Toxic romanticism

I missed Jane Campion (1954, Wellington). It was more than ten years without releasing a film. I missed her mainly because of that “house brand”, that “squeezing” her actors so that it is their body and their gestures that achieve the magic of telling us who they are, what distresses them, what they want. And how much that “letting go” affects them by those anxieties and those desires. Campion is back with The Power of the Dog (2021; New Zealand, Great Britain, Canada, United States and Australia). Based on a novel by Thomas Savage that was published in 1967, with a title inspired by Psalm 22:20 (“O my strength, hurry to help me. Free my soul from the sword and the power of the dog from my life…”), the story is set in Montana, in 1925. Specifically, on the ranch run by brothers Phil and George Burbank (Benedict Cumberbatch and Jesse Plemons, respectively). It didn’t take long for us to learn that the two were instructed for a life in the city, with everything and university studies, but the death of their parents forced them to return to the ranch and take care of it. And they’ve done well. The relationship between the brothers is also going well, despite Phil’s mercurial character. He is a sullen, violent man who for some reason we will already understand, needs to impose himself on everyone. Including his brother, who is noble and well-meaning. The brothers meet Rose (Kristen Dunst), a widow who, like them, was left in charge of an inn where the brothers stay on a business trip. Phil notices Rose’s teenage son, Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee), who helps her at the inn. She mocks him for his fragility. That makes George feel the need to apologize to Rose, causing him to fall in love with her. They end up getting married and he takes her to live on the ranch. Thus begins an escalation in terms of Phil’s insults with his sister-in-law, before the meek defense of a George who does not dare to mark a stop. Rose dives into alcohol while Peter goes to visit her. That visit causes Phil to cease his attacks and focus on Peter, who doesn’t care what they say to him because of his costumes, his tastes or his ways. Peter, without saying anything, without changing anything, begins to impose himself in that testosterone-laden environment. So Phil decides to approach him, teach him to “be a man” as he was taught by a certain “Bronco” Henry. Although the question will soon be who will teach whom and what. He said that Campion’s films are usually about anxieties, desires and consequences, or resisting them or letting oneself be carried away by them. The power of the dog is no exception. The novelty is that Campion includes a new element, how toxic it is to romanticize something. Be a memory, an ideal, a person. Everything, in the long run, ends up breaking down. And what better way to highlight that than by showing it in a western, one of the most romantic genres.



Original source in Spanish