This film is actually theater of the absurd tied together in three short films- all head-scratchers. They are dark comedies that are explicit, brazen, sometimes bordering on perversion, cults and horror. Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe, once again, star in stories from Director Yorgos Lanthimos. His latest films, Poor Things and The Favorite were both highly respected and awarded. But this film, with co-writer Efthimis Filippou, harkens back to his imaginative early dark comedies exemplified by The Lobster, and, though creative, become fairly uncomfortable to watch.
Lanthimos cast Stone, Dafoe, with Jesse Plemons, Hong Chau and Margaret Qualley in all three chapters and you have to pay close attention to the roles they play in each. The themes are very different in these wacky black comedies, but the names have been changed to protect the innocent, so to speak. All take place in present day America.
Cinematographer Robbie Ryan once again teams with Lanthimos to deliver highly saturated colors and stylized framing that makes the characters even more compelling and searing.
The first has Robert (Plemons) under the complete control of his very rich, mean boss, Raymond (Dafoe), who monitors Robert’s weight, how he dresses, what he eats, even when he can have sex with his wife Sarah (Hong Chau). But When Robert is told to crash his car at top speed into a car causing a serious accident, Robert has second thoughts, even though he’d be gifted with a coveted rare piece of sports memorabilia. It’s about Robert making a choice. Can he live without Raymond’s guiding every step? The test of loyalty and love is way beyond the pale.
In the second short, Plemons plays Daniel, a police officer. His wife is Stone (Liz) and she is missing after going on a diving trip. When she’s found and reunited with Daniel, he senses Liz seems different. He questions her identity. Is she really the woman he married? He doesn’t believe she is his real wife because of the way she acts with their friends. All together at dinner, he plays the video their previous sex-fueled orgy which is hard for all of them to watch, except for Daniel. Plemons make a mark in all three.
In the third piece, Emily and Andrew (Stone and Clemons) are a couple Stone has become dedicated to a cult led by Omi and Aka (Dafoe and Chau). Emily is looking for spiritual answers about her destiny and afterlife. But the way the cult operates is scary in itself. To test purity, Chau literally licks Stone’s torso to see if she’s pure and and the weirdness just escalates from there.
The first chapter is about choice, the second about identity and the third about destiny. Lanthimos presents unusual characters and unpredictable, awkward behavior to keep you interested looking for some kind of conclusion. And yes, Lanthimos adds his trademark, having Emma Stone dance as if nobody’s watching. It’s long, but you stick with it thinking you’ll understand, laugh or get answers. It’s one perverse story after another with great actors stretching the bounds of their characters in this trilogy. You’ll be thinking about it long after it ends, and we think messing with your head about life is what Lanthimos intended from the start.
Searchlight 2 hours 44 minutes. R
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