The irony begins with the title. It’s hard to imagine an exploration of empathy from Greek absurdity specialist Yorgos Lanthimos. Sure enough, Kinds of Kindness is a withering examination of human weaknesses, especially the inability to stand up to controlling behaviour.
The English-language film is a triptych with different stories and the same cast. Among the performers is Lanthimos’s muse Emma Stone, who justly won a best actress Oscar for playing a revivified corpse in his Poor Things (2023). But the Kinds of Kindness star is Jesse Plemons, who has been quietly yet steadily giving a series of memorable performances.
The movie is out on Disney+ Hotstar. The slow-burning narrative by Lanthomis and co-writer Efthimis Filippou requires patience, especially in the third episode.
The first, and most impressive, segment, evokes Lanthimos’s international breakthrough film Dogtooth (2009), a brutal drama about a psychotic father and his disturbed family. Plemons plays Robert, who is in a masochistic relationship with his mentor/boss/father figure Raymond (Willem Dafoe).
Raymond collects people, like he collects memorabilia. Raymond dictates every minute of Robert’s life, down to his marital arrangements with Sarah (Hong Chau). Something has to give way and it does, leaving Robert bereft.
It gets weirder in the second chapter. Plemons plays Daniel, a police officer worried about the fate of his missing wife Liz (Emma Stone). Liz does return, but is a different person, triggering massive changes in Daniel too.
The third offering is the overly elongated saga of Emily (Stone) and Andrew (Plemons), who are members of a cult run by Omi (Willem Dafoe) and Aka (Hong Chau). As bizarre as the sexual fidelity tests imposed on the cult’s members is the quest of Emil and Andrew to resurrect dead people.
The chapters share stiff movements, formal-sounding dialogue, and normalised depictions of outre behaviour. The unequal power dynamic that underpins relationships – a cornerstone of Lanthimos’s work – as well as black comedy delivered with a straight face course through the 164-minute movie.
While not as explicit as Poor Things, Kinds of Kindness has its share of eyebrow-raising moments. Lanthimos turns the screws slowly but surely, putting his cast through the wringer and making audiences squirm too in the bargain.
The movie is that rare thing – it doesn’t explain itself. Deliberately obtuse, seemingly set in a parallel universe, and mining the depths of the soul, Kinds of Kindness is a parade of ravishingly aestheticised cruelty. A sinister mood prevails throughout, aided by Robbie Ryan’s creepy framing and Jerskin Fendrix’s background music, aptly described as “eerie” and “unnerving” in the subtitles.
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