The Power of the Dog: Jane Campion’s Western Masterpiece
By Linda Barnard
Rating: A
Director Jane Campion’s first film in 12 years is a visually powerful, brooding drama that has echoes of her 1993 Palme d’Or-winner The Piano with sweeping landscapes, repressed desire — and yes, a piano.
True to Campion’s style, the story (she also wrote the screenplay) unfolds slowly and deliberately, never telegraphing intent as tension builds and compounds.
The vast beauty of New Zealand ably stands in for the 1925 Montana wilderness, conveyed with skill by Australian cinematographer Ari Wegner assisted by Jonny Greenwood’s effectively spare score.
Ranching brothers Phil Burbank (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his gentlemanly sibling George (Jesse Plemons) live in the isolated mansion on the ranch given to them by their parents. They have made the cattle operation a success, yet are still sleeping in twin beds in their boyhood bedroom, despite the comforts of a large house and a good living.
The Victorian-style residence feels as out of place in the expanse as the great house of George Stevens’ 1956 epic Giant. This visual nod to an earlier Western drama about hasty marriage and family tension seems deliberate.
With The Power of the Dog, Campion has crafted a contemporary Western masterpiece that turns on the same pacing and style of 50-year-old films. She takes her time, letting the story, based on the 1967 novel by Thomas Savage, reveal itself in languid style.
There is nothing obvious here and in fact, there’s no point thinking that you know what’s coming in The Power of the Dog. Things play out as meticulously and methodically as the thin cowhide rope Phil carefully plaits, pausing to test its strength with the pressure of his cocked hip.
Cumberbatch has never been better. He’s all long, flat stares and acid-tongued, simmering menace as the self-assured Phil. He casually bullies his brother George, whom he dismisses as “Fatso.” George is a dull, easy target and never rises to his taunts. Phil desires more easily wounded prey. He’s a master of identifying weakness, the first to mock with a knowing laugh, the ranch hands eagerly taking his lead and providing the chorus.
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That precise bullying skill is revealed at a cattle-drive supper stop with George and the ranch hand crew at the Red Mill restaurant. Widowed owner Rose (Kirsten Dunst) tries to elevate her backwater boarding house eatery with home cooking and paper flowers on the tables made by her son, Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee), a slender, tender-hearted student who only wants to ease his mother’s difficulties. Phil’s humiliation of mother and teenage son is precise and deliberate.
Phil is furious when George ends up feeling protective of Rose and eventually marries her. He responds by beginning a bullying campaign crafted to slowly cut her in her most secret places. When jittery Rose attempts to make peace with Phil, it only opens her vulnerabilities further to him, making his ego-bruising work easier. Soon Rose is sneaking nips from hidden bottles to ease her misery.
George is caring, although unable to be much help to his suffering wife. Where was Phil’s distain for perceived weakness born? Perhaps it sprang from his macho mentor, the late Bronco Bill, whose saddle is kept oiled and polished on a wooden frame in the barn, an altar to toxic masculinity.
When nervous Peter arrives in between school terms with his lisp and awkward movements, he seems the easier mark and it’s hard not to see Phil’s sudden shift in stance from tormenter to mentor as just another way to get to his victim. Or perhaps it’s something even worse.
Cumberbatch delivers a powerful, physical performance, whether sitting impossibly straight in his saddle, or making casual whistling feel like an attack.
A runner-up for the TIFF People’s Choice Award, Campion won the award for Best Director at the Venice Film Festival in August. The Power of the Dog will likely show up during the Academy Award nominations next year, including a Best Actor nod for Cumberbatch and a Best Director nomination for Campion.
CLICK HERE to watch Bonnie Laufer’s interview with Benedict Cumberbatch.
CLICK HERE to watch Bonnie’s interview with Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst.
CLICK HERE to watch Bonnie’s interview with Kodi Smit McPhee.
The Power of the Dog. Written and directed by Jane Campion. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Thomasin McKenzie. In select theatres November 17 and on Netflix December 1.