Kinds of Kindness, the dirty kid film by Yórgos Lánthimos (review)

The Greek director returns with a black comedy in three sketches. A stylistic exercise as amusing as it is limited, which owes a lot to its casting.

With Kinds of Kindnessshot at full speed in the wake of the post-production of Poor Creatures, Yórgos Lánthimos returns to his original misanthropy and examines with dark humor the dirty and paradoxical corners of the human mind. This sketch film brings together regulars Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe and Margaret Qualley (all impeccable), as well as the new kid on the block, Jesse Plemons (made for the exercise to the point that his performance earned him the award male interpretation in Cannes).

Each actor plays a different role each time in three stories: a man named Robert has his daily life dictated to the smallest detail, including sexual acts, by his boss (by far the most successful chapter); a missing woman suddenly returns and her husband doubts her identity; a sect seeks the chosen one capable of overcoming death (a segment which would have deserved to be reduced by half). It all seems like arty and incongruous episodes of The Fourth Dimensionwhich come together on the themes of mental manipulation, control and dependence.

Fascinating subjects that Lánthimos treats like a brat, knobs at 11 for the best – some truly hilarious passages – as for the worst – the unthinkable length of 2 hours 45 minutes. A twisted little formalist object (the staging as finely crafted as disturbing), which owes enormously to the communicative pleasure that its cast takes in slipping into the skin of characters on the borders of reality.

Kinds of Kindness by Yórgos Lánthimos, with Emma Stone, Margaret Qualley, Jesse Plemons… Duration: 2 h 44

Willem Dafoe in Kinds of Kindness: “You have to resist the temptation to be smart” (interview)