DOGTOOTH (2009)
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave…”
Director Giorgos Lanthimos brings us one for the books; an unsettling family drama of psychologically imbalanced proportions. How often do we see a Greek film pushing parental overprotection to such extremes? Parents (Christos Stergioglou and Michele Valley) make painstaking efforts to shield their three children from the outside world. Problem is, they’re now in their upper teenage years and asking more questions. Here’s the bigger problem – the parents do not even bother to choose remotely ideal answers. The more questions, the more absurd the answers get. They replace negative terms with words that are in no way fitting, yet the teens continue to believe them. For instance, “What’s a zombie?” “A zombie is a small, yellow flower.” (!)
Another peculiar act of safeguarding is the meaning behind the film’s title. The children are coerced into reciting definitions at the dinner table, one being the fable their parents engrained into their heads ever since they were young. Once the child’s “dogtooth” falls out, they can leave the home and will only then be ready to face the dangers of the world. Yep. These grown children, with a full set of teeth very unlikely to drop any more canines, have no idea their folks plan on keeping them in child mode forever. This tooth symbolizes the key to possible freedom from the prison that is their home. Sadly, they’ve no idea anything is amiss.
The teens behave like competitive children for the most part, but they play wild, disturbing games, like huffing a rag soaked with anesthetic and the winner being whomever wakes first! They are conned into believing they have another brother that lives on the other side of the tall fence protecting their property, in a state of punishment of sorts. The ultimately bizarre part is that while treating them like young children, the parents recognize the kids are of sexual age. The father actually pays a security girl to come to the house and have sex with the son. Eventually, she starts secretly moving in on one of the daughters and things start to unravel rather quickly, spiraling into a frenzy, affecting each family member that must be seen to be believed.
It takes time to realize this drama has intentional humor, as the film is very serious in tone. The acting is so believable, there are times when one wonders if they are even acting, but actually living this strange, sheltered life. Warnings include: graphic sex scenes (no stunt cock here), incest, full nudity of both sexes, bloody teeth bashing, barking and even worse, a Flashdance reenactment. DOGTOOTH is a rather unforgettable film that stretches the overprotective, controlling parents theme to new plateaus of imagination. It’s understandable to try to preserve a child’s innocence for as long as possible, but now we know what happens when those little white lies continue long after the kids should’ve been told the truth about life! There is going to be a point where the lies are going to get so big that there is no turning back. It’s probably a question every parent has agonized over – just what age is the appropriate (heart)breaking point where they must shatter that fragile bubble of naivete’?
