Every Yorgos Lanthimos Movie, Ranked

Summary

• Yorgos Lanthimos is a Greek filmmaker known for his unique and often surreal style.
• Poor Things is Lanthimos’ most broadly appealing movie.
• Many of Lanthimos’ earlier works are challenging films to watch, but each provides a distinct experience.

Yorgos Lanthimos has created several exciting movies over the course of his career, but his experimental style and distanced storytelling have resulted in varying degrees of critical and commercial success. The director is notorious for his unique narratives and unconventional camera movements, which give his projects a very specific tone and atmosphere. While this can sometimes be alienating and lead to some misunderstandings in regard to the story, he always offers plenty of strange clues and a deep subtext that brings his movies to life and gives the viewer something profound to think about.

Lanthimos’ career began in the late ‘90s with a series of Greek-language shorts that first allowed the director to express the style that he’d later become so renowned for. Although his works were overshadowed by the other great directors of the 1990s, Lanthimos quickly developed a profile for himself as an experimentalist. His shorts gathered the attention of many international audiences, which allowed him to break out and start working on larger, more accessible projects in the early 2000s. From there, his budgets have steadily grown as he’s become a more reliable and accessible storyteller.

7 Alps (2011)

Alps Is Lanthimos’ Least-Known Work

Alps is Lanthimos’ least famous project, as it simply wasn’t moving or inventive enough to gather much traction with international audiences. The story follows a group of actors who start a unique business that involves impersonating the recently deceased in order to alleviate the grieving process of their clients. It’s a fascinating look into the concepts of death and humanity, but many critics described the project as fairly superficial and pointless. Although Lanthimos would later make some great dark comedies, his style and sense of humor aren’t quite polished here.

Alps received a polarizing 50% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, which says everything about the film’s general reception. While the film’s offbeat style was quite engaging, there were a few occasions where the plot did feel distant and senseless. The film only grossed $143,000 worldwide (via Box Office Mojo), which probably contributed strongly to the film’s lack of reputation. It just isn’t talked about when discussing Lanthimos’ other great projects, and while it has several entertaining aspects and poignant ideas, that’s simply because it doesn’t explore these as effectively as his later works do.

6 The Killing Of A Sacred Deer (2017)

The Killing Of A Sacred Deer Is Terrifying And Divisive

Although some needed the ending of Killing of a Sacred Deer explained to them, the film still has plenty of fascinating ideas and intriguing concepts that are impossible to miss. Its eccentric performances and disturbing imagery ensure that even when the plot falters into nonsense, the atmosphere and style are enough to carry the movie forward. Like many of Lanthimos’ other works, it’s an extremely entertaining idea that can be inaccessible to certain audiences due to its unconventional storytelling and graphic scenes.

Though it’s hard to compare the film to anything else in the genre, Killing of a Sacred Deer is a typical A24 horror that strives to make its audience as uncomfortable as possible. This is reflected in its mixed audience score of 63% on Rotten Tomatoes, proving that it’s a very divisive film that simply won’t work for everybody. Despite the impressive cast (featuring Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, and Barry Keoghan), Lanthimos’ movie performed pretty poorly at the box office, collecting just $7 million across the world (via Box Office Mojo).

5 Kinds Of Kindness (2024)

Kinds Of Kindness Has Great Pieces But Isn’t Lanthimos’ Best Overall Work

The latest entry to Yorgos Lanthimos’ filmography, Kinds of Kindness boasts an impressive ensemble cast with many of the director’s frequent collaborators. Despite terrific performances from Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, and more, Kinds of Kindness has received mixed reviews compared to Lanthimos’ other work, with a 74% on Rotten Tomatoes and a lower 56% Audience Score. The move importantly follows up Poor Things, which received relative commercial acclaim and was one of the director’s more straightforward works.

The movie’s strength is in its absurd humor and cinematic deconstruction, but it’s undoubtedly not for everyone.

Given Emma Stone winning an Oscar for Poor Things, the expectation going into Kinds of Kindness might have been for a similar experience. However, the 2024 film is a more challenging cinematic undertaking, with three vignettes, each of which features some form of startling graphic violence. Lanthimos isn’t one to explain himself to the audience, and Kinds of Kindness leaves viewers with various difficult-to-consume pieces that don’t seem to add up in an entirely profound way. The movie’s strength is in its absurd humor and cinematic deconstruction, but it’s undoubtedly not for everyone.

4 Dogtooth (2009)

Dogtooth Is Challenging But Worthwhile

Although Dogtooth displays the same unconventional style that can make Lanthimos’ other projects inaccessible, it’s the writing and performances that allow this film to really shine. It’s filled with interesting ideas about childhood and abuse – and while it’s definitely not an easy story to watch, there’s something really mature and fresh about the way the director tells this story. Whereas some of Lanthimos’ films don’t justify their weird premises, Dogtooth really couldn’t have been told any other way. The eccentricity and abnormality really push home the film’s themes of trauma and mental health.

It’s the perfect balance of weird and meaningful that Lanthimos’ projects have always been trying to achieve.

While many audiences were still confused about Lanthimos’ style in Dogtooth, critics absolutely loved the film. It holds 93% on Rotten Tomatoes (in comparison to its audience score of 76%), and the reviews are overwhelmingly positive. It’s the perfect balance of weird and meaningful that Lanthimos’ projects have always been trying to achieve. It suffered an unfortunate underperformance at the box office, grossing just $689,000 around the world (via Box Office Mojo). But in the years since its release, it’s been revisited more and more by those who want to keep exploring Lanthimos’ early filmography.

3 The Lobster (2015)

The Lobster Is A Great Entry Point For Lanthimos’ Filmography

The Lobster is a dark romance movie that centers around a fictional hotel where single people are forced to meet their perfect match within a set time frame – or risk being turned into a wild animal. With Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz in the lead roles, the film explores fascinating themes of autonomy, purpose, and why exactly human beings are drawn to each other in the first place. Like Lanthimos’ entire filmography, it’s packed with interesting ideas that he explores through his narrative, allowing the story to touch upon these themes without ever settling in one particular place.

The Lobster was Lanthimos’ first true commercial success, bringing in $15 million dollars worldwide (via Box Office Mojo) and hugely boosting Lanthimos’ career. In addition to being a commercial hit, The Lobster was also a critical darling – it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was even awarded the Jury Prize. Despite The Lobster’s weird ending, the film never really suffered from the same criticisms as Lanthimos’ earlier works. It’s certainly one of the director’s most approachable works and a great starting point to dive into Lanthimos’ filmography.

2 The Favourite (2018)

The Favourite Boasts Incredible Performances From Its Female Leads

The Favourite is one of Lanthimos’ easiest movies to enjoy, forging an effective balance between normality and eccentricity that allows the film’s quirks to enhance the story rather than distance from it. Less experimental than his previous works, The Favourite makes room for some genuinely hilarious performances and an entertaining story that’s easy to follow and even easier to get lost in. Some critics were disappointed by Lanthimos’ drifting into the mainstream, but there’s no denying that his new style opened up his works to so many more audiences – while maintaining the spirit that’s always characterized his works.

Olivia Colman always nails her roles, and her turn as Queen Anne is possibly her best performance to date. She even managed a victory at the Academy Awards in the following year, taking home the Oscar for Best Actress and bringing even more attention to Lanthimos’ movie. Her co-stars Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz were also nominated, proving just how talented Lanthimos’ directorial skills are. The film sits at 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, and it was the director’s first big commercial hit, managing a worldwide gross of $95 million (via Box Office Mojo).

1 Poor Things (2023)

Poor Things Is Yorgos Lanthimos’ Most Broadly Appealing Movie

Poor Things is Yorgos Lanthimos’ most impressive achievement, both critically and commercially. The movie grossed $111 million worldwide and was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, winning four of them. The Best Actress win for Emma Stone, who impressively led the Poor Things cast with a career-elevating performance, turning Bella Baxter into the most iconic, well-known character in Lanthimos’ filmography. The film is a testament to how far Lanthimos has come as a filmmaker, boasting an incredible movie star cast capable of bringing audiences to theaters.

There’s surrealist storytelling and narrative elements, most notably including the fascinating set design choices, but they’re balanced by conventional narrative techniques and a clear story with observable themes.

Stylistically, Poor Things incorporates many of Lanthimos’ trademarks. There’s surrealist storytelling and narrative elements, most notably including the fascinating set design choices, but they’re balanced by conventional narrative techniques and a clear story with observable themes. Poor Things is quite graphic, but the sexualization isn’t as challenging to watch as the contents of Kinds of Kindness or Dogtooth. The balance between unique artistic beauty and approachable contemporary appeal makes Poor Things Yorgos Lanthimos’ magnum opus, at least so far.