You would think acclaimed filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos would treat his project following 2023’s awards darling Poor Things as something very similar to the project he’s had the most mainstream success with. Or the last two projects in this case, between this and 2018’s The Favourite, both Best Actress Academy Award winners. And if that were true, he would not be Yorgos Lanthimos. Kinds of Kindness reunites the Greek filmmaker with his frequent collaborating co-writer Efthimis Filippou, who co-wrote the screenplays for Dogtooth, The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer. Lanthimos is also reuniting with Poor Things stars Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe and Margaret Qualley.

Kinds of Kindness is described as a “triptych fable”, an anthology film consisting of three stories that do and don’t have things in common with each other. The same core cast appear in all three stories, the stories are all set in the state of Louisiana, and all have commonalities, like similar themes and identical lines of dialogue. They are not completely divorced from each other, but don’t have very much in common. I started typing out synopses of each story’s plot but this review was getting quite long before I even got to really describe what I thought of it. So, suffice it to say, each story explores themes of self-identity, free will, mania, community, love, power, control, devotion and acceptance. Two of them are about cults. All are deeply strange in the best way.

Kinds of Kindness is first of all a rather ironic title, as this is a film full of increasingly despicable people. I don’t think there is a single act of genuine kindness in this entire film, and I feel like that is all by design. Lanthimos could have made three individual short films, as there is very little connecting these three stories. However, it leaves you wondering what the connective tissue really is, and what we’re supposed to take away from the proceedings as an audience. And with an anthology film, there’s going to be a hit and miss quality to each one, and it’s tempting to compare them. However, all three are fascinating and hideous and nihilistic and sardonic and hilarious in deeply memorable ways.

Each actor here is playing three very distinct individual characters – some more (in the third story, Margaret Qualley plays identical twins). And the performances here are all quite compelling. Every performer here seems to be quite aware of Lanthimos’ rhythms as a director and knows how to make the most of his very specific, very bizarre kind of language and mannerisms. Jesse Plemons won Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for this, and you can absolutely see why. Emma Stone continues to enjoy the weirdness of the Lanthimos landscape, and is quite excellent here in all three parts, especially the third.

We also have Hong Chau indulging in some truly weirdo nonsense, and she seems to be having the time of her life. Willem Dafoe is having a great time with this material as well, playing a variety of father figures, or figures that pose some kind of threat or intimidation. We also have Margaret Qualley, who as a performer has become more interesting and appealing with each part, after her standout performance in last year’s criminally underseen Sanctuary. She’s also leaning hard into this nutty world, and is having a great time with it. We also have Joe Alwyn and the very good Mamoudou Athie in smaller parts, and I would say they have the least to do of the lot. Hunter Schafer shows up for a single scene in the third story, and I suspect Lanthimos will invite her back in future projects.

The craft on display here is what you would expect from Lanthimos and his team. Collaborating again with screenwriter Efthimis Filippou, the kind of dialogue and overall themes being explored are so specific, the stories they tell almost exist in their own weird kind of alternate reality. Lanthimos also brings back frequent The Favourite and Poor Things cinematographer Robbie Ryan, and this looks nothing like either of those films, and that works. Poor Things composer Jerskin Fendrix returns for this, and the score is absolutely a part of this that stands out strongly. The production is straightforward, this thing is taking itself seriously, but throughout every bit of this, you can sense Lanthimos behind the camera laughing his ass off.

Tonally, Kinds of Kindness is much more in line with The Killing of a Sacred Deer and Dogtooth than Poor Things and The Favourite. And it is so refreshing to see an indie filmmaker finally get studio funding after he’s achieved widespread acclaim, and use it to make something more batshit than anything he’s ever done. Even if this film is not for you (there is a strong chance this film will decidedly not be for you), you’ve got to respect Lanthimos for the chutzpah of it all. It feels like the filmmaker broke out of the psych ward and went off his meds and let his imagination go to some truly crazy places, and ran with it. I’m deeply thankful for that. Kinds of Kindness is a savage and hateful little movie, one that’s delightfully out of its damn mind. And I can’t wait to see it again.