VIDEO – Every week, our critics Samuel Douhaire and Marie Sauvion comment on a film released in theaters. Today, the film by Yórgos Lánthimos, presented at Cannes and awarded the Best Actor Award for Jesse Plemons.
By Samuel Douhaire, Marie Sauvion
Published on June 29, 2024 at 11:00 a.m.
Yórgos Lanthimos has a habit of dividing our critics. Too misanthropic for some, deliciously grating and disturbing for others. Already, Poor Creatures, at the start of the year, did not leave Samuel and Marie indifferent.
The Greek director is therefore back, with Kinds of Kindness, a presentation in competition at Cannes and a Best Actor Award for Jesse Plemons. “If you go with friends, you’re going to fight on the way out!” » warns Marie Sauvion. In this sketch film, the director asks questions (“What to do with your freedom? What do you do with your free will?”) without providing an answer. “Yorgos Lánthimos opens abysses and it always fascinates me”, Marie Sauvion continues.
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But because everything happens, for once, Samuel Douhaire will not only say bad things about Yórgos Lánthimos because the first sketch is very good: “It’s the right length. He’s not too smart. His staging is clean. It’s just the right amount of awkwardness. » And to salute the performance of the performers (Jesse Plemons, Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe): “I admit, Yórgos Lánthimos is an excellent director of actors. »
But things get worse with the other two sketches. The director’s naturalness returns: too cruel, too sadistic, even misanthropic, according to Samuel Douhaire. Marie Sauvion believes, on the contrary, that this accusation of misanthropy falls short. Yes, he is exaggerating. Yes, he pushes his characters to the maximum of madness and absurdity. And that’s what makes Kinds of Kindness exciting.
