Types of kindness is a ‘triptych fable’ that tells three different stories about characters looking for control: a man who takes control of his life, a police officer reunited with his missing wife and a woman who searches for a spiritual leader. The film’s own stars find it quite confusing, but that’s by design.
It is the latest film from writer-director Yorgos Lanthimosknown for bizarre, Oscar-nominated films such as Poor things And The favorite. “Sometimes you just have to be ridiculous to achieve what we’re trying to achieve,” Lanthimos said of the film.
Actors Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Joe Alwyn and Mamoudou Athie spoke to Yahoo Entertainment about their baffling characters and the enigmatic themes of Types of kindness. The film is now playing in select theaters and will have a wide release on June 28.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What I see people enjoying most about this movie is the joy of decoding it. What was the process of decoding the film from your perspective?
Jesse Plemons: (To Dafoe) You probably haven’t done much.
Willem Dafoe: No, I don’t decode. It doesn’t occur to me. When you act, you have your hands full. You do. You are in the room, influencing others and receiving others. That’s enough for me. Characters are revealed through their actions, and that’s what I focus on. I don’t think too much about themes.
Plemones: In my early days with the script, there was a human instinct to know how and where to place things. I emphasized that I needed to understand how to make all these choices. There’s a certain degree to which you have to find a way, but during the rehearsal process and during the actual doing of it, you realize that it’s counterproductive to the thing you’re trying to make, which is so elusive and ambiguous and surreal. It is limitless and the possibilities are endless. You have to submit to that a bit. I let go of the urge to understand quite early on.
Dafoe: Jesse is really at the center of the story in some of his roles, but in some parts he becomes more acted and reactive. As I listen to him, I realize that sometimes you have to know how to drive and what you’re aiming for. But speaking from my position, I could spend more time hanging out.
Mamoudou Athie: I don’t know if I’ve ever successfully decoded this movie, but Lanthimos is on to something. He has this reluctance to explain the film because it would take away some of the intrigue from it. I think he’s actually right. It’s more of an experiential feeling. Intellectually, it has become less and less interesting for me to decode it.
Joe Alwyn: It’s not something I was thinking about when we made it. After you see it, things seem to seep through, but only after that first, visceral experience of it. And it’s so different for everyone, and that’s what I love about Lanthimos’ films: they’re completed in different ways through different audience responses.
Yorgos Lanthimos embraces the ridiculous in his films. What’s the most ridiculous thing you had to do for this film?
Plemones: There is a dream scene with a civilian. It was so much fun. Are there two versions of this in the final film?
Dafoe: Yes there were. Did you sleep during the screening?
Plemones: I had to pee, remember? For the entire movie. Anyway, during the rehearsal process so many ridiculous things were asked of us, and after a day or so it becomes normal and fun to give in to them. But yeah, stuffing my face with a burger was the first thing that came to mind.
There were like ten ridiculous things going on.
Dafoe: I did. The clothes stand out as being quite ridiculous.
Athie: The rehearsal process was deliberately ridiculous. I had a lot of fun and learned a lot. Then there’s my mortuary nurse character: that guy was ridiculous. I didn’t want to explore him other than knowing he’s a guy who lets people buy time with corpses to make money. Face value, it’s just…
Alwyn: He’s one of them them.
Athie: Precisely. Everyone knows one them.
Alwyn: There’s a character I played briefly in the second part of the film who gets stopped by the police and shot in the hand. Then they try to lick his hand.
Athie: He heals him!
Alwyn: Don’t know What he tries to do.
What do you personally hope people will feel after seeing the film?
Athie: I hope they break away from any sect.
Alwyn: It’s hard – I don’t want to put expectations on people before they see it. I hope people enjoy the strangeness of it and how challenging and thought-provoking it is.
Athie: I don’t know if I can prescribe a specific emotion that I hope people walk away with, but I hope they enjoy the movie.
