A lesson on the dangers of insularity, Dogtooth is an uncomfortable exploration of a father’s efforts to maintain dictatorial control over his family.
Dogtooth depicts the lives of an unnamed family whose interactions with the outside world are severely mediated by the only family member who ventures beyond the gates of their estate—the father (Christos Stergioglou).
Such extreme isolation leads to a bizarre family life, to say the least. Although they are easily in their twenties, the family’s three children display the kind of pettiness and easy brutality that only children can. The oddly violent youngest daughter (Mary Tsoni), the son (Hristos Passalis) and the oldest daughter (Aggeliki Papoulia) amuse themselves with twisted games of “endurance,” and compete for their parent’s love—and stickers—by answering academic questions. The children will be free to leave their enclosure, their parents tell them, once they have properly matured, evidenced when their “dogtooth” falls out.
Until this (fictional) event occurs, the parents maintain, venturing into the outside world is far too dangerous. The world outside the enclosure has a sense of sterility, an ominous, almost post apocalyptic emptiness to it that makes the parent’s claim seem either laughable or strangely accurate.
The family’s only contact with the outside world is through Christina, a security guard at the father’s factory, who is brought in weekly to ‘service’ the son. No longer satisfied by this role, Christina subtly corrupts “the eldest,” upsetting an already fragile familial balance and introducing elements of the outside world that cannot be explained away.
From the first it becomes clear that this is a family built on misinformation. Unfamiliar (and potentially subversive) outside words like “sea” are familiarized and put into the context of the family’s known world. For example, “sea” is redefined as a sort of large, comfy armchair, and “phone” becomes synonymous with saltshaker. The sorts of redefinitions and misunderstandings that crop up out of the family’s insular worldview make for a hilarious satire of family life.
In spite of a somewhat twisted humor, the film is predominantly a psychological horror film, maintaining a level of subtle creepiness throughout. Dogtooth unravels at a somewhat laconic rate—at moments, it seems suspended outside of our normal understanding of temporality. Despite, or perhaps because of this, it is bizarrely captivating, taking an unexpected hold on your mind that persists long after you’ve left the theatre.
[Photo Courtesy / IMDB.com]