"the Killing of a Sacred Deer" by Yorgos Lanthimos. The victim at the tomb. The most controversial film with Nicole Kidman and Colin Farrell

It is a great luck to be in Epidaurus, where the most ancient theatrical stage of Europe is located and still functions. Coming out on it and walking along the amphitheater, it is impossible to get rid of the question: how did it look a few millennia ago? How did the actors play? What did the public experience?

His answer gave the loudest premiere of the Cannes competition. "The Killing of a Sacred Deer" filmed by the leader of the "new Greek wave" Yorgos Lanthimos ("Kynodontas", "The Lobster"). The plot is inspired by the tragedy of Euripides, the third and most sophisticated of the fathers of the theater. What exactly, the director did not report, but in the film directly mentioned "Iphigenia in Aulis"; and the name was suspicious. As you know, the problems of the king Agamemnon began with the fact that he accidentally killed the sacred doe Artemis while hunting. The goddess sent calm to the sea, and to go on a campaign against Troy, Agamemnon was forced to sacrifice the most precious thing - the daughter, the innocent maiden Iphigenia. Do not be afraid of ancient Greek spoilers: the film only partly reflects the problematics and plot of the tragedy. The outcome is unpredictable, although, ultimately, it meets the canons of classical drama.

Many will not take seriously the comparison of Lanthimos and his constant co-writer Efthymis Filippou with the great Euripides. "The Killing of a Sacred Deer" has caused many severe allergies, the film booed (although others greeted him with a standing ovation). It is time to remember that the ancient Greeks presented their plays at competitions - what is not the Cannes festival? Moreover, Euripides during his lifetime did not receive the deserved recognition; of his ninety-odd tragedies, only four won. Among them, the very "Iphigenia in Aulis", the last and most famous masterpiece of the playwright, was awarded posthumously. Fortunately, Lanthimos and Filippou are alive and still young, they have everything ahead.

The main character of the film Stephen (Colin Farrell, henceforth - actor-mascot Lanthimos) is a heart surgeon in a large American hospital. He has an excellent reputation, respecting his colleagues, a big house and a loving family: a tender wife (Nicole Kidman in his best role for ten years at least), an obedient daughter and son. Full bowl. Despite this, we immediately pay attention to his hemmed-up and nervous manner of communication, reticence and secrecy. Steven has a secret. The secret is sixteen years old, his name is Martin (rising star from Ireland Barry Keoghan). Why does Stephen spend so much time with him, lie to others about the teenager, give him expensive gifts, and then, having gathered courage, invites him to his home? All the usual suspicions that the audience in turn will experience will be wrong. Martin is not Stephen's sexual passion and not his secret son. He is really a stranger, but closely connected with the fate of the hero and the future of his loved ones.

There is no need to disclose more. Moreover, the usual causal logic in the case of "The Killing of a Sacred Deer" will not work. This enchants some viewers and is guaranteed to infuriate others. Lanthimos did not try to mislead them. His film is openly theatrical and conventional. Actors seem to be banned from the so-called psychological immersion in the role. Heroes are involved in something more than the drama of relationships, they simply do not immediately realize this; so Oedipus for the time being did not understand why he was punished by the gods. The surreal and absurd dimension of the film is the most important. It throws away social motivations, overthrows characters and spectators into the space of tragedy, leaves it alone with a personal disaster from which there is no salvation. Here morality was not yet born, within the framework of which atonement or forgiveness could follow sin: Christianity was not born in the fifth century BC, when Euripides lived and wrote. There are only terrible scales on which every action will certainly have consequences. Therefore, the past is permanent, and the future is predetermined. This, and not anyone's personal adversity, is the essence of the tragedy.

Of course, all this would remain a pure theory if Lanthimos had not found an adequate directorial solution for his tragedy. However, it is convincing from the first frame, when we see a close-up of open-heart surgery. Then - the face of a doctor, hidden behind a mask and glasses: what is not a theatrical ancient Greek mask? Subsequently, the role of such a mask is performed by Farrell's thick beard - it is difficult to read the facial expression behind it. The signs with which this deliberately sketchy film operates are convincing and simple, from the very bloody wound at the beginning to the ketchup rumored with it on french fries at the end. In this seeming self-evidentness, there is both a challenge and radicalism.

Perfect in their sterility, reminiscent of Kubrick, interiors where lost heroes of the film wander. Generalized perspectives of a static camera, as if frozen in horror from what is happening. The most complex sound design, in which the tone of Stabat Mater Schubert alternates with the disharmonic horror of Ligeti and Gubaidulina. Detachment of actors who seem incapable of behaving like so-called "normal people". At first, it makes one laugh and turn it away, but by the end, it is frightening: the heroes of the tragedy do not have the right to the notorious normality. All this leads us to the conclusion how simple and so terrible. Between the abyss, in which invisible gods can dwell (or perhaps no one at all) and us, are only a few centimeters. We can take a step and cross the border at any second without even noticing it. The Greeks knew it. We forgot. And Lanthimos reminds.