How Yorgos Lanthimos Writes Dialogue
Yorgos Lanthimos gained worldwide recognition and popularity a couple of years back with his Oscar-winning feature The Favourite. Prior to that, Yorgos has had significant success in the indie scene and managed to establish himself as a prominent name at a very young age.
Perhaps the main reason for Lanthimos’ boom in the entertainment industry is his unique style. And we don’t say that lightly: this filmmaker’s films are, by all accounts, unique and completely his.
A lot of successful filmmakers have established a certain style for themselves throughout the years, so much so that their name becomes a poster for a specific genre. That is very QT or We’re looking for a Wes Anderson aesthetic or This is inspired by Lars von Trier are all phrases we’ve actually heard throughout the years.
Of course, there are pros and cons to this.
This is only acceptable when the director is also the writer of the film. Otherwise, it’s more than possible they would be imposing their own filmmaking style on a story that neither needs nor requires it. But thankfully, most of these filmmakers do write their own films; and so does Yorgos Lanthimos.
In fact, it is exactly his writing style, and more specifically, the way he writes dialogue, that most shapes the uniqueness of his movies. All of his four English language features (Dogtooth, The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, and The Favourite) share key features in the way they are stylized. A lot of that comes from dialogue.
Obviously, every film is different and the dialogue for every film serves different purposes. It’s close to impossible to analyze any specific writer’s writing style as a whole. So, for the purposes of staying on track and as specific as possible, all of what follows is mainly regarding The Killing of a Sacred Deer, but can somewhat apply to the other three features as well. It must also be mentioned that Lanthimos’ films are highly abstract and symbolical, so everything that follows is only our personal analysis and not the absolute truth.
First, we must first make clear what dialogue Lanthimos writes.
The way Lanthimos’ characters speak (and also behave) is rather alien and robotic compared to the real world we live in. It’s consciously expositional, not in regards to the plot, but rather, the characters’ individual thoughts. It often doesn’t make sense and feels fake or wrong.
STEVEN
Nice watch.
MATTHEW
Thanks.
STEVEN
What’s the water resistance?
MATTHEW
200 metres.
STEVEN
It also has a date display.
MATTHEW
Yes, it does.
STEVEN
I might have gone for a metal strap
instead of a leather strap.
MATTHEW
Oh, really?
STEVEN
Yes. I think I’d prefer a metal
strap. I’ve had this one for years
and it’s as good as new.
That is the opening dialogue of The Killing of a Sacred Deer. As you can notice, it’s very expositional, alien, and somehow seems off. It seems as if the page needs to be filled with something; usually, this would be a grand screenwriting mistake, but since Lanthimos does it intentionally, it weirdly works.
So, why?
Mainly, to make us feel unease. The Killing of a Sacred Deer creates a thrilling and eerie atmosphere and strives to sink the viewer into that atmosphere as further as possible. Through the dialogue, and through the way it’s spoken, that atmosphere evolves. The characters don’t speak quite as real people, so we, as actual real people, feel as if something is not quite right, both with them as people and the world they exist in. We feel awkward and somehow uncomfortable, which is exactly the feeling Yorgos Lanthimos craves to provoke in us.
It also helps us understand the characters further.
Everything in any Lanthimos film, not only the dialogue, but the actions as well, is highly instinctive. To be frank, it took us a long time to sum up all of Lanthimos’ decisions with one word and that’s as close and specific as we could get — instinct.
Take a look at the excerpt above again. The characters speak extremely openly. They don’t follow traditional rules of communication or social behavior, they speak their mind. If you look at the film as a whole, that’s more than evident. Lanthimos also chooses to direct his actors in a specific acting style, which makes his writing choices even more clear and evident.
And yet again — why? Why write through instinct as not through realism?
We believe it’s because Lanthimos wants to present worlds and realities where people let their true selves out. Actually, scratch that — not a reality where they let their true selves out, but a reality where only that exists. All characters in The Killing of a Sacred Deer speak and act in a similar abstract manner. They follow their instincts. It’s an alien world with no hold backs where people are less bound by the external and thus, less fake.
Instinct. You want to do something? Do it. You want to say something? Say it. The thing you’re doing or saying may not necessarily be anything evil or ugly or raw — it may just be an in-depth conversation about watches and water resistance.
And lastly, it’s about choice.
We can go on and on trying to truly understand why Lanthimos does what he does, but it’s entirely possible there is no deeper meaning. Maybe he’s following his own instincts because, well, that’s simply what he wants. Because that is his style.
Maybe Lanthimos writes dialogue in such alien way because he simply likes the way it sounds and appears on screen. He likes the aesthetic and he loves creating a slightly augmented reality. Maybe it’s as simple as that.
And then again, maybe he does want to make us feel at unease and/or create a more instinctive, and thus, true, world. Maybe it’s a combination of all three. And maybe you have a completely different understanding of Lanthimos’ films.
Isn’t that exactly what makes this filmmaker so special? He makes unique films that speak to everyone differently. What more can we want?
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