Her first film in 12 years, Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog is a venomous, suppressed exploration of masculinity on a disappearing Western front. Based on Thomas Savage’s book of the same name, the film follows two ranchers: Phil Burbank (Benedict Cumberbatch), and his brother, George (Jesse Plemons). George is stocky and plodding, wears suits and is always polite. Phil is lean and whip-smart, but with a cruel tongue and a savage instinct at the scent of any perceived weakness – including his own. He dominates the ranch, castrating bulls with his bare hands and commanding the property with the steely swagger of a true “cowboy”. So, when George disrupts the ranch hierarchy and unexpectedly brings home a wife, Rose (Kirsten Dunst), Phil utterly rejects her, beginning a campaign of psychological torture. But he faces an unlikely foe in Rose’s son, Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee), as Phil and Peter’s growing relationship brings up deep secrets and a long-hidden yearning.
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