Kinds of Kindness is Yorgos Lanthimos’s second film to be released this year, coming hot on the heels of the all-conquering Poor Things; it represents, however, a shift away from the crossover appeal of that baroque, multi-Oscar-winning extravaganza, and a return to the bleak absurdity and chilly aesthetics of his earlier Greek-language films, such as Dogtooth and Alps. A coterie of actors (Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau) essay all roles across a triptych of independent tales: a man without choice tries to take control of his own life; a policeman who is alarmed that his wife who was presumed lost at sea has returned a different person; and a woman is determined to find a specific someone with a special ability, who is destined to become a spiritual leader.

Notes by David O’Mahony