the first thing i want to say has something to do with how absorptive this film is considering its 'bareness' and its peculiar premise. on some sort of coordinate plane with axes for viewer investment and narrative complexity and perceived production cost, "Dogtooth" would share a pushpin with Michael Haneke's films: it is a seemingly natural, straightforward location inhabited by a few important characters who interact in consistently compelling ways, as dictated by a story that is told enough to keep the viewer rapt without excessively defending its own probability.
as for acting: Christos Stergioglou as the dad is a paradigm tyrant, but Aggeliki Papoulia and Mary Tsoni as the daughters are especially impossible to stop watching. their dancing, their playing, their conversation (they are the only characters in the film between whom there is neither significant antagonism nor stifling distance), and their violations of the family's codes introduce a measure of doubt into attempts by the viewer to judge their situation. is it an unsustainable paradise which the facts of nature will not allow to persist? or is it an idyllic prison where they are unwitting (at least for the earlier bulk of their lives) victims whose right it is to escape? by the end of the film, this issue is cleared up, but- meaningfully- it is impossible to tell if the decisive factor originates inside or outside the house.
on the imagery front, nearly every shot is brimming with contradiction: appalling but comically absurd (father beating progeny with videocassette contraband which he has securely taped to his own hand), awkward and ravishing (the anniversary dance), violently chaotic while at the same time painterly (see below).
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