Although released in 2009, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Dogtooth has found its way back as a talking point of film lovers everywhere after its recent arrival as a feature on MUBI. A Greek thriller centred on an overly controlling family who have ostracised their adult children from the world, this film will leave you feeling unnerved, but in the best way possible.
★★★★✰
Dogtooth instantly establishes a disturbing atmosphere with its opening, which offers no context as to the situation of the characters, merely a shot of a tape recorder, playing a list of “new words” in what we, as viewers, can only assume is some form of lesson. It then starts to reel off lies, such as the sea being “a leather armchair with wooden arms,” before cutting to a cold shot of the son (Christos Passalis) and establishing an unsettling tone that looms over the rest of the film.
Taking place in a family home, the parents (Christos Stergioglou and Michele Valley) have isolated their adult children from modern society, their only knowledge of the outside world being the lies that they have been taught, such as the idea that cats are savages, or that aeroplanes are toys in the sky that will occasionally fall to earth, which has even been implemented within their homeschooling education. They are practically destined to spend the rest of their lives within the confines of their pristine house, blocked from society by a fence, only allowed to go into the real world when their “dogtooth,” or canine tooth, has eventually fallen out, symbolising their official coming of age. Even then, they are only able to properly leave the house when their tooth has grown back, which allows them to be able to learn to drive. However, the outer world starts to bleed into their home via tapes gifted to the eldest daughter (Angeliki Papoulia) by Christina (Anna Kalaitzidou), a security guard from their father’s work whom he has hired to have sex with his son. The tapes contain recordings of films such as “Rocky” and “Flashdance” which start to influence the eldest daughter’s behaviour, as we see her reciting scenes from the films and even imitating the dance moves from “Flashdance” during the parents’ anniversary celebrations. Here, we witness the captivity start to crumble.
The film eerily perverts the idea of parenthood to ask us, “what if our parents took it a step further? What if they played God?” and perfectly demolishes the familial control structures that we are so used to seeing from a healthy domestic perspective. We see this through the way in which the three children are left nameless by the parents and are simply referred to by their relative ages, such as “the eldest”. They remain in a permanent childlike state as it’s all they’ve ever known, due to their complete lack of independence or awareness of adulthood. Their father rules their lives in a militaristic fashion, rewarding them with stickers that function as a points system to earn certain privileges. The way that they are trapped in constant childhood is paralleled by the father’s visit to the family dog, who is kept at a training centre—they are nothing but caged animals, being trained and mind-warped by him and his wife.
Lanthimos’ style of directing, implemented in the monotonous, somewhat sterile performances, allows to not get overwhelmed by the emotions of the characters, whilst adding to the strangeness and occasionally otherworldly feeling of it all. It reminds us that this story is not real, yet the familiar suburban and cosy middle-class setting of the house shows us how this isn’t actually far from the realms of human possibility, and that cases such as this have happened in our world. We are unaware of the worst possible thing that those who are supposed to love us can do. The film inflicts this paranoia within us and forces us into questioning the inner psyche of those around us, such as our family, friends, and loved ones, and their true intentions, whether purposefully harmful or not. Perhaps we can see ourselves in the parents, allowing us to reflect on the times we have done what we believe is best for someone, but which has ended up being the complete opposite, despite it being out of love. In the case of the film, this idea of love is tinted by obsessive parental control. Even the set and colours within the film, the warm, summery shots of the green, sunlit garden contrast with the cult-ish undertones of the family, the film a horror in disguise. This brightness puts into perspective the discomfort we feel, showing us that an environment so beautiful can house such awful activity.
The Verdict
Dogtooth is a perfect psychological, slightly dystopian thriller. It uses the idea of protection and dominance within a family context and, by amplifying it, pulls the worst from it, leaving us questioning the structure of families and how far they could possibly go—which is hopefully not as far as to hold your children hostage in your home for their entire lives. Unsettling, but a must-watch.
Words by Victoria Ruck
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