The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

by Octavio Carbajal González

“The Killing of a Sacred Deer” , a remarkably gleaming and grotesque film, brought to us by the peculiar and extraordinary Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos, is directly based on the Greek tragedy “Iphigenia in Aulis” by Euripides.
We are introduced to Steven Murphy, who is a respected cardiologist and surgeon. His wife Anna is an equally successful ophthalmologist. They live with their two children- Kim, a teenager, and her younger brother Bob- in a large house in an unspecified city in American.

The opening scenes invite the audience to decipher the nature of the strange relationship Steven has to a serious young man named Martin. The two have lunch together, go for a walk and exchange gifts. The panorama that drives the plot is clarified very soon. Martin, who is eerily intuitive and mysterious, turns out to be the evil force that will torment and negatively influence Steven’s family. The character of Martin is a sublime incarnation of mysticism and bewilderment, one of the most disturbing and complex characters I have seen incinema.
Lanthimos takes us back to a few years prior: Steven had performed an operation on Martin’s father, who subsequently died. Instead of filing a lawsuit for professional negligence, Martin chose a much more frightening and far-fetched way of settling scores. He demands that Steven kills Anna or one of their children. If he does not, the whole family will get sick and die. Martin describes the process with precise details, ready to continue with his harsh plan until he achieves his disturbing task.
Like any Lanthimos movie, “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” does not satisfy all audiences. It is an educated and austere film in its presentation, although these characteristics quickly fade to become a real torment for the audience, managing emotional tension with laughter caused by despair.
The implacable strangeness of the production and the Lanthimos seal cast a hypnotic spell that will hardly leave the subconscious.