The actors/actresses seemed to me like they were delivering their lines without emotion, pathos and therefore, conviction. It was as if they were coldly reciting the script in a final rehearsal before the actual filming. Greeks are more vivid, they don't speak like that!!
shareI think that's Lanthimos' directing style. I noticed the same thing the first time I saw Dogtooth. I'd guess it's a deliberate move to add to the weirdness and coldness of his movies, maybe to also alienate the viewers and make them feel uneasy.
shareAs the previous poster stated, that's the director's style.
It's a technique first developed by legendary playwright/theatre director Bertolt Brecht. It's called verfremdungseffekt ("the distancing effect"). I suggest you look it up. It's a rather interesting approach. David Lynch and Wes Anderson use it to varying degrees as well.
Also, Michael Haneke's "Funny Games" is intentionally constructed to be one big Brechtian experiment. The placement of the camera, the constant fourth wall breaks, etc... The intent is so that the audience doesn't lose itself passively into the production and, hopefully, is forced to digest the film with complete objectivity.
Both "Dogtooth" and "Alps" are allegorical in their nature. I believe Lanthimos' uses the distancing effect to remind of us this so that we dig deeper into the hidden meanings of his work.
Maybe it is because in the film, the characters are playing characters. But the thing is, you can't really tell when they're abandoning character. Because they even themselves doubt if they're really who they think they are, or if their character is no longer a character but a fiction needed in order to effectively gain an identity of their own.
I think it was Sartre who splendidly described this condition. Who are we in the very last instance? My dad's son? My girlfriend's boyfriend? My boss' employee? We certainly don't act the same way in front of all of these, so which role is the true role? Which is the self I really am?
Script-like dialogues form part of our every day, there's no question about it. Of course it is exaggerated in the film for illustration purposes. There is no true passion in our words, there is no honesty. Like Jacques Lacan said, we are actors in a big large stage or, as Jacques Lacan puts it, "speakers".
Does Mahmet use this too? I thought it works well here (Alps).
shareBresson, Fassbinder, Buñuel and Aki Kaurismäki all use the Brecht method too.
share[deleted]
Either the actors are not talented or that was deliberately dictated by Y. Lanthimos. I guess it's the second but I don't like that kind of acting because it makes the actors appear robotic or even retarded.
shareOr its a comedic touch.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S2EI48Qa84&t=1m38s
it might have to do with Greek ancient tragedies in which actors wore masks
share