“Your syntax is shit. And your penis is very, very small.” This double-pronged attack on one man’s prowess, verbal and sexual, comes about two-thirds into this wry comedy from Greece. And it neatly sums up the kind of petty jostling for alpha male supremacy that is skewered brilliantly here by Athina Rachel Tsangari, director of Attenberg, associate producer of Dogtooth.
For a well-heeled group of six men on a fishing trip aboard a luxury yacht, everything is a competition, even before they decide to rate each other’s skills and personal attributes to determine who is “the best in general”. Dental hygiene, flatpack assembly skills, breakfast choices and more easily quantifiable attributes such as physical endowment: everything is scored in the small books that each man guards jealously.
There are more shifting factions, allegiances and savage betrayals during the few days on this boat than in several weeks of current British politics. Inevitably, the politely gritted teeth clench a little more firmly as the days pass. And the exaggerated courtesy gradually peels off, like a badly glued toupee, to reveal the simmering grudges that lurk below the civilised facade. The impersonal PA announcements from the captain about the evening’s dessert belie the interest that the yacht’s crew start to take in the competition.
Tsangari’s deadpan approach to the increasingly sociopathic behaviour of the sextet is perfectly judged. There’s a chill undercurrent of oddness and alienation that downplays a premise that could easily have descended into absurdity, while also sharpening the comedy in the third act. And the music choices are equally astute – the lean, pulsing electronica of the score is punctuated by a brilliantly unexpected rendition of Minnie Riperton’s Loving You.
