In October 2016 director Yorgos Lanthimos began filming his third English-language feature The Killing of a Sacred Deer in Cincinnati Ohio. The film starred Colin Farrell Nicole Kidman Alicia Silverstone Raffey Cassidy Sunny Suljic and Bill Camp.
The title of the film comes from Euripides’ play Iphigenia in Aulis in which Agamemnon must sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia in order to appease the goddess Artemis and get favorable winds to sail to Troy. In the play Agamemnon’s wife Clytemnestra kills him in revenge for killing their daughter.
Lanthimos has said that the film is not a literal adaptation of the play but is instead inspired by its themes of family sacrifice and revenge. The film is set in present day and follows Steven (Farrell) a successful surgeon who has a wife (Kidman) and two children (Cassidy and Suljic). When Steven’s teenage daughter (Cassidy) becomes friends with a strange boy (Suljic) Steven starts to feel like his family is in danger.
The film was shot on location in Cincinnati Ohio with some scenes also filmed in New York City.
The Killing of a Sacred Deer premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival where it received mixed reviews. The film was released in the United States on November 3 2017 by A24.
Critical response
The Killing of a Sacred Deer received mixed reviews from critics. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 50% approval rating based on 162 reviews with a weighted average of 6.2/10. The site’s critical consensus reads “The Killing of a Sacred Deer finds Yorgos Lanthimos returning to arthouse form with a punishingly strange parable that’s as frustrating as it is thought-provoking.” On Metacritic which assigns a normalized rating to reviews the film has a weighted average score of 65 out of 100 based on 39 critics indicating “generally favorable reviews”.
Many reviewers praised Lanthimos’ direction and the performances of the cast particularly Farrell and Kidman. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film 4 out of 5 stars calling it “a terrifically unsettling film” and praising the performances of Farrell and Kidman.
However some reviewers were less forgiving with Variety’s Peter Debruge calling the film “a plodding misanthropic eye-roller that suggests Lanthimos has lost his touch.”
What year was Killing of a Sacred Deer released?
2017
Who directed Killing of a Sacred Deer?
Yorgos Lanthimos
What is the name of the main character in Killing of a Sacred Deer?
Steven Murphy
What is the name of the main character’s wife in Killing of a Sacred Deer?
Anna Murphy
What are the names of the main character’s children in Killing of a Sacred Deer?
Bob and Kim Murphy
What is the name of the main character’s daughter’s best friend in Killing of a Sacred Deer?
Marty
What is the name of the main character’s co-worker in Killing of a Sacred Deer?
Matthew
What is the name of the main character’s co-worker’s wife in Killing of a Sacred Deer?
Mina
Who plays the role of the main character in Killing of a Sacred Deer?
Colin Farrell
Who plays the role of the main character’s wife in Killing of a Sacred Deer?
Nicole Kidman
Who plays the role of the main character’s daughter in Killing of a Sacred Deer?
Raffey Cassidy
Who plays the role of the main character’s son in Killing of a Sacred Deer?
Sunny Suljic
Who plays the role of the main character’s daughter’s best friend in Killing of a Sacred Deer?
Alicia Silverstone
Who plays the role of the main character’s co-worker in Killing of a Sacred Deer?
Bill Camp
Who plays the role of the main character’s co-worker’s wife in Killing of a Sacred Deer?
Narges Rashidi
