“It didn’t really start as a story about family dysfunction and such. In the beginning, I was wondering about family life and parenting in general and if the way we think about it would ever really change.”

In an interview with Pamela Jahn of Electric Sheep Magazine, Yorgos Lanthimos muses on his initial thought process behind the creation of his acclaimed 2009 absurdist family drama Dogtooth. In the above quote, the director who would come to be known to English-speaking audiences through hilariously nightmarish features like The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Poor Things, and the upcoming Kinds of Kindness explains how the idea of Dogtooth slowly began to form after a conversation with some soon-to-be-newlywed friends.

In the wake of their union, Lanthimos would make some slight and friendly jabs at their decision to marry and start a family despite the high chances of divorce. A joke on his part,...