Forget 'Bugonia', This 94%-Rated Drama Remains Yorgos Lanthimos' Most Experimental Flick

Yorgos Lanthimos is now one of the most recognizable directors of our time, the creator of The Favourite, Poor Things, and Kinds of Kindness.

But long before his Oscar nominations and collaborations with Emma Stone, he made a film that remains his most radical and experimental work to date: Dogtooth. Released in 2009, it was nominated for the Academy Award and became a sensation at the Cannes Film Festival.

It is a paradoxical, grotesque, and unsettling dystopia in which love morphs into totalitarian tyranny and coming of age becomes an act of desperate resistance.

What Is 'Dogtooth' About?

A family of four – two daughters, a son, and their parents – lives in a house surrounded by a high fence, cut off from the outside world. Life here is governed by strange rules: the parents told the kids that they must not leave until their baby dogtooth falls out. Only then will they be able to venture out into the world.

The parents use audio recordings and videotapes to teach their children a distorted version of reality. For example, airplanes in the sky are actually toys, the word "zombie" refers to a "small yellow flower," and the most terrifying beast on earth is a cat.

The father is the only family member who is permitted to leave the house. The only outsider allowed in is Christina, a young woman whom the father brings over from time to time for his son. Her presence disrupts this peculiar family's relatively stable world.

After 17 Years, 'Dogtooth' Stands asYorgos Lanthimos' Most Absurd and Daring Cinematic Experiment

Dogtooth, like many of Yorgos Lanthimos' other works, is a grotesque drama filmed in a cold, hyper-realistic style.

Lanthimos offers viewers no familiar markers of good or bad, instead, he impassively records events, creating one of the most unsettling cinematic worlds in recent years. Even intimate scenes are shot with such detachment that they are more frightening than any horror movie.

Lanthimos found international success precisely with Dogtooth – a film that defies easy categorization as either an absurdist comedy or a serious meditation on totalitarianism within a single family.

'Dogtooth' Reflects on How the Transformation of Love Into Control Inevitably Leads to Violence

In his debut work, Lanthimos explores the perverse dynamics within a dysfunctional family. The parents isolate their adult children and manipulate their minds, constructing a twisted version of reality.

However, the central issue of Dogtooth is that children, no matter how naive, cannot be confined to a "land of eternal childhood" forever. Puberty inevitably asserts itself, and the desire to break free becomes overwhelming.

Ironically, the father's attempt to shield the children from the "dangerous" outside world by exerting absolute control is precisely what paves the way for rebellion. When Christina, an outsider, intrudes upon their lives, she acts as the catalyst that shatters the fragile reality the parents have spent years constructing.

Dogtooth serves as a cautionary tale: love that morphs into control inevitably leads to violence.

What Did Critics & Viewers Think of 'Dogtooth'?

• Dogtooth has 94% from critics and 75% from viewers on Rotten Tomatoes.

• On IMDb, the movie has a score of 7.1/10.

• On Letterboxd, Dogtooth scored 3.7/5.0.

Where to Watch 'Dogtooth'?

Dogtooth is available to stream on Hoopla.