Almost every work by Yorgos Lanthimos has a "unique" theme, a "strange" way of telling stories, and even more special is that he can mix a series of elements from ancient to modern times into his films in a way that is both attractive and extremely scary. His work Poor Things just won the Golden Lion, once again reminding the audience of this Greek director's talent in "molding" the most ordinary things into the most extraordinary things in an artistic way.
Director Yorgos Lanthimos receives the Golden Lion award
Star Emma Stone - the "soul" of the movie Poor Things
Poor Things tells the story of Bella Baxter, the main character of the film played by Emma Stone, who is saved from death by a doctor and begins an adventure in a fictional 19th century European setting. This is the next time this director touches on the historical theme, which was previously popular through The Favourite (2018), starring Emma Stone.
Before this Golden Lion-winning film, Yorgos Lanthimos received many nominations and prestigious film awards at European and American film festivals. Dogtooth (2009) can be considered the pioneering work of the director born in 1973 at European film awards. The film is a psychological-drama genre, delving into the relationship between parents and children in a family. The film won the Un Certain Regard award at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2010 Oscars.
His film Alps , released two years later, continued to be a psychological work, exploring the conflicts within a group of gymnasts called "Alps", competing for the main prize at the 68th Venice Film Festival and winning the award for screenplay.
Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz in The Lobster
It was not until The Lobster (2015), starring Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Olivia Colman, Léa Seydoux, that Yorgos Lanthimos's name "exploded". An extremely difficult work to watch, because in the film, Yorgos Lanthimos and his colleagues portrayed an absurd fictional world combined with the black comedy genre, telling the story of humans choosing to either find a partner or be turned into an animal. The film was shown at the Cannes Film Festival that same year, won the Jury Prize, and was nominated for the 89th Academy Awards for screenplay and for Best Film at the 69th BAFTA Awards.
Nicole Kidman in the movie The Killing of a Sacred Deer
This Greek director's films are dark and extreme, especially when delving into themes such as evil and hatred. Two years later, he released The Killing of a Sacred Deer , loosely translated into Vietnamese as Killing the Divine Deer , inspired by the play Iphigenia in Aulis by the famous ancient Greek playwright Euripides. In this work, Yorgos Lanthimos shows a major shift in film genre: from psychological to horror. The acting of the cast such as Colin Farrell, "Australian swan" Nicole Kidman, Barry Keoghan... can be said to be excellent and touch the audience's emotions, and above all must be praised the filmmaker's talent for subtly handling ancient drama material into contemporary life. The work The Killing of a Sacred Deer competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.
The cinematic language in The Favourite makes a strong impression
After The Lobster , The Killing of a Sacred Deer , Yorgos Lanthimos's The Favourite combines all the elements that have appeared in previous films, both pushed to the climax but extremely profound and poignant. The Favourite tells the story of the British royal "harem", gathering stars such as Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz... Olivia Colman's transformation into the Queen of England, along with the other two female co-stars, makes the work "shine". Portraying the ridiculousness of the royal court with classical music, along with extremely wide camera angles that leave almost no corner of the castle about royal life and political context, The Favourite shows not only Yorgos Lanthimos' talent in creating an emotional picture of a period of British history but also in choosing actors to bring out the soul of the character. The film won the Jury Prize at the 75th Venice Film Festival, received a series of nominations and other awards such as BAFTA, Golden Globe; including 10 nominations for the 2019 Oscars, star Olivia Colman had an unforgettable victory when she took home the golden statuette for Best Actress.
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