Benedict Cumberbatch is the star of the new western drama, The Power Of The Dog (2021), directed by Jane Campion who is best known for The Piano, Holy Smoke, In The Cut and Bright Star. Based on a novel from the 1960s by Thomas Savage, an author I’m not familiar with, The Power Of The Dog is set in Montana during the 1920s. The west is changing and we focus on two brothers who are cattle ranchers, one is the intense, caustic Phil Burbank (Cumberbatch) and his softer brother George (Jesse Plemons). Phil mocks George in front of their ranch-hands, calling him “fatso”, but he also can’t seem to do anything without him or just objects to his brother’s attention being elsewhere. Which is what happens. While grabbing lunch during one of their cattle drives at a hotel/restaurant run by widow, Rose (Kirsten Dunst), George takes a shine to her, while Phil notices Rose’s teenage son, a gawky, thin person with artistic interests named Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee) and openly insults him, jeering at his lack of masculinity, and that he’s a “nancy” for making origami flowers.
The drama unfolds slowly and patiently as George unsettles the brotherly dynamic by marrying Rose and bringing her to their isolated home, a ranch surrounding a rather imposing house with dimly lit interiors. As Phil makes his displeasure known through rudeness and psychological torture, eventually Rose’s son, Peter comes to stay on break from his medical studies. An uneasy relationship starts to develop between Phil and Peter that generates different types of tension – violence and also sexual; there is implication that Phil’s own crude behaviour covers deeper longings and poetic interests.
With the western setting, and Jonny Greenwood’s excellent score, and Cumberbatch’s intensity, there might be comparisons made to There Will Be Blood, another study of macho totalitarianism. But there’s something deeper, a bit more subtle going on. It’s almost like a gothic fiction, uneasy in the tension generated, but open to a sense of romance, how it fades and how it is felt. As the story takes in this quartet of characters, showing their different sides, our own impressions of them start changing as well. Everything is building to a reckoning, but it was different to what I expected. The performances are excellent – I was impressed by Cumberbatch, and didn’t have that feeling where I couldn’t buy him or his American accent; his unique psychiality fits the role and the macho character his own character is playing. I also thought Smit-McPhee is brilliant, bringing something strange and disquieting to his portrayal.
The Power Of The Dog will appeal to those who have a fondness for western dramas like McCabe & Mrs Miller, There Will Be Blood and Days Of Heaven, but has its own peculiar blend of romance and sexuality that seems very in line with Jane Campion’s work as a director. Available to stream on Netflix. Recommended.
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