Remastering of Dogtooth
for its 16th anniversary

The movie that introduced Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos to mainstream audiences

By Andrew Burlone

June 11, 2025

The 4K restoration of Yorgos Lanthimos’s second feature film, Dogtooth, celebrating the 16th anniversary of the movie that brought the Greek director to international attention, will hit Quebec screens on July 4, 2025. This disturbing 2009 masterpiece, now a cult classic, launched Lanthimos onto the global stage after winning the Un Certain Regard prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and earning a Best Foreign Language Film nomination at the Oscars.

This disturbing 2009 masterpiece, now a cult classic, propelled the director onto the international stage.

Dogtooth is now recognized as a foundational work of the contemporary Greek cinema movement, often called the “Greek Weird Wave.” Critics have praised its “graceful, enigmatic, and often frightening” approach to black comedy, drawing comparisons to the dystopian visions of filmmakers like Michael Haneke and Gaspar Noé.

The film is a biting social satire that uses shocking violence and psychological manipulation to explore broader themes of authority, freedom, and how societies control their members. It has won numerous international awards, including at the Dublin, Lisbon & Estoril, Sarajevo, Sitges, and Stockholm film festivals.

Dogtooth marked a pivotal moment in Lanthimos’s career, paving the way for later successes such as The Lobster, The Favourite, and Poor Things, which earned him multiple Oscar nominations and other prestigious awards. This unsettling work, described as “an ingenious black comedy” and “a biting social satire as deep as it is provocative,” continues to influence international art-house cinema and cements Lanthimos’s place among the most ambitious filmmakers of his generation.

Synopsis

The film focuses on a Greek couple who have created an elaborate system of control to keep their three adult children completely isolated from the outside world. The parents construct a fictional reality where the children believe they can only leave the family compound once they lose a canine tooth—and only by car. This forced ignorance extends even to language: the parents teach their children incorrect definitions of common words, creating a distorted vocabulary that reinforces their isolation.

The family’s fabricated reality begins to unravel when the father brings home Christina, a factory worker, to satisfy his son’s sexual needs. Christina’s influence introduces forbidden elements from the outside world, including Hollywood films like Rocky IV and Jaws, which the eldest daughter secretly watches. These glimpses of outside culture become catalysts for rebellion, ultimately leading to a violent climax in which the eldest daughter knocks out her own canine tooth with a dumbbell and tries to escape by hiding in the trunk of her father’s car.

An Exceptional Restoration

The new restoration was created from the original 35mm negatives, with digital sound restoration by Landros Ntounis. This process goes far beyond simple digitization, restoring the film as close as possible to its original quality.

The sophisticated process of converting and enhancing original film stock into high-definition digital files was overseen by Yorgos Lanthimos himself. Graphic artist Vasilis Marmatakis, a frequent collaborator of Lanthimos since his early days, designed a new poster especially for this re-release.

The 4K restoration of Dogtooth will be available with French and English subtitles and will open on July 4, 2025.

Dogtooth

97 minutes. Distributed in Canada by Ritual, in collaboration with Kino Lorber

Images: Courtesy of RITUAL Films

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Andrew Burlone, co-founder of WestmountMag.ca, began his media journey at NOUS magazine. Subsequently, he launched Visionnaires, holding the position of creative director for over 30 years. Andrew is passionate about cinema and photography and has a keen interest in visual arts and architecture.