Director of cult favorites “The Favorite” and “Poor Things,” Yorgos Lanthimos’s “Kinds of Kindness” is a cruel contemplation on the painful sacrifices we make to get what we want. The film asks: Are we controlled by our desires? And how much control do we give to those who hold the key?
Fittingly, the film opens with the high-synth Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams Are Made of These,” in which Annie Lenox’s voice calls, “Some of them want to use you / Some of them want to get used by you.” “Kinds of Kindness” concludes with Emma Stone dancing feverishly to COBRAH’s “Brand New Bitch.”
In the nearly three hours which connect these two blithely-spirited moments, Lanthimos offers a triptych of stories — each with different plots — that all use the same set of actors. The cast includes Lanthimos’s long-time favorite Emma Stone — protagonist of “Poor Things” — Hong Chau, Willem Dafoe, Jesse Plemons and Margaret Qualley, among others.
The first parable, dubbed “The Death of R.M.F.,” follows businessman Robert, played by Plemons, as he grows consumed by the commands of his boss Raymond, played by Defoe. Raymond determines when Robert eats, sleeps and has sex. The audience never quite learns why Robert is so intent on pleasing his boss. Perhaps that is the point: Lanthimos critiques the all-too-common fiending after wealth and status.
“R.M.F. is Flying,” the second story, trails along as police officer Daniel, also played by Plemons, investigates whether his wife Liz — just recently back from being lost at sea — has been replaced by an imposter. As a test of her identity, Daniel asks Liz, played by Stone, to complete brutish tasks. In one scene, she chops off her finger to serve as dinner. In another, she cuts out her liver. Chilling, I know.
In the final story, “R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich,” Andrew, played by Plemons, is a member of a purity-obsessed cult in the bayou. Guided by a prophecy, Andrew — along with Emily, played by Stone — searches for a girl with the power to bring the dead back to life. The subsequent tale includes bizarre sauna ceremonies, a set of twins played by Qualley and a resurrection.
If these stories — packed with rituals, sacrifice and prophetic dreams — sound a bit sacramental, that’s no accident. Not only does “Kinds of Kindness” include biblical references, including to the Parable of the Prodigal Son, but the entire film is also a rumination of gods and their followers. Several characters become god-like to those around them: the boss, Raymond or the policeman, Daniel. Those in their lives — Raymond’s employee, Daniel’s wife — are driven mad by a feverishness to satisfy. What will we do to please the people we worship?
In addition to the film’s religious allegory, there are both visual and conceptual sinews which bind the film together: games of power and control, moments of dark humor. And in each narrative, the surreal is mapped against the ordinary. In the last story, for instance, Stone drives a purple Dodge Challenger to find a veterinarian who has the power to resurrect the dead into the living. Cloaked in everyday clothes, the characters embark on medieval-esque endeavors against the backdrop of New Orleans.
Of course, violence serves as a persistent throughline of the film. The characters treat both sex and violence with a subversive flippancy, while operating in a world that looks remarkably like our own. The absurdity of “Kinds of Kindness” mirrors our own existence: while the real world may appear more buttoned-up on the outside, it is just as rotten as that of Lanthimos’s sick fables. Or so the film posits.
Especially as a fan of “Poor Things,” it feels tempting to chalk off the film’s gore and debauchery to some high-brow genius spilled from Lanthimos’s imagination. There’s brutal rape, a myriad of naked female bodies — notably, very few male ones — orgies and faint-inducing violence. But ultimately, it’s perversion masked as intellectualism. Strip away the biblical references and avant-garde air, and the film is mere bone-chilling depravity.
Perhaps, I told myself, I’m approaching “Kinds of Kindness” all wrong. Maybe I’m too uptight. But Lanthimos never properly develops any part of the film. The entire spectacle seems to operate on the surface of a surrealist dream with no real center. The film never pushes past the rather incoherent first unravelings of each story. It’s a strange, lurid world — not simply without rules or logic, but without depth.
Lanthimos-fans might declare the film as representing a sort of nihilism that resonates with our time. It’s a tired story. As our world teeters toward ruin, nothing means anything. We are all savage animals of flesh and bone. Frankly, I’m bored of it. I just can’t help but feel “Kinds of Kindness” is ultimately empty.
There are echoes of life, just barely audible, between the borders of “Kinds of Kindness.” Push deep enough, and you will detect something in the film about love — about how desperately and wholly we are committed to being loved that we will do anything to receive it. Stone offers poignant acting throughout, giving a glimpse at what “Kinds of Kindness” might have been if Lanthimos was able to excavate a bit more of that humanness.
Instead, the film chokes up a dark conclusion. Taken from the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams”: “everyone is looking for something.” Lanthimos makes clear that we never quite find it.
Rating: ★★★
