called Christina. She works as a security guard at the father's factory. He hires her to satisfy the sexual urges of the son and keeps her blindfolded while driving her to the compound. Dissatisfied with the son's consistent lack of interest in her own sexual pleasure, Christina obtains oral sex from the elder daughter in exchange for a headband. The elder daughter obliges but does not recognize the significance of performing cunnilingus. Later, she gives the headband to her sister, in exchange for being licked on the shoulder, which is marked by an unexplained scar.

Early in the film, the father visits a dog trainer and demands to have his dog returned. The trainer refuses because the dog has only reached the second stage of a five-stage training. He lectures the father on the merits of retaining a dog in training until its training is complete, and he warns against the untimely cessation of training. He poses the question: "Do we want an animal or a friend?". The father is impatient to receive the dog, as he expresses to his wife throughout the film. Comically, when the arrival of the dog is considered imminent, the parents tell the children that the mother will soon give birth to "two children and a dog", but promise that the birth of the children can be foregone if the son and daughters show improvement in their behavior.

One day the children are terrified by the appearance of a stray cat. Considering it a threat, the son ambushes and kills it with a pair of pruning shears. The parents use this incident to eliminate the mythical brother and reinforce the children's fears of the outside world. When the father comes home, he has shredded his clothes and covered himself in fake blood, claiming that the unseen brother had been mauled to death by a cat, a most fearsome creature. The children are taught to get down on all fours and bark maniacally as a precaution against cats. A memorial service is held for the imaginary brother, in which the family members lob flowers over the fence, in mourning.

Christina is again brought to the compound to perform her services and again requests oral sex from the elder daughter. However, the daughter rejects Christina's offer of hair gel, choosing instead the two films in Christina's bag (Rocky and Jaws). Christina refuses, but eventually agrees under threat of blackmail. The elder daughter watches the films at night, and they have a significant influence on her. She recreates scenes from the films and quotes them in regular conversation. Later, the father finds the video tapes and punishes the elder daughter by beating her over the head with them. On a subsequent visit to Christina's flat, he unexpectedly beats her over the head with her own video-cassette player. As he leaves, he curses her future children to be corrupted by "bad influences."

With no outsider to satisfy the son's sexual urges, the parents allow him to choose one of the daughters for his carnal needs. After fondling both sisters simultaneously in the bath with his eyes closed, he chooses the elder, who is later dressed and prepared by the mother for the sexual encounter. The elder daughter is visibly uncomfortable during intercourse, and afterwards recites a threatening passage from "Rocky."

The elder daughter's agitation begins to show during the children's dance performance staged for the parents' wedding anniversary. She dances to exhaustion and then devours her dessert. That night she executes her escape, but only after first smashing her face with a dumbbell to knock out a dogtooth. Running out of the garden and crossing the gate, she hides in the boot of her father's car. She is bleeding heavily from the injuries to her face and mouth. Awoken by the younger daughter for another reason, the father discovers the elder daughter's blood and tooth fragments left in the sink. He runs outside the compound and searches in the tall grass while the younger daughter, the son, and the mother remain just inside the grounds, barking like dogs on all fours. In the morning, the son and younger daughter hold each other and kiss, while the father drives to work, unknowingly carrying the elder daughter inside the boot. In the final shot, the camera lingers on the car boot and finally cuts to black.

Cast

  • Christos Stergioglou as father
  • Michelle Valley as mother
  • Aggeliki Papoulia as older daughter
  • Mary Tsoni as younger daughter
  • Christos Passalis as son
  • Anna Kalaitzidou as Christina

Production

Dogtooth was the feature film début for Boo Productions, an Athens-based advertising company. The Greek Film Center supported the project with about 200,000 Euro and much of the production was done with help from volunteers.[3] Anna Kalaitzidou and Christos Passalis were stage actors who were cast after having worked with Lanthimos earlier. Mary Tsoni was not a professional actress, but a singer in a punk band.[4] The director had an open approach to both acting and visual style, as he thought it would look fake if he involved too much in the details. It wasn't until the rehearsals started that he began to develop the idea of how the film should be shot, a style where he tried to combine a realistic environment with "really strict framing and a cool, surreal look to go with the narrative".[5]

Release

The film premiered at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival[6], where it won the Prix Un Certain Regard.[7] The US premiere was on 25 June 2010 in New York City.[8]

Reception

The film was widely praised on release and as of July 2010 has a 90% rating, based on 39 reviews at Rotten Tomatoes.[9]

Awards

Event Category Winner/Nominee Won
Academy Awards Best Foreign Language Film Yorgos Lanthimos Pending[10][11]
British Independent Film Awards Best Foreign Film Yorgos Lanthimos Pending[12]
Cannes Film Festival Prix Un Certain Regard Yorgos Lanthimos Yes[7]
Dublin International Film Festival Dublin Film Critics Award Yorgos Lanthimos Yes[13]
Estoril Film Festival Grande Premio Yorgos Lanthimos Yes[14]
Greek Film Academy Awards Best Feature Film Yorgos Lanthimos Yes[15]
Best Director Yorgos Lanthimos Yes[15]
Best Screenplay Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou Yes[15]
Best Actress Aggeliki Papoulia No[16]
Best Actor Christos Sterioglou No[16]
Best Supporting Actor Christos Passalis Yes[15]
Best Post-Production Yorgos Mavropsaridis Yes[15]
Award for Special Effects and Film Innovation George and Roulis Alahouzos No[16]
Mar del Plata Film Festival Best Film Yorgos Lanthimos No
Montréal Festival of New Cinema Feature Film Award Yorgos Lanthimos Yes
RiverRun International Film Festival Best Director Yorgos Lanthimos Yes[17]
Sarajevo Film Festival Special Prize of the Jury Yorgos Lanthimos Yes[18]
Heart of Sarajevo (Best Actress) Aggeliki Papoulia and Mary Tsoni Yes[19]
Sitges Film Festival Best Motion Picture Fantastic Award Yorgos Lanthimos Yes[20]
Citizen Kane Award for Best Directorial Revelation Yorgos Lanthimos Yes[20]
Best Film Yorgos Lanthimos No
Stockholm International Film Festival Bronze Horse Yorgos Lanthimos Yes[21]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Dogtooth – Press Kit" (PDF). Cannes Film Festival. festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-05-23.
  2. ^ "Kynodontas (Dogtooth)". Cannes Film Festival. festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-05-23.
  3. ^ Katsareas, Eftehia (2009-12-03). "The surprising Greek film winning fans abroad". cnn.com. CNN. Retrieved 2010-05-08.
  4. ^ Eyles, Priscilla (2010-04-26). "Interview: Giorgos Lanthimos, director of Dogtooth". Sound Screen. Retrieved 2010-05-08.
  5. ^ Jahn, Pamela (2010-04-05). "Dogtooth: Interview with Yorgos Lanthimos". Electric Sheep Magazine. Retrieved 2010-05-08.
  6. ^ Hernandez, Eugene (2009-05-23). ""Dogtooth" Wins Top Cannes Un Certain Regard Prize". IndieWIRE. indiewire.com. Retrieved 2009-05-23.
  7. ^ a b "Un Certain Regard Awards Ceremony". Cannes Film Festival. festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-05-23.
  8. ^ Barton, Steve (2009-06-10). "Official One Sheet – Dogtooth". Dread Central. dreadcentral.com. Retrieved 2010-06-10.
  9. ^ http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/dogtooth/
  10. ^ "Greece Submits "Dogtooth" for Foreign Language Film Entry @ Academy Awards". Greek Reporter Hollywood. Retrieved 2010-09-28.
  11. ^ "Beautiful but doomed: Greece submits 'Dogtooth' for Oscars". incontention.com. Retrieved 2010-09-28.
  12. ^ "The Moet British Independent Film Awards Annoucnce Nominations and Jury for 13th Edition". bifa.org. Retrieved 2010-11-21.
  13. ^ "Fading light on film festival". irishtimes. Retrieved 2010-05-07.
  14. ^ "Main Prize Estoril Film Festival". Estoril Film Festival. estoril-filmfestival.com. Retrieved 2010-05-07.
  15. ^ a b c d e "Greek Oscars were given away!". grreporter. Retrieved 2010-05-07.
  16. ^ a b c "Night of Greek Oscars is coming!". grreporter. Retrieved 2010-05-07.
  17. ^ "2010 RiverRun Award Winners". riverrunfilm. Retrieved 2010-05-07.
  18. ^ "Dogtooth, Ordinary People, Eastern Plays and Storm Awarded in Trieste". sff.ba. Retrieved 2010-05-07.
  19. ^ "Dogtooth Receives an Award at the 31st Cinemed". sff.ba. Retrieved 2010-05-07.
  20. ^ a b "Dogtooth: Sitges Film Festival". Sitges Film Festival. sitgesfilmfestival.com. Retrieved 2010-05-07.
  21. ^ "Dogtooth – Stockholms filmfestival". Stockholm International Film Festival. stockholmfilmfestival.se. Retrieved 2010-05-07.
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