The film "Fang": reviews, plot, director, actors and roles

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Yorgos Lanthimos' film "Fang" won the Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix in the Un Certain Regard category.

This is how the jury assessed the problem raised by the Greek director of the institution of the family. Indeed, in the film by Yorgos Lanthimos, in 94 minutes, loved ones go from touching love to amazing cruelty.

What is the movie about?

The film "Fang" (2009) presents the viewer with the story of one family. Here, parents have developed and are implementing very unusual pedagogical methods. They do not allow their already grown-up children to leave the territory of the house and garden, isolating them from the outside world by any means. At the same time, mother and father, ignoring the existing laws of life, create their own. They inform their children that they will only be allowed to leave the house when they lose their fang, which is a symbol of maturity. In other words, never.

Recognition

Fang, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, has won 19 awards and 17 nominations. Among them:

1. 2009 –Cannes Film Festival. Un Certain Regard Award.
2. 2009 – Catalan IFF, held in Sitges. The film was awarded the prize for the best directorial revelation. At the same IFF, the film won the Carnet Jove jury award.
3. 2009 Montreal New Film Festival. The film "Fang" (2009) became the winner in two categories at once. It was awarded as the best feature film. In addition, Yorgos Lanthimos received the Best Feature Film Director award.
4. 2009 Mar del Plata Film Festival. Here the film "Fang" became the best film and won the Bronze Horse award.
5. 2009 Estoril and Lisbon Film Festival. Here "Fang" won the award for the best film.
6. 2009 - KF in Sarajevo. At this film festival, the tape was awarded a special prize, which the jury gave it as the best feature film. And the two actresses who played the main roles - Angeliki Papulia (eldest daughter) and Mari Tsoni (youngest daughter) received the Best Actress award - "Heart of Sarajevo".
7. 2010 Director Yorgos Lanthimos received the Critics' Award at the Dublin International Film Festival.
8. 2010 Fang won the British Independent Film Award for Best Non-English Language Film.
9. 2010 The film wins the Treasure Award, winning the Chlotrudis Award.
10. 2010 According to the decision of the Greek Film Academy, "Fang" became the winner in several categories at once. It was nominated as the best film. Yorgos Lanthimos was recognized as the best director. Also Yorgos Lanthimosand Efthymis Filippou received the award for best screenplay. Christos Passalis won Best Supporting Actor. Editing by Yorgos Mavropsaridis was recognized as the best. Christos Sterioglu won the Best Actor award. Of course, she was a great success for him. Angeliki Papoulia was awarded Best Actress.
11. 2011 - Oscars. Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.
12. 2011 - The international community of cinephiles has decided that the film "Fang" is nominated as the best film not in English. She ended up finishing in 8th place.
13. 2011 The Internet Television and Film Association named "Fang" the best foreign language film.
14. 2011 The London Film Critics Association honored the film with a Best Foreign Language Feature.
15. 2011 The Online Film Critics Society nominated the film for Best Non-English.
16. 2012 "Golden Beetle". The film won Best Foreign Film.

Genre and cast

Fang, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, is a drama. He is definitely worth our attention.

The main characters of the film "Fang" are as follows:

1. Father. His role was superbly played by Christos Sterioglu.
2. Mother. Child-rearing housewife Michelle Valley.
3. The eldest daughter. The role of this girl went to a beautiful actress, whose name is Angeliki Papulia.
4. The youngest daughter. She was played by Mari Tsoni.
5. Son. The role of this guy went to Christos Passalis.

The only representative of the outside world in this picture is the girl Christina. Her role was played by Anna Kalaytsidu.

Storyline

What does the film "Fang" tell the audience about? The plot of this film is a small 94-minute study of the family, which is a closed cell of society. Among the main characters of this surreal story are elderly parents - mother and father, as well as their two daughters and son, who are already 18 years old. A family with their older children lives in a house surrounded by a high fence. Moreover, this territory, which has a garden and a swimming pool, is in absolute isolation from the outside world.

This was exactly the decision of the parents at the time. Their blind love for their children takes the form of pathology. In an attempt to protect children from the influence of the world around them, from an early age they inspire their offspring that going outside the garden is life-threatening. In the house, any sources of information that could tell about what is happening behind the fence, including television and radio, are prohibited. The only movie allowed to watch is a family video that was filmed with a handheld camera. There is a telephone in the house. However, his mother hides him in her room.

Children grew up without any outside influence. At the same time, they are absolutely sure that the most important thing in life is obedience and self-preservation. The guy and girls grow up athletic and beautiful. However, due to their artificially created isolation by their parentshave a lot of deviations in spiritual and mental development.

Mother and father create a special world for their children. If they accidentally heard any words, then they immediately find their own explanation. The sea for these children is nothing more than a comfortable leather chair, and zombies are nothing more than a yellow flower. And even when the daughter tells her mother that she needs a phone, the woman holds out an ordinary s alt shaker. In addition, the children were taught that the most bloodthirsty animal in this world is a cat.

Airplanes fly over the house from time to time. However, children taught by their parents believe that they are toys. Sometimes they even get into an argument about who will get such an airplane if it accidentally falls into their garden.

Games guy and girls are very far from the usual children's fun. For example, they like to compete in who can keep their finger under boiling water the longest or who will regain consciousness the fastest after receiving a dose of chloroform.

Only the father is allowed to leave the territory of the house. At the same time, he goes on a journey by car, as this allows him to feel safe. Only the father is busy buying food for the family. But before bringing them into the house, he cuts off the labels from all the packages.

Children know very well that they can leave this closed territory. However, they need to wait until the day when their molar canine falls out, and a new one grows in its place. However, the guy and the girl do not even suspect that this will never happen.

And now everything has changed…

Such a life, quitepossibly continued for many years. However, the son entered puberty. And the parents decided that in order to maintain he alth, he needed to have sex. That is why the house was made an exception to the accepted rules. The girl Christina was allowed into his territory. This is one of the employees of the factory where the father works. She was hired by him to meet his son's sexual needs.

For the time being, the girl did everything without asking any unnecessary questions. However, she soon became the main distributor of "evil" and temptations among older children.

As you know, any community, being closed (this can include a group of people or a biocenosis that has developed over the years), is less resistant to external influences than those where there is access for free penetration and residence of new individuals, seeds and genetic information. The fact is that a closed ecosystem is deprived of immunity, which could protect it from changing conditions of existence, the impact of external forces and new species. Sex and cinema acted as such forces in the film "Fang". They made a hole in the wall with which the parents surrounded the whole family.

Despite the fact that Christina was invited to the house only for the sake of communicating with a young man, she offered sexual contact with her eldest daughter. In exchange for this, Christina gave the girl to watch two video cassettes on which the films "Jaws" and "Rocky" were recorded. These films made a huge impression on the eldest daughter. She was simply not able to hide the new knowledge she received in this way. For the sake of watching new spectacles andthe opportunity to become part of them, the girl was ready for anything.

However, the father, learning about the videotapes, beat his daughter. After that, Christine was banned from visiting their home. The father decides that it is no longer possible to allow strangers into their world. And how, then, can the sexual needs of the son be satisfied? He ordered one of his daughters to do this. At the same time, the son chose the eldest of the sisters. After that, they entered into an intimate relationship.

After some time, the eldest daughter decides to run away. Before that, she knocked out her fangs. Running out into the street, the girl hid in the trunk of her father's car. In the morning, he found a tooth and blood in the bathroom. Realizing what was the matter, he tried to find his daughter. However, the search for his father was fruitless. He got into the car and went to work. At the same time, the man had absolutely no idea that the girl was in the trunk of the car.

Story Feedback

The whole story told by the director is different in that it develops in a closed space. The events taking place in the film revolve around only one single family, which consists of parents and their overgrown children. Mother and father at first glance seem to be intelligent people. However, from loving parents throughout the film, they turn into cruel despots. What could such a pedagogical method give their children? How could the life of young people in a confined space be otherwise? How could they entertain themselves, keep them busy and get new emotions?

The film contains shockingwalls. Among them are sexual contacts, self-mutilation and beatings. This may explain the limited distribution of the film. However, reviews of the film "Fang" say that it is unusually good. In one of his interviews, Yorgos Lanthimos said that he tried to make this terrible story beautiful, despite its internal ugliness.

A question of upbringing

Reviews of the film "Fang" contain statements about parental love. Most fathers and mothers dream of seeing their continuation in their children and grandchildren. Why did the unfortunate parents shown by the director Yorgos Lanthimos close the world for their daughters and son? Yes, there is a lot of injustice in the world. However, this method cannot be called a solution to problems at all. And this is confirmed by the story that the viewer saw. At the very beginning of the plot, it seems that happiness is quite possible in a closed space. Harmony is visible in the relationship of parents. Their children are obedient and submissive to the will of their elders. However, imperceptibly for themselves, the audience begins to notice some oddities. And as the story progresses, there are more and more of them.

Judging by the reviews of the film "Fang", at first the audience seems to be quite calm. And the rainbow atmosphere is even touching. However, a little later, this house begins to appear somewhat unusual. So far, all the oddities in this family do not find their manifestation.

And only after some time the viewer begins to analyze the behavior of young people. Reviews of the film "Fang" say that awareness is gradually coming: the characters seem to be playing some kind of game where everyonevice versa. Moreover, not everyone likes it, and its meaning is also sometimes incomprehensible.

Loving parents in this film have not yet decided who their own children are for them. Some viewers in their reviews compare them to three fish swimming phlegmatically in the pool just for beauty, or to dogs in training courses. And no wonder the film has a cynologist. He trains a real dog for this family and tells his father that every dog expects a person to show her how to behave. The parents in the movie "Fang" believe that anyone can be trained. It is enough just to create your own monopoly on training. Children can also be pets. And any, but not just cats. After all, they are always on their minds. That is why the only cat in the film is buried.

However, Lanthimos, using sarcasm, reminds his viewer that children must leave home sooner or later. And time after time humanity plays the biblical story of the prodigal son. But at the same time, this is not at all an evil that requires confrontation, because it is nothing more than the initiation of a person.

Acting

The title of the film "Fang" is a kind of metaphor. It was behind her that the director hid the problem of pernicious parental custody of adult children, which comes to real madness.

Judging by the reviews of the film "Fang", the actors played their roles just brilliant. The dullness of the life of the main characters emphasizes their lack of emotion, andnon-moving frames are as limited as the children themselves.

The acting in the film is quite realistic. This is confirmed by the feedback from the audience. They indicate that the actors did an excellent job with their specific task.

Director's confession

In one of his interviews, Yorgos Lanthimos says that when creating his film, he sought to understand how people are influenced if they are brought up in any special way. The director also wanted to show his audience how one person can influence a group of people, society, a country, or even the entire planet if he starts to hide something.

The characters of the film are similar to ordinary Greeks. However, the director was not going to shoot a story about a Greek family. He points out that this can happen in any country. And the father shown to him in the film is not necessarily the head of the family. He can embody the image of a leader. That is why the film remains open to various interpretations.

The movie "Fang" is also about how people sometimes deceive each other. When creating it, Yorgos Lanthimos reasoned about how much a person hides from others, how much he receives half-truths or outright lies from the stories of others and from media reports.

The director believes that his film will certainly appeal to the audience, who is dissatisfied with the fact that his attention is lulled, who decided to rebel and figure out what is happening around. So first of all, this is a movie for young people.

Conclusion

Inner worldconceived by the main characters of the film as ideal. However, its existence cannot last forever. This world will certainly become a grave for its creators and founders. Who will be the children who grew up in an artificially created, sterile and bleached reality? In a world in which the younger generation is completely unviable, and therefore doomed?

The director left the finale of the film "Fang" open. He gave his viewer the opportunity to complete the plot and draw a picture that seems to him the most believable.