Dogtooth｜A Practice of Authoritarianism within a Family

During the period when Yorgos Lanthimos won the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival for "Poor Things", his films gained significant attention once again. Yorgos Lanthimos is a director with distinct style and I have briefly discussed his approach in filmmaking in my preview of “Poor Things”. He is skilled at creating nonsensical scenarios, using fictional tales as a metaphor for real-life struggles, and his themes are closely linked to contemporary sociatal politics. Today I will examine Lanthimos' directing style with "Dogtooth" as an illustration, providing a compelling entry point into Lanthimos' bizarre yet genuine world.

If you view "Dogtooth" as a family drama, you may find it absurd and difficult to understand. However, if you take this family as a miniature version of an authoritarian society, all the absurdities can be explained. It tells a story of a dysfunctional family. In this family, nobody except the father is allowed to leave their house, and the children have never experienced the world outside. Their understanding of the outside is solely derived from their parents, much of which is incorrect. Consequently, the father's authority and the children's obedience create an oppressive and fearful atmosphere. The various means of control used by the father to dominate his family are the same ones used by leaders in authoritarian societies to maintain their power. In the following paragraphs, I will discuss how the father establishes his authority within the family and what characteristics of authoritarianism this unconventional family represents.

Establishing a confusing language system is a way of controlling people in authoritarian societies. That's why the opening monologue of the movie teaches a quite baffling lesson.The father tells his children, "Today we're going to learn new words like sea, highway, hiking trip... The sea is like a leather couch you can rest on when you're tired. The highway is a strong wind. A hiking trip is a hard material..." When the children ask the meaning of the certain words, their parents give them wrong answers. A zombie is, for example, a small yellow flower, as how the mother answers the son to what it means. When the father plays foreign music CD, he makes up lyrics that have nothing to do with the original meaning of the song. The confusing information system creates disorder in people's thinking. This disorder not only makes it hard for children to learn and understand the world around them, and communicate with others, but it also makes it difficult for them to think logically and independently, defying the possibility of individual resistance against authoritarianism.

In order to have individuals comply with authority, resources are under strict control and everyone has to compete for them. These resources can be intangible, such as recognition from the authority. In the household, children are rated according to their behavior. Those with high ratings are qualified for certain privileges, such as the right to choose what activity to do after dinner. It's important to note that these choices are limited to what the father allows and it's ultimately the father's will that is exercised. This mirrors a society with an authoritarian rule, where individuals have limited options for entertainment. The limitation reflects a spiritual poverty within their inner world. In the film, the games they play typically fall into two categories: those that stimulate emotions and those that numb them. One example of the former is a game where players test their pain endurance by putting their fingers in hot water for as long as they can. An example of the latter is a game played by two sisters where they try to put themselves to sleep and see who can wake up first.

To maintain the scarcity of resources within the household and the singleness of information source, it is necessary to isolate the family members from the outside world. Only the father has the permission to drive out and only the mother can use the phone when necessary. Every item the father brings back home must have its label carefully torn off. The outside world is portrayed as terrifying by the parents and cannot be easily entered. Therefore, even when the eldest sister throws her airplane model one step outside the fence in purpose, the father still has to drive out to pick it up and the son dare not take a step outside.

Hope is also a necessary element in an authoritarian society. When an individual is in complete despair and has no desires, there will naturally be no fear and worry. If an individual loses fear and worry, how can they submit to the authority of the leader? So the father promises the children that they can leave the house once their dogtooth falls. But the outside world can be dangerous and one may need a car to travel safely, children have to learn to drive, which requires a new dogtooth. As an audience, we all know that this is a promise that can never be fulfilled, as it is a lie in itself. However, the children firmly believe it and see it as a form of hope.

Whether it's the promise of leaving or bring something new to this home from time to time, it's a manipulation of the children's hope and fear. For example, when the son tries to contact the "brothers" outside, this is his hope. When father tells them that the brother has also died, hope is transformed into fear, strengthening the son's obedience. During this shift from hope to fear, the desire to rebel is eradicated from the minds of the children. The youngest daughter, after learning that she can get something by licking others, thinks she has mastered a way to satisfy her needs and stops rebelling.

Self-awareness is crucial in resisting authoritarianism. In the film, only the oldest daughter, whose self-awareness is just beginning to gain this ability, attempts to escape in every way possible. She even gives herself a new name, Bruce, which is a symbol of her growing self-awareness. However, it is unfortunate that Bruce has been heavily influenced by the strict rules and deceit of her family. Before her escape, she intentionally breaks her dogtooth to prove that she has matured. She choses to flee by hiding in the trunk of her father's car because he has told her that one's feet should never touch the ground outside. These details raise concerns about whether she can adjust to the outside world, even if she manages to escape from this authoritarian family.

The movie concludes with a shot of the car trunk, which leaves the audience feeling uneasy and concerned. This type of uncertain ending is a recurring theme in Lanthimos' films. Upon examining the story, it becomes apparent that Lanthimos uses a family narrative as a metaphor for authoritarian politics. Although there are few characters, the terror of an authoritarian society is clearly conveyed.

In addition to the plot and setting, Lanthimos' use of camera also conveys a sense of absurdity. For example, in Dogtooth, the characters' heads are deliberately excluded from the frame. These head-cut-off frames, makes the audience unable to see the characters' expressions and only hear their voices, creating a sense of disharmony. The same effect is also achieved through behind-the-head shots, which are applied more often to filming the parents. With only their voices heard and facial expressions invisible, a sense of absurdity is established. Blindfolds are frequently seen in Dogtooth. The children play games while blindfolded, which represents “ignorance.” The recurring use of blindfolds underlines the spiritual status of individuals living a limited, repetitive life.

The movie seldom uses background music, and if it does, it is mostly source music. The resulting silence throughout the one-hour-and-a-half runtime creates a captivating tension and anxiety. The lack of music emphasizes the emotionless dialogue between characters, while also preventing the audience from anticipating plot developments through musical cues. Consequently, when sudden bursts of violence occur, they have a greater impact on the audience.

The faceless heads give the feeling of a towering, unknowable authority, so large as to be impossible to fully contend with the blindfolds emphasis the intentional ignorance the parents have inflicted on their children as a way to maintain power. The lack of music highlights the repression of any feeling, let alone happiness, and leaves the viewer in a permanent state of anxiety without cues of when violence might come next, similar to an authoritarian state.

To sum up, Dogtooth is a prime instance of Lanthimos' films that showcases unique traits that convey his themes of rebellion and dismantling authority, contemplation, and mockery of modernity. These themes persist in his subsequent works, even in his mainstream Hollywood films like The Favorite. As a result, we can expect a surreal and exciting storyline in Poor Things. How will Lanthimos portray the alienation caused by patriarchy and modernity? Let's wait and see.

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