by Sapphire Mason-Brown

Created on: September 19, 2010   Last Updated: September 20, 2010

Ah parents, how controlling they are. Always wanting to keep their children safe from one evil or another, be it scary roads, criminals, the media, or general harm. Dogtooth takes the protective nature of parents and pushes it to an extreme. What happens when parents attempt to completely conceal the outside world from their children? And, does this constitute protecting them?

In the outskirts of Greece, there sits a house with a garden and swimming pool surrounded by a towering fence. Within it live a married couple and their three children. I use the term “children” with hesitation, for these are offspring old enough to have flown the nest and probably produce their own progeny. However, it is only physically that these individuals have matured as through a diet of information provided solely by their parents, they are developmentally starved.

The ‘man-child’ is something we have become accustomed to in recent years. Azalel Jacobs’ Momma’s Man depicts a married man in a regressive state and the comedy genre is one that has been nurturing the ‘man-child’ for quite some time. What are many of Will Ferrell, Robin Williams and Jim Carrey’s characters if not giant children? Unlike these characters, the “children” in Dogtooth are not exaggerated characters created to entertain. The offspring of Mother and Father, also nameless, have been raised to believe that the planes that fly over their house are toys, that the fish for their dinner comes from the swimming pool and that a new dog will be born from their mother’s stomach. Such a rouse is possible as they are enclosed within their compound with no access to any except a co-worker of their fathers who is hired to fulfil the sons sexual urges. The world is a dangerous place, they are told, one they are not prepared for until their dogtooth (canine), left or right,  falls out.

The “children’s” childishness is not present solely in their fantastical beliefs, but also in their behaviour. There are moments where they literally appear to be six year-olds in the bodies of twenty-somethings; accompanying their lack of awareness is a lack of emotional maturity. At times this has the humour of the standard ‘man-child’ film, but for the most part, it is disturbing to watch. A fight over a toy plane may at first resemble a scene between Will Ferrell and John C. Reily

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