The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Steven Murphy is a successful cardiovascular surgeon with a comfortable life, a wife named Anna who works as an ophthalmologist, and two children, Kim and Bob. Into this ordered existence comes Martin, a teenage boy whose father died during an operation Steven performed. Steven takes an interest in the boy and spends time with him, but Martin's behavior grows increasingly unsettling, threatening the family's stability and pushing Steven toward an unthinkable choice.

Yorgos Lanthimos directed and co-wrote the film with Efthymis Filippou, the same writing partnership behind Dogtooth, Alps and The Lobster. It was Lanthimos's seventh directed feature and followed The Lobster, coming before The Favourite and Poor Things. Colin Farrell, who had starred in The Lobster, plays Steven, with Nicole Kidman as Anna, Barry Keoghan as Martin, Raffey Cassidy and Sunny Suljic as the children, and Bill Camp in support.

Made for about 3 million US dollars, the film took roughly 11 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7 out of 10 from around 214,000 votes, and on TMDB 7 out of 10 from about 4,588 votes. A critics' rating of 7.7 out of 10 from 282 reviews puts it slightly above those audience scores, suggesting a warmer response from reviewers than from viewers.