The Power of the Dog | Jane Campion at the top of her game ★★★★

This film adaptation of Thomas Savage’s novel, published in 1967, is not a western like any other. The filmmaker Jane Campion, whose return to the big screen after 12 years of absence could not be more grandiose, indeed uses the codes of the genre to make visual poetry, a bit like Terrence Malick did at the time of Days of heaven. A feature film rated “western” has rarely been so “beautiful” to watch.

Marc-André Lussier
Press

That said, the evocative power of The Power of the Dog goes well beyond its aesthetic aspect. It also lies in this way of carrying out a story whose dramatic springs are linked surreptitiously to build an implacable psychological contest.

Having shot nothing for the cinema since Bright Star, the director of The Piano, who devoted several years to the series Top of the Lake, is at the top of his art by bringing to the screen a story where, for the first time in his cinema, male characters are the protagonists. Camped in Montana a century ago (filming however took place in New Zealand), The Power of the Dog recounts the journey of two very intimate brothers, whose dynamics implode the day one of them brings a woman he is in love with to the ranch they run.

While they couldn’t be more different in temperament from each other, Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch) and George (Jesse Plemons) have lived – and slept – together for 40 years. The dominant personality of one contrasts with the more discreet and good-natured nature of the other. George is even regularly insulted by his brother. Their fates change the day they travel, along with the men working at the ranch, to the restaurant in the hotel instead, now run by Rose (Kirsten Dunst), a recently widowed woman.

This is where Phil spontaneously decides to show who the master is by cruelly mocking Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee), Rose’s son, in front of everyone. More fragile in appearance, displaying a certain artistic talent (he took the trouble to create paper flowers to decorate all the tables), Peter visibly represents in the eyes of Phil, incurable macho, everything the latter hates in a man not matching his definition of virility. It appears, however, that by consoling the grieving widow after the scandal, George developed a bond with her that led him to the altar. Phil will then have no other purpose than to destroy psychologically these foreigners come to upset his order of things.

Resolutely modern

With finesse, sensitivity and sensuality, supported in particular by a musical framework rich in atmospheres (signed Jonny Greenwood), Jane Campion tells a story much more complex – and ambiguous – than it might seem at first glance.

Even if The Power of the Dog, co-produced by Quebecer Roger Frappier, draws its inspiration from the tradition of another era, his film is resolutely modern and distils a point echoing concerns of our time, in particular as regards the notion of toxic masculinity.

Showcasing an exceptional quartet, this feature film is obviously marked by the remarkable performance of Benedict Cumberbatch (a citation to the next Oscars seems already assured), but also that of Kodi Smit-McPhee. The Australian actor has indeed been able to translate the quiet strength and resilience of a more singular character, on which is based a plot whose evolution sustains the interest until the outcome. At the same time, The Power of the Dog reminds us, as if necessary, of the place that Jane Campion still occupies in the restricted circle of the greatest contemporary filmmakers.

The Power of the Dog (The power of the dog is the title in French) is playing in its original version at the Cinéma Moderne and in a version with French subtitles at the Cinéma du Musée. From November 22, it will be showing at the Cinémathèque québécoise and will then be offered on Netflix from the 1^er December.

In theaters this Friday and on Netflix on the 1st^er December.

Consult the film schedule

Drama

The Power of the Dog

Jane campion

With Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons

2:06

★★★★