The Power of the Dog
Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee (Slow West) star in this family feud drama based on Thomas Savage's novel, written and directed by Oscar winner Jane Campion (The Piano).
The year is 1925. The Burbank brothers (Cumberbatch & Plemons) are wealthy ranchers in Montana. At the Red Mill restaurant on their way to market, the brothers meet Rose (Dunst), the widowed proprietress, and her impressionable son Peter (Smit-McPhee). Phil (Cumberbatch) behaves so cruelly he drives them both to tears, reveling in their hurt and rousing his fellow cowhands to laughter - all except his brother George (Plemons), who comforts Rose then returns to marry her.
As Phil swings between fury and cunning, his taunting of Rose takes an eerie form - he hovers at the edges of her vision, whistling a tune she can no longer play. His mockery of her son is more overt, amplified by the cheering of Phil's cowhand disciples. Then Phil appears to take the boy under his wing. Is this latest gesture a softening that leaves Phil exposed, or a plot twisting further into menace?
Less2021Rating: M, Mature themes127 minsUK
Drama
- Director:
- Jane Campion (TV's 'Top of the Lake', 'Bright Star', 'The Piano')
- Writer:
- Jane Campion
- Cast:
- Benedict CumberbatchJesse PlemonsKirsten DunstThomasin McKenzieKodi Smit-McPheeFrances ConroyKeith CarradinePeter CarrollAdam Beach
The Power of the Dog | Awards
Winner of the Silver Lion for Best Director at the 2021 Venice Film Festival. People's Choice Award winner (Second Runner Up) at Toronto Film Festival 2021. Best Director, Picture (Drama) and Supporting Actor (Smit-McPhee) winner at the 2022 Golden Globes.
The Power of the Dog | Reviews
With Jane Campion’s expert directorial hand and exquisite performances, this erotic thriller disguised as a western is elegant, sinister, and grand. It’s the work of a master.
94%305 reviewsRotten Tomatoes® Score
All reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Hollywood Reporter
Campion is in full control of her material, digging deep into the turbulent inner life of each of her characters with unerring subtlety.
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RogerEbert.com
A beautifully crafted movie with some individual scenes that are some of the tensest I've experienced in some time.
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Independent
The fascination of The Power of the Dog lies in its ambiguity and its depth of characterisation.
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Vanity Fair
Campion doesn’t drive any message or meaning home so much as she deftly, unnervingly captures a mood...
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Screen Daily
(Campion's) most thoroughly conceived, consistently involving drama for years...
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IGN
Twenty minutes could certainly have been knocked off the runtime, but it’s still a striking world to be swept up in.
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Wall Street Journal
I thought it was impeccably crafted... gorgeously photographed and entirely -- although intentionally -- lacking in the verve and spontaneity that I cherish in movies above all else.
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The Globe and Mail
Campion builds the tension slowly and emphatically, telegraphing the perils ahead. Yet when the two-edged climax comes it’s powerfully unexpected.
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Time Magazine
This is a movie as big as the open sky, but one where human emotions are still distinctly visible, as fine and sharp as a blade of grass.
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